[Signal processing in contour implants]

Abstract

Signal processing by cochlear implants is aimed at transmitting all the acoustic information carried by the human voice, whether in its semantic, esthetic or affective aspects, as an electrical signal. The "translating" approach, which encodes the signal according to the characteristics of the sounds, can only be ideally used in multiple-canal implants. On the contrary, our experience with various single-canal prostheses shows that our patients choose one of these according to the comfort of the signal and to its reliability rather than to the complexity of signal processing: all prostheses produce approximately the same results, whatever the method implemented. The contour implant allows an easy, effective and well-tolerated fitting at low costs.