At the ENT department of the university hospital Vienna (AKH Wien) patients are treated with intratympanic triamcinolone acetonide before cochlea implantation to reduce inflammation and in some cases to protect residual hearing. Triamcinolone acetonide levels in cochlear perilymph will be evaluated in an open prospective clinical study. Patients scheduled for cochlear implant surgery between 18 and 90 years will be included. Patients who are treated with steroids preoperatively will be excluded from the study. Patients will be randomized after inclusion to one of four groups. The randomization is carried out to generate hypothesis for the needed dose and best time of application in the future. Triamcinolone acetonide will then be applied 20-24h before surgery or at the beginning of the surgery, depending on randomization (see below). About 20 µl of perilymph will be sampled simultaneously to a blood sample during cochlear implant surgery.