Abstract
Simultaneous or near-simultaneous activation of adjacent cochlear implant electrodes can produce pitch percepts intermediate to those produced by each electrode separately, thereby increasing the number of place-pitch steps available to cochlear implant listeners. To estimate how many distinct pitches could be generated with simultaneous dual-electrode stimulation, the present study measured place-pitch discrimination thresholds for single- versus dual-electrode stimuli in users of the Clarion CII device. Discrimination thresholds were expressed as the proportion of current directed to the secondary electrode of the dual-electrode pair. For 16 of 17 electrode pairs tested in six subjects, thresholds ranged from 0.11 to 0.64, suggesting that dual-electrode stimuli can produce 2-9 discriminable pitches between the pitches of single electrodes. Some subjects demonstrated a level effect, with better place-pitch discrimination at higher stimulus levels. Equal loudness was achieved with dual-electrode stimuli at net current levels that were similar to or slightly higher than those for single-electrode stimuli.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 623-626 |
| Number of pages | 4 |
| Journal | Journal of the Acoustical Society of America |
| Volume | 118 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Aug 2005 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This research was supported by NIDCD Grant Nos. P01-DC00110 and R01-DC006699. Edward Overstreet and Lakshmi Mishra contributed to the conceptual development of this research. Andrew Oxenham and two anonymous reviewers provided helpful comments on an earlier version of the manuscript. The authors thank the six subjects who participated in this study. 1