title: Deactivating stimulation sites based on low-rate thresholds improves spectral ripple and speech reception thresholds in cochlear implant users.
abstract: The study examined whether the benefit of deactivating stimulation sites estimated to have broad neural excitation was attributed to improved spectral resolution in cochlear implant users. The subjects' spatial neural excitation pattern was estimated by measuring low-rate detection thresholds across the array [see Zhou (2016). PLoS One 11, e0165476]. Spectral resolution, as assessed by spectral-ripple discrimination thresholds, significantly improved after deactivation of five high-threshold sites. The magnitude of improvement in spectral-ripple discrimination thresholds predicted the magnitude of improvement in speech reception thresholds after deactivation. Results suggested that a smaller number of relatively independent channels provide a better outcome than using all channels that might interact.
authors.affiliation: Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina 27834, USA zhoun@ecu.edu.
authors.forename: Ning
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zhou
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D001309:Auditory Threshold; D019929:Cochlear Implantation / Q000295:instrumentation*; D003054:Cochlear Implants; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D006309:Hearing; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D006801:Humans; D019986:Persons with Hearing Disabilities / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D011474:Prosthesis Design; D011571:Psychoacoustics; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D013067:Speech Perception; D013069:Speech Reception Threshold Test