Searching for the Sound of a Cochlear Implant: Evaluation of Different Vocoder Parameters by Cochlear Implant Users With Single-Sided Deafness

Archive ouverte

Karoui, Chadlia | James, Chris | Barone, Pascal | Bakhos, David | Marx, Mathieu | Macherey, Olivier

Edité par CCSD ; SAGE Publications -

International audience. Cochlear implantation in subjects with single-sided deafness (SSD) offers a unique opportunity to directly compare the percepts evoked by a cochlear implant (CI) with those evoked acoustically. Here, nine SSD-CI users performed a forced-choice task evaluating the similarity of speech processed by their CI with speech processed by several vocoders presented to their healthy ear. In each trial, subjects heard two intervals: their CI followed by a certain vocoder in Interval 1 and their CI followed by a different vocoder in Interval 2. The vocoders differed either (i) in carrier type—(sinusoidal [SINE], bandfiltered noise [NOISE], and pulse-spreading harmonic complex) or (ii) in frequency mismatch between the analysis and synthesis frequency ranges—(no mismatch, and two frequency-mismatched conditions of 2 and 4 equivalent rectangular bandwidths [ERBs]). Subjects had to state in which of the two intervals the CI and vocoder sounds were more similar. Despite a large intersubject variability, the PSHC vocoder was judged significantly more similar to the CI than SINE or NOISE vocoders. Furthermore, the No-mismatch and 2-ERB mismatch vocoders were judged significantly more similar to the CI than the 4-ERB mismatch vocoder. The mismatch data were also interpreted by comparing spiral ganglion characteristic frequencies with electrode contact positions determined from postoperative computed tomography scans. Only one subject demonstrated a pattern of preference consistent with adaptation to the CI sound processor frequency-to-electrode allocation table and two subjects showed possible partial adaptation. Those subjects with adaptation patterns presented overall small and consistent frequency mismatches across their electrode arrays.

Suggestions

Du même auteur

Auditory cortical plasticity after cochlear implantation in asymmetric hearing loss is related to spatial hearing: a PET H215O study

Archive ouverte | Karoui, Chadlia | CCSD

International audience. In asymmetric hearing loss (AHL), the normal pattern of contralateral hemispheric dominance for monaural stimulation is modified, with a shift towards the hemisphere ipsilateral to the better...

Gender categorization in cochlear implant users.

Archive ouverte | Massida, Zoé | CCSD

International audience. PURPOSE: In this study, the authors examined the ability of subjects with cochlear implants (CIs) to discriminate voice gender and how this ability evolved as a function of CI experience. MET...

Evidence of a functional reorganization in the auditory dorsal stream following unilateral hearing loss

Archive ouverte | Vannson, Nicolas | CCSD

International audience

Chargement des enrichissements...