Cochlear implants are highly successful neural prostheses that enhance or restore hearing to the severely hearing impaired. However, performance varies considerably among cochlear implant listeners, particularly in noisy environments and for spectrally complex stimuli like music. We have developed fast and reliable tools to assess patterns of perceptual responses that are fairly predictive of variability in performance outcomes. These new procedures, established in adults, will allow for the first systematic investigation of single-channel performance measures and their relation to listening performance in children with cochlear implants. The results will guide the refinement of listener-tailored programming methods, leading to improvements in listening abilities.
Three aims are proposed: 1) to develop and assess listener-tailored cochlear implant programming, based on the focusing or deactivation of select channels, that will improve performance on complex listening tasks; 2) to assess the degree to which chronic listening experience enhances performance with listener-tailored strategies; and 3) to establish our first understanding of basic psychophysical measures in prelingually deaf and early implanted children to define the best route towards pediatric, listener-tailored programming approaches. The results of these studies are expected to advance our understanding of how cochlear implants should be programmed to best deliver spectrally challenging stimuli. Ultimately, the findings may lead to improved functional outcomes for both pediatric and adult cochlear implant listeners and provide insight into how the auditory system develops with altered input through a cochlear implant.

Public Health Relevance

For people with severe hearing loss a cochlear implant is surgically placed in the inner ear and converts environmental sounds into electrical pulses that stimulate the auditory nerve to produce the sensation of hearing. Although generally successful, there remains substantial variability in the overall outcomes for both children and adult with cochlear implants. The main goals of this project are i) to use the tools we have developed to test cochlear implant function within adult listeners and use them for the first time in children, and ii) to apply the knowledge about implant functioning to test and develop new methods for programming cochlear implants.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01DC012142-09
Application #
9685178
Study Section
Auditory System Study Section (AUD)
Program Officer
Miller, Roger
Project Start
2012-02-01
Project End
2022-03-31
Budget Start
2019-04-01
Budget End
2020-03-31
Support Year
9
Fiscal Year
2019
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary
Department
Type
DUNS #
073825945
City
Boston
State
MA
Country
United States
Zip Code
02114
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Jahn, Kelly N; DiNino, Mishaela; Arenberg, Julie G (2018) Reducing Simulated Channel Interaction Reveals Differences in Phoneme Identification Between Children and Adults With Normal Hearing. Ear Hear :
Arenberg, Julie G; Parkinson, Wendy S; Litvak, Leonid et al. (2018) A Dynamically Focusing Cochlear Implant Strategy Can Improve Vowel Identification in Noise. Ear Hear 39:1136-1145
DeVries, Lindsay; Scheperle, Rachel; Bierer, Julie Arenberg (2016) Assessing the Electrode-Neuron Interface with the Electrically Evoked Compound Action Potential, Electrode Position, and Behavioral Thresholds. J Assoc Res Otolaryngol 17:237-52
Bierer, Julie A; Litvak, Leonid (2016) Reducing Channel Interaction Through Cochlear Implant Programming May Improve Speech Perception: Current Focusing and Channel Deactivation. Trends Hear 20:
Cosentino, Stefano; Carlyon, Robert P; Deeks, John M et al. (2016) Rate discrimination, gap detection and ranking of temporal pitch in cochlear implant users. J Assoc Res Otolaryngol 17:371-82
Bierer, Julie Arenberg; Spindler, Eugene; Bierer, Steven M et al. (2016) An Examination of Sources of Variability Across the Consonant-Nucleus-Consonant Test in Cochlear Implant Listeners. Trends Hear 20:
DiNino, Mishaela; Wright, Richard A; Winn, Matthew B et al. (2016) Vowel and consonant confusions from spectrally manipulated stimuli designed to simulate poor cochlear implant electrode-neuron interfaces. J Acoust Soc Am 140:4404
Bierer, Julie Arenberg; Deeks, John M; Billig, Alexander J et al. (2015) Comparison of signal and gap-detection thresholds for focused and broad cochlear implant electrode configurations. J Assoc Res Otolaryngol 16:273-84
Bierer, Julie A; Bierer, Steven M; Kreft, Heather A et al. (2015) A fast method for measuring psychophysical thresholds across the cochlear implant array. Trends Hear 19:

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