Binaural sensitivity as a function of interaural electrode position with a bilateral cochlear implant user

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Abstract
Experiments were conducted with a single, bilateral cochlear implant user to examine interaural level and time-delay cues that putatively underlie the design and efficacy of bilateral implant systems. The subject’s two implants were of different types but custom equipment allowed presentation of controlled bilateral stimuli, particularly those with specified interaural time difference (ITD) and interaural level difference (ILD) cues. A lateralization task was used to measure the effect of these cues on the perceived location of the sensations elicited. For trains of fixed-amplitude, biphasic current pulses at 100 pps, the subject demonstrated sensitivity to an ITD of 300 μs, providing evidence of access to binaural information. The choice of bilateral electrode pair greatly influenced ITD sensitivity, suggesting that electrode pairings are likely to be an important consideration in the effort to provide binaural advantages. The selection of bilateral electrode pairs showing sensitivity to ITD was partially aided by comparisons of the pitch elicited by individual electrodes in each ear (when stimulated alone with fixed-amplitude current pulses at 813 pps): specifically, interaural electrodes with similar pitches were more likely (but not certain) to show ITD sensitivity. Significant changes in lateral position occurred with specific electrode pairs. With five bilateral electrode pairs of 14 tested, ITDs of 300 and 600 μs moved an auditory image significantly from right to left. With these same pairs, ILD changes of ≈11% of the dynamic range (in μApp) moved an auditory image from the far left to the far right—significantly farther than the nine pairs not showing significant ITD sensitivity. However, even these nine pairs did show response changes as a function of the interaural (or confounding monaural) level cue. Overall, insofar as the access to bilateral cues demonstrated herein generalizes to other subjects, it provides hope that the normal binaural advantages for speech recognition and sound localization can be made available to bilateral implant users.

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