Signal Processing Strategies for Cochlear Implants using Current Steering
Conference: Sprachkommunikation 2008 - 8. ITG-Fachtagung
10/08/2008 - 10/10/2008 at Aachen, Germany
Proceedings: Sprachkommunikation 2008
Pages: 4Language: englishTyp: PDF
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Authors:
Nogueira, Waldo (Advanced Bionics NV, Niel, Belgium)
Buechner, Andreas (Hoerzentrum Hannover, Medizinische Hochschule Hannover)
Ostermann, Joern (Institut fuer Informationsverarbeitung, Leibniz Universitaet Hannover)
Edler, Bernd (Laboratorium fuer Informationstechnologie, Leibniz Universitaet Hannover)
Abstract:
Current sound processing strategies for cochlear implants are based on decomposing the audio signals into multiple frequency bands, each one associated with one electrode. However, these bands are relatively wide to accurately encode tonal components of audio signals. The CII and HiRes90K implants of Advanced Bionics LLC have the ability to share the stimulation current between two contacts (Current Steering). By stimulating two neighboring electrodes with different weights, the perception of different pitches is possible (Virtual Channels). Two new sound processing strategies based on the principle of current steering have been designed. The strategies have been evaluated with cochlear implant patients in a chronical trial and using an automatic speech recognizer.