Deactivating stimulation sites based on low-rate thresholds improves spectral ripple and speech reception thresholds in cochlear implant users

• Published in: The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America Vol. 141; no. 3; pp. EL243 - EL248
• Main Author: Zhou, Ning
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Acoustical Society of America 01.03.2017
• Subjects: Acoustic Stimulation; Auditory Threshold; Cochlear Implantation - instrumentation; Cochlear Implants; Electric Stimulation; Hearing; Hearing Loss - diagnosis; Hearing Loss - physiopathology; Hearing Loss - psychology; Hearing Loss - rehabilitation; Humans; Jasa Express Letters; Persons With Hearing Impairments - psychology; Persons With Hearing Impairments - rehabilitation; Prosthesis Design; Psychoacoustics; Recognition (Psychology); Speech Perception; Speech Reception Threshold Test
• ISSN: 0001-4966; 1520-8524; 1520-8524
• DOI: 10.1121/1.4977235

The study examined whether the benefit of deactivating stimulation sites estimated to have broad neural excitation was attributed to improved spectral resolution in cochlear implant users. The subjects' spatial neural excitation pattern was estimated by measuring low-rate detection thresholds across the array [see Zhou (2016). PLoS One 11, e0165476]. Spectral resolution, as assessed by spectral-ripple discrimination thresholds, significantly improved after deactivation of five high-threshold sites. The magnitude of improvement in spectral-ripple discrimination thresholds predicted the magnitude of improvement in speech reception thresholds after deactivation. Results suggested that a smaller number of relatively independent channels provide a better outcome than using all channels that might interact.