Channel Interaction in Cochlear Implant Subjects

描述（由申请人提供）：本研究将检查在刺激多通道人工耳蜗时发生的物理通道和神经-知觉通道相互作用。具体而言，通道相互作用对双通道刺激的刺激检测阈值和响度估计的感知的影响将被检查和量化。此外，将进行一系列语音识别测试，并与上述通道交互措施相关联。对于所有这些测量，通道相互作用的程度将通过控制传递到每个人工耳蜗通道的电流配置的空间范围来操纵。耳蜗电极结构将由单极（MP）、双极（BP）和三极（TP）组成，其中单极（MP）在鼓室内具有相邻的活性电极和返回电极，三极（TP）具有一个活性电极和两个侧面的返回电极。要测试的总体假设是，当使用空间受限的电流配置时，通道相互作用将减少，通道相互作用的减少将导致受试者在语音识别上的表现增强。这些研究结果可以影响未来人工耳蜗电极和语音处理策略的发展，理想情况下，导致大多数人工耳蜗受试者的性能提高。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This study will examine both physical and neural-perceptual channel interactions that occur with stimulation of multiple channel cochlear implants. Specifically, the effects of channel interactions on percepts of stimulus detection thresholds and loudness estimation for dual-channel stimulation will be examined and quantified. In addition, a battery of speech recognition tests will be performed and correlated with the above mentioned measures of channel interaction. For all of these measurements, the degree of channel interaction will be manipulated by controlling the spatial extent of the electrical current configuration delivered to each of several cochlear implant channels. Cochlear electrode configurations will consist of monopolar (MP), bipolar (BP) with adjacent active and return electrodes within the scala tympani, and tripolar (TP) with one active electrode and two flanking return electrodes. The overall hypotheses to be tested are that channel interactions will be reduced when a spatially restricted electrical current configuration is employed and that reduction in channel interactions should lead to enhanced subject performance on speech recognition. The results of these studies could influence the development of future cochlear implant electrodes and speech processing strategies, ideally, leading to improved performance for most cochlear implant subjects.