Compensation for channel interaction in a simultaneous cochlear implant coding strategy

This study evaluated a concept to reduce detrimental effects of spatial channel interaction in case of simultaneous stimulation with cochlear implants. The hypothesis was that effects of simultaneous channel interaction can be compensated by an algorithm such that no difference in hearing performanc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 2013-06, Vol.133 (6), p.4124-4132
Main Authors: Bader, Paul, Kals, Mathias, Schatzer, Reinhold, Griessner, Andreas, Zierhofer, Clemens
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Aged
Algorithms
Cochlear Implants
Deafness - rehabilitation
Electrodes, Implanted
Female
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Phonetics
Prosthesis Design
Sound Spectrography
Speech Acoustics
Speech Discrimination Tests
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Summary:This study evaluated a concept to reduce detrimental effects of spatial channel interaction in case of simultaneous stimulation with cochlear implants. The hypothesis was that effects of simultaneous channel interaction can be compensated by an algorithm such that no difference in hearing performance between simultaneous pulsatile stimulation and a strictly sequential reference strategy can be found. The simultaneous strategies used in this study stimulated two or three electrodes simultaneously in a monopolar configuration and used a specific compensation algorithm to reduce detrimental effects of simultaneous channel interaction. Overall stimulation rate was kept constant throughout conditions. Three of the configurations applied extended pulse phase durations. The German Oldenburg sentence and a German vowel test were used to measure speech recognition in 12 cochlear implant users. The results support the initial hypothesis. No significant differences in performance were found. A small spatial distance between simultaneous electrodes yielded slightly better results than a large distance. Extending the pulse phase durations had no significant effect on hearing performance. However, it significantly reduced stimulation amplitudes. Thus strategies implementing channel interaction compensated simultaneous stimulation with extended pulse phase durations might be a viable option for reducing power consumption and increasing battery life in cochlear implants.
ISSN:0001-4966
1520-8524
DOI:10.1121/1.4803848