Changes in pitch perception with cochlear implants over time

描述(由申请人提供)：总结：提出了三组实验，以解决人工耳蜗术患者的临床相关问题，特别是那些已经和将接受混合型(短电极)人工耳蜗术的患者。这种混合器只被植入耳蜗的高频区域，但通过植入器提供的语音信息通常来自较低的频率范围，而不一定与被刺激的耳蜗频率相匹配。初步数据表明，对某些患者来说，与刺激这些基础电极相关的音调可能会随着时间的推移而急剧变化，从而产生更低的音调感觉。所获得的信息将增加对听觉感知如何适应来自人工耳蜗的频谱移位的频率位置信息的理解，以及这如何与植入物的言语感知性能相关。具体地说，该项目将：1)测量混合型人工耳蜗器使用者在从“连接”到使用长达4年的不同时间的音调感觉，以确定音调感觉是否随着时间的推移而改变；2)测试改变语音处理器频率范围是否会导致音调感觉改变，以补偿语音的频谱变化；以及3)将不同时间的语音感知性能与音调感觉相关联，以确定语音感知与音调感觉之间的关系。相关性：这项拟议的研究将研究随着时间的推移，音调感知会发生多大程度的变化，这是因为通过植入耳蜗术获得的听觉体验，以及感知到的音调是否可以预测植入耳蜗术后未来的语音理解。这些发现将在多大程度上根据感知反应来评估神经假体的设计，而感知反应可能会随着时间的推移而被经验所改变。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Summary: Three sets of experiments are proposed that address clinically relevant questions for cochlear implant patients, especially those who have and will receive the Hybrid (short-electrode) cochlear implant. The Hybrid is implanted only into the high-frequency region of the cochlea, but speech information provided through the implant is often from a lower frequency range not necessarily matched to the cochlear frequencies being stimulated. Preliminary data indicates that the pitch associated with stimulation to these basal electrodes can, for some patients, change dramatically over time to a much lower pitch sensation. The information obtained will increase understanding of how auditory perception can adjust to this spectrally shifted frequency-place information from cochlear implants, and how this relates to speech perception performance with the implant. Specifically, the project will: 1) measure pitch sensations in Hybrid cochlear implant users at various times from "hookup" up to 4 years of implant use, to determine if pitch sensations change over time; 2) test whether changing the speech processor frequency range causes pitch sensations to change, to compensate for the spectral shift of the speech; and 3) correlate speech perception performance with pitch sensations at various times, to determine how speech perception relates to pitch sensation. Relevance: The proposed research will study how much pitch perception changes over time, as a result of experience with hearing sounds through a cochlear implant, and whether perceived pitch can be a predictor of future speech understanding with the implant. These findings will have implications for how much the design of neural prostheses can be evaluated based on perceptual responses, which may be altered over time by experience.