This ARC Linkage project between the University of Melbourne and Cochlear Limited will develop a method of electrical stimulation for cochlear implant users that optimally matches normal hearing. Our approach is based upon developing a cochlear implant sound coding scheme that minimises the difference in the neural response between electrical and acoustical stimulation. The key outcome of the project is a new type of sound coding strategy that could substantially increase the speech perception of cochlear implant users.

Cochlear implants have been remarkably successful in providing hearing to the profoundly deaf. However, the speech perception attainable by cochlear implant users has reached a plateau with current cochlear implant sound coding strategies. In addition, serious limitations are observed in the representation of tonal languages and music, and there is great variability in the benefit that individual users experience.

The general shortfall in the representation of sounds by a cochlear implant may be due to the surprising fact that existing strategies take little account of the neural response that would be elicited during normal hearing or the actual response of auditory neurons to electrical stimulation by a cochlear implant. The recent development of an advanced set of Neural Response Telemetry measures in cochlear implants has enabled the direct measurement of an individual user’s neural response to electrical stimulation. Combined with psychophysical measures, this opens the possibility of developing individualized electrical stimulation strategies that could substantially increase the speech perception of users and the benefit they receive from cochlear implants.

Authors: David B. Grayden

Event: SF08: Speed Papers

← View all submissions for this event.