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Review
. 2007 Sep;11(3):193-205.
doi: 10.1177/1084713807301379.

Perceptual learning and auditory training in cochlear implant recipients

Qian-Jie Fu  1 , John J Galvin 3rd
Affiliations
Review

Perceptual learning and auditory training in cochlear implant recipients

Qian-Jie Fu et al. Trends Amplif. 2007 Sep.

Abstract

Learning electrically stimulated speech patterns can be a new and difficult experience for cochlear implant (CI) recipients. Recent studies have shown that most implant recipients at least partially adapt to these new patterns via passive, daily-listening experiences. Gradually introducing a speech processor parameter (eg, the degree of spectral mismatch) may provide for more complete and less stressful adaptation. Although the implant device restores hearing sensation and the continued use of the implant provides some degree of adaptation, active auditory rehabilitation may be necessary to maximize the benefit of implantation for CI recipients. Currently, there are scant resources for auditory rehabilitation for adult, postlingually deafened CI recipients. We recently developed a computer-assisted speech-training program to provide the means to conduct auditory rehabilitation at home. The training software targets important acoustic contrasts among speech stimuli, provides auditory and visual feedback, and incorporates progressive training techniques, thereby maintaining recipients' interest during the auditory training exercises. Our recent studies demonstrate the effectiveness of targeted auditory training in improving CI recipients' speech and music perception. Provided with an inexpensive and effective auditory training program, CI recipients may find the motivation and momentum to get the most from the implant device.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Mean shift (across participants) in multitalker vowel (left panel) and TIMIT (TIMIT was designed to further acoustic-phonetic knowledge and automatic speech recognition systems. It was commissioned by DARPA and worked on by many sites, including Texas Instruments [TI] and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology [MIT]) sentence (right panel) recognition with Table 1 relative to baseline performance with the clinically assigned frequency allocation (Table 7 or Table 9) as a function of days of continuous use of Table 1. The error bars show 1 SD.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Speech recognition performance as a function of Frequency Allocation Table before (dashed lines), during (symbols), and after (solid lines) the 18-month adaptation period. (A) Speech-reception thresholds for HINT sentences. (B) IEEE sentence recognition in quiet. (C) Vowel recognition in quiet. (D) Consonant recognition in quiet.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Mean performance for English speech recognition (left panel), Mandarin Chinese speech recognition (middle panel), and music perception (right panel) before and after training. The error bars show 1 SD.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Vowel and consonant recognition with low-rate CIS and high-rate HiRes processors before and after training.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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