Combining acoustic and electric stimulation in the service of speech recognition.
The majority of recently implanted, cochlear implant patients can potentially benefit from a hearing aid in the ear contralateral to the implant. When patients combine electric and acoustic stimulation, word recognition in quiet and sentence recognition in noise increase significantly. Several studies suggest that the acoustic information that leads to the increased level of performance resides mostly in the frequency region of the voice fundamental, e.g. 125 Hz for a male voice. Recent studies suggest that this information aids speech recognition in noise by improving the recognition of lexical boundaries or word onsets. In some noise environments, patients with bilateral implants can achieve similar levels of performance as patients who combine electric and acoustic stimulation. Patients who have undergone hearing preservation surgery, and who have electric stimulation from a cochlear implant and who have low-frequency hearing in both the implanted and not-implanted ears, achieve the best performance in a high noise environment.
Dorman
Michael F
MF
Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, USA. mdorman@asu.edu
Gifford
Rene H
RH
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D001299:Audiometry; D001309:Auditory Threshold; D019929:Cochlear Implantation / Q000295:instrumentation*; D003054:Cochlear Implants; D012048:Correction of Hearing Impairment; D003463:Cues; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D006801:Humans; D009622:Noise / Q000009:adverse effects*; D010470:Perceptual Masking; D011474:Prosthesis Design; D017603:Signal Detection, Psychological; D013065:Speech Intelligibility; D013067:Speech Perception