Hearing preservation in 41 cochlear implant recipients with preimplant low-frequency residual hearing.

Hearing preservation was frequently achieved according to both classification systems.

Low-frequency pure-tone average deteriorated by 20.5 dB HL during the first 6 postoperative months and declined by 2.46 dB HL annually thereafter ( p = 0.020).

In contrast, speech recognition improved significantly after implantation (all p < 0.001) and remained stable.

Retained functional residual hearing was not associated with superior speech recognition.