Intraoperative measurements of auditory brainstem responses in active middle ear implants across different types of couplers

Introduction Patients with hearing loss who cannot wear a hearing aid can be treated with an active middle ear implant like the Vibrant Soundbridge (VSB, MED-EL). In order to treat various pathologies, different couplers have been developed. Regardless of the coupler, the coupling efficiency is crucial for the postoperative hearing outcome. Nowadays, a system based on auditory brainstem responses (ABR) is available for intraoperative verification of the coupling efficiency. Preoperative, intraoperative and postoperative data were evaluated in this study, depending on the type of coupler.