ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Surg.
Sec. Otorhinolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery
Towards Atraumatic Cochlear Implant Insertion Monitoring Using a Hydraulic-Based, Cost-Effective Intracochlear Pressure Probe
Provisionally accepted
Walter Bernardi1,2*
Stefan Weder2
Georgios Mantokoudis2
Marco Domenico Caversaccio1,2
Philipp Aebischer1,2- 1Universitat Bern ARTORG Center for Biomedical Engineering Research, Bern, Switzerland
- 2Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University Hospital Bern, Freiburgstrasse 20, Bern, 3010, Bern, Switzerland, Bern, Switzerland
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Purpose: Cochlear implantation is an established treatment for severe ::::::::::::: sensorineural :hearing loss, but residual preoperative hearing is often lost during the surgery, in part due to intracochlear pressure transients that damage cochlear hair cells. To enable real-time monitoring of insertion dynamics, we propose a cost-effective, remote pressure probe for continuous measurement of intracochlear pressure during cochlear implant surgery. Methods: The probe comprises a steel cannula placed at the round window, transmitting intracochlear pressure to a remotely positioned pressure sensor, thereby preserving surgical access. Results: We demonstrated effective pressure transmission across different cannula sizes (between 0.21 mm and 0.41 mm), validating the probe concept. In an artificial temporal bone model, sensor measurements during cochlear implant insertion showed a strong correlation with reference measurements of intracochlear pressure. Conclusion: We developed and validated a novel, cost-effective, hydraulic probe for atraumatic, real-time monitoring of intracochlear pressure during cochlear implant insertion via a round-window approach. Thereby, the proposed probe offers a feasible, quantitative, directly interpretable metric on cochlear implant insertion.
Keywords: Cochlear implant insertion, Intracochlear pressure, minimally invasive surgery, Real-time intraoperative feedback, Surgicaltraining platform
Received: 09 Sep 2025; Accepted: 27 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Bernardi, Weder, Mantokoudis, Caversaccio and Aebischer. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Walter Bernardi, walter.bernardi@unibe.ch
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