New Cochlear Implant Sound Processing Strategies for Children and Adults with Deafness

What this Trial Is About

Researchers are studying how people with cochlear implants perform in hearing tasks, aiming to improve sound perception and better understand how the auditory system works. This study compares individuals with cochlear implants to those without, focusing on differences in age, hearing history, and residual hearing. The goal is to explore how changes in cochlear implant coding strategies might enhance hearing and speech recognition, especially in children implanted at an early age. Participants will be grouped based on age and hearing status, including post-lingually implanted adults, early implanted children and adults, children with aided residual hearing, and normal hearing controls. Different sound stimuli and coding strategies will be tested using electrical stimulation across various electrodes, measuring loudness growth, temporal resolution, and spectral resolution. Testing involves presenting sounds in a controlled sound booth environment with various assessments like gap detection and spectral modulation tests. During the study, participants will attend baseline and follow-up visits to evaluate changes in hearing measures over time, particularly between the initial visit and 10 weeks later. Researchers will collect data on loudness perception, temporal and spectral resolution, and speech recognition using various tests. The study also includes monitoring participant responses to different cochlear implant maps and strategies to assess potential improvements in hearing performance.

Novel Coding Strategies for Children With Cochlear Implants