Sensitivity to pulse phase duration and implications for intensity coding in cochlear implant

In cochlear implants (CIs), electric charge is the most fundamental aspects of intra-cochlear electric stimulation. While many stimulation parameters can contribute to the loudness of a pulse train (e.g., stimulation mode, stimulation rate, inter-phase gap), the pulse amplitude (PA) and pulse phase duration (PPD) are the dominant parameters. Loudness grows more slowly with increasing PPD than with increasing PA, and the slower loudness growth may reflect the degree of "leakiness" of the stimulated neurons. This neural degeneration appears to be associated with hearing loss. As such, sensitivity to PPD may be a useful marker of neural degeneration across electrodes/CI recipients. In the present proposal, we aim to investigate the efficacy of using sensitivity to PPD to probe the neural status in CI users and compare it other established correlates of neural health.

Scholars @ ECU