Hearing preservation and clinical outcome of 32 consecutive electric acoustic stimulation (EAS) surgeries.

"Declaration of interest: The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare approved our clinical research for Advanced Medical Technology using electric acoustic stimulation (EAS). Because the EAS devices had not yet been approved for clinical use in Japan, they were supplied by MEDEL. The Shinshu University Conflict of Interest Committee also approved the study. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper. Declaration of interest:"

"We thank A.C. Apple-Mathews for help in preparing the manuscript. This study was supported by a Health and Labour Sciences Research Grant for Comprehensive Research on Disability Health and Welfare from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan (S.U.), by the Acute Profound Deafness Research Committee of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan (S.U.), and by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the (then) Ministry of Education, Science and Culture of Japan (http://www.mext.go.jp/english/) (S.U.)."