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Clinical Trial
. 2006 Sep;7(3):308-16.
doi: 10.1007/s10162-006-0045-8. Epub 2006 Jun 21.

Current-level discrimination in the context of interleaved, multichannel stimulation in cochlear implants: effects of number of stimulated electrodes, pulse rate, and electrode separation

Ward R Drennan  1 , Bryan E Pfingst
Affiliations
Clinical Trial

Current-level discrimination in the context of interleaved, multichannel stimulation in cochlear implants: effects of number of stimulated electrodes, pulse rate, and electrode separation

Ward R Drennan et al. J Assoc Res Otolaryngol. 2006 Sep.

Abstract

The ability of cochlear implantees to detect an increment in current level at one of many stimulated electrodes was investigated. Such changes in the electric profile provide information for cochlear implantees to discriminate numerous sounds, especially vowels. In Experiment 1, sensitivity to increases in current level at one stimulation site in the electric profile decreased as the number of stimulated electrodes increased. This outcome was most likely a result of decreased stimulus levels at individual electrodes that were required to retain a comfortable loudness when the number of active electrodes was increased. Experiment 2 investigated the effects of pulse rate and separation between stimulation sites when the levels in percent of dynamic range and number of stimulated electrodes were held constant. The effect of pulse rate and electrode separation varied among listeners. The sensitivity of 6 of 9 listeners was best at the pulse rate that they used clinically. This might have been the result of adaptation to the clinical pulse rate, or listeners might have chosen their inherently best pulse rate during the clinical fitting.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The electric profile difference limen (DL) in Weber fractions (Wf; in dB) is shown as a function of the number of stimulated electrodes for each individual listener. Data are shown for 250 and 159 pulses per second per channel. Error bars show 1 standard error. Only six listeners participated.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
The electric profile difference limen (DL) in Weber fractions (Wf; in dB) is shown as a function of the pulse rate for each individual listener. Data are shown for the spaced (filled circles) and dense (open circles) electric profiles. Error bars show 1 standard error. The arrows indicate the pulse rate that the listeners use clinically.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Results from the implementation of the McKay et al. (2003) loudness model are similar to the empirical results from Experiment 1.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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