Anatomy-Based Fitting: A New Tool for Improving Place-Pitch Match

We all know how difficult it can be to find a comfortable pair of shoes that fit well. And when it comes to length, human cochleae have a wider range of variation than human feet do. That’s exactly why—preoperatively—it is not only important to find the best fit in terms of electrode array length. But—postoperatively—it is also important to do the fine tuning to reach the optimal hearing performance outcome.

Clinicians are just starting to discover the great potential of anatomy-based fitting, an approach to cochlear implant frequency mapping that only MED-EL offers as part of our fitting software, MAESTRO, which is available to clinicians. It is the next step forward in providing cochlear implant recipients closer to natural hearing. As a new feature introduced with the release of?MAESTRO 9.0, anatomy-based fitting (ABF) allows you to align the frequency map stimulated by the CI to the natural place-pitch frequency map in the cochlea as best as possible.

Think of anatomy-based fitting as tying your shoes just right so they are neither too tight nor too loose on your feet. It’s also important that they fit your feet naturally without causing any discomfort after a long day. Of course, getting this feeling is only possible after you’ve put on a pair that is the right size.

Now, with more than a year’s field experience with anatomy-based fitting behind us, we’d like to share some of the real-world knowledge we have gained...

Read more about this here.