Cochlear implants and spatial hearing: Enabling access to the next dimension of hearing (Cherish)

耳蜗内毛细胞的丧失会导致耳聋。自从1957年人工耳蜗的第一次试验以来，人工耳蜗已经发展到可以(重新)恢复大部分患者的听力和言语理解的程度。虽然空间听觉是控制和引导注意力以及在嘈杂环境中实现语音理解的核心，但它在很大程度上被忽视了。在目前的植入物中，双耳信息的匹配尚未实现，这是空间听力的基本前提。此外，缺乏密集的康复计划。这里提出的由医生、心理学家和工程师合作的跨学科博士网络，旨在改善人工耳蜗术后患者的空间听力。在十个不同的相互关联的项目中，空间听力将通过(1)应用机器学习算法识别声源并通过视觉或触觉空间线索向CI用户提供信息，(2)检查CI用户空间听力的生理损害并匹配双耳输入的不平衡，以及(3)利用虚拟环境的以患者为中心的训练计划来改善空间听力。博士培训网络将提供下一代研究人员和工程师，他们将对空间听力的多方面问题有很好的了解，并将配备专业知识和技能，以提出该领域的创新解决方案。学术界和私营部门之间的合作使我们能够利用信息系统实现空间听力的新解决方案，从而使失聪患者的听力得到显著改善。

The loss of inner hair cells in the cochlea causes deafness. Since the first trial of a cochlear implant in 1957, cochlear implants have been developed to the point where they can (re-)restore hearing and speech understanding in a large proportion of patients. Although spatial hearing is central to controlling and directing attention and to enabling speech understanding in noisy environments it has been largely neglected. In current implants, matching of binaural information, a basic prerequisite for spatial hearing, is not yet implemented. Furthermore, intensive rehabilitation programs are lacking. The here proposed interdisciplinary doctoral network in which physicians, psychologists and engineers collaborate, aims at the improvement of spatial hearing in cochlear implant users. In ten different interconnected projects spatial hearing will be improved by (1) applying machine learning algorithms to identify sounds sources and to provide the information to CI users through visual or tactile spatial cues, (2) examining physiological impairments of spatial hearing in CI users and matching the imbalance of the binaural inputs, and by (3) patient centered training programs that make use of virtual environments. The doctoral training network will provide the next generation of researchers and engineers that will have a good understanding of the multifaceted problems of spatial hearing and that will be equipped with expertise and skills to come up with innovative solutions in this field. The collaboration between academia and the private sector enables the realisation of new solutions for spatial hearing with CIs, thus enabling deaf patients to substantially improve their hearing.