Work

Mapping procedures can produce non-centered auditory images in bilateral cochlear implantees

Year: 2013

Type: article

Abstract: Good localization accuracy depends on an auditory spatial map that provides consistent binaural information across frequency and level. This study investigated whether mapping bilateral cochlear implants (CIs) independently contributes to distorted perceptual spatial maps. In a meta-analysis, interaural level differences necessary to perceptually center sound images were calculated for 127 pitch-matched pairs of electrodes; many needed large current adjustments to be perceptually centered. In a separate experiment, lateralization was also found to be inconsistent across levels. These findings suggest that auditory spatial maps are distorted in the mapping process, which likely reduces localization accuracy and target-noise separation in bilateral CIs.

Source: The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

DOI: 10.1121/1.4776772

Authors: Matthew J. Goupell, Alan Kan, Ruth Y. Litovsky

Institutions: University of Maryland, College Park, University of Wisconsin–Madison

Language: English

Topic: Hearing Loss and Rehabilitation

Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience

Field: Neuroscience

Domain: Life Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development