[Tone recognition and electrode discrimination in prelingually deafened cochlear-implant listeners].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate tone recognition and electrode discrimination in prelingually deafened children with the Nucleus device, and to develop guidelines for customized mapping in the implant users.


METHODS
Fourteen prelingually deafened children with cochlear implants participated in this study. Tone recognition was measured with a four-alternative, forced choice procedure from 25 consonant-vowel syllables, each of which had four tonal variations. Electrode discrimination was measured using a same-difference procedure on 7 pairs of electrodes covering the entire electrode array.


RESULTS
Tone recognition ranged from 35% to 99% correct with a mean of 62.8% and standard deviation of 14.7% in these users. Electrode discrimination had the mean threshold of 3.4 +/- 0.9, with the best performance from the middle electrodes (E 14 and E 17) at 2.6 and the followed performance at the most apical electrode (E 20).


CONCLUSIONS
The results showed significant individual differences from both tone recognition and electrode discrimination, but there is significant correlation between them.
Wei
Chao-gang
CG
Cochlear Implant Center, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing 100730, China.
Cao
Ke-li
KL
Chen
Xiao-wei
XW
Jin
Xin
X
Zheng
Zhen-yu
ZY
Zeng
Fan-gang
FG
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D019929:Cochlear Implantation; D003054:Cochlear Implants; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D004566:Electrodes; D004867:Equipment Design; D005260:Female; D006319:Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / Q000534:rehabilitation / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D007804:Language Development; D008297:Male; D013063:Speech Discrimination Tests; D013067:Speech Perception