The second edition of Cochlear Implant Patient Assessment aims to become a point of reference for all professionals involved in assessing cochlear implant candidacy and interested in broadening their knowledge to maximise the hearing capabilities of their patients.
This book offers the reader a chance to explore Gifford’s reflections and recommendations onto an often-overlooked topic. The strength of this book is its focus on everyday clinical practice and guided advice for local clinics to derive their own science-based protocols to suit their clinical needs. Professor Rene Gifford is the current Director of the Cochlear Implant Program at the Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center. She has published extensive peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, and her special interests are in hearing preservation, electro-acoustic stimulation, preoperative prediction of postoperative outcomes and image guided programming.
This resource encompasses all aspects of candidacy, from funding and regulation to the different roles of the multidisciplinary team, including surgery and insights on new research. Included in the book is a companion website with access to sample protocols and test batteries. I particularly enjoyed reading about electrode array positioning and the consequences of mapping blindly without postoperative imaging, with advice on how to navigate this dilemma using new tools. The holistic vision to include input from a wider range of professionals such as clinical psychologist and imaging experts to drive the field of cochlear implantation forward was compelling. The degree of visual takeover of auditory cortical areas as a predictor of outcomes as part of cross-modal plasticity experiments was thought provoking.The book portrays a bias towards US processes on the regulation and candidacy chapters. If the book aims to become an international guide, more information on other countries’ experiences would add significant value.
This book is a must-have resource for inquisitive clinicians and serves as a repository for concise summaries of up to date scientific publications.
