title: Fitting prelingually deafened adult cochlear implant users based on electrode discrimination performance.
abstract: This study investigated the hypotheses that (1) prelingually deafened CI users do not have perfect electrode discrimination ability and (2) the deactivation of non-discriminable electrodes can improve auditory performance.
  
  
  
  Electrode discrimination difference limens were determined for all electrodes of the array. The subjects' basic map was subsequently compared to an experimental map, which contained only discriminable electrodes, with respect to speech understanding in quiet and in noise, listening effort, spectral ripple discrimination and subjective appreciation.
  
  
  
  Subjects were six prelingually deafened, late implanted adults using the Nucleus cochlear implant.
  
  
  
  Electrode discrimination difference limens across all subjects and electrodes ranged from 0.5 to 7.125, with significantly larger limens for basal electrodes. No significant differences were found between the basic map and the experimental map on auditory tests. Subjective appreciation was found to be significantly poorer for the experimental map.
  
  
  
  Prelingually deafened CI users were unable to discriminate between all adjacent electrodes. There was no difference in auditory performance between the basic and experimental map. Potential factors contributing to the absence of improvement with the experimental map include the reduced number of maxima, incomplete adaptation to the new frequency allocation, and the mainly basal location of deactivated electrodes.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery , Maastricht University Medical Center , Maastricht , The Netherlands.|b School for Mental Health and Neuroscience, Maastricht University , Maastricht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Joke A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Debruyne
authors.affiliation: c Leuven Department of Neurosciences , KU , ExpORL , Belgium.
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Francart
authors.affiliation: a Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery , Maastricht University Medical Center , Maastricht , The Netherlands.|d School for Public Health and Primary Care (CAPHRI) , Department of Methodology and Statistics , Maastricht University , Maastricht , The Netherlands , and.
authors.forename: A Miranda L
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Janssen
authors.affiliation: a Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery , Maastricht University Medical Center , Maastricht , The Netherlands.|e Adelante , Center of Expertise in Rehabilitation and Audiology , Hoensbroek , The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Kim
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Douma
authors.affiliation: a Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery , Maastricht University Medical Center , Maastricht , The Netherlands.|b School for Mental Health and Neuroscience, Maastricht University , Maastricht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Jan P L
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Brokx
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone; D001302:Audiometry, Speech; D019929:Cochlear Implantation / Q000295:instrumentation*; D003054:Cochlear Implants; D032882:Comprehension; D003638:Deafness / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological; D005260:Female; D006309:Hearing; D006801:Humans; D008144:Loudness Perception; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019986:Persons with Hearing Disabilities / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D011474:Prosthesis Design; D017755:Prosthesis Fitting; D011571:Psychoacoustics; D013018:Sound Spectrography; D013065:Speech Intelligibility; D013067:Speech Perception; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: Cochlear implant; Cochlear implant fitting; Electrode discrimination; Prelingual deafness; Psychoacoustics; Spectral ripple discrimination; Speech perception