Faculty Bibliography

It is well known that discrimination response variability increases with stimulus intensity, closely related to Weber's Law. It is also an axiom that sensation magnitude increases with stimulus intensity. Following earlier researchers such as Thurstone, Garner, and Durlach and Braida, we explored a new method of exploiting these relationships to estimate the power function exponent relating sound pressure level to loudness, using the accuracy with which listeners could identify the intensity of pure tones. The log standard deviation of the normally distributed identification errors increases linearly with stimulus range in decibels, and the slope, a, of the regression is proportional to the loudness exponent, n. Interestingly, in a demonstration experiment, the loudness exponent estimated in this way is greater for females than for males

Cochlear implants can restore hearing to deaf individuals by electrically stimulating the auditory nerve. They do so by assigning different frequencies to different stimulating electrodes via a frequency map. We have developed a device that enables us to change the frequency map in real time. Here, in normal-hearing adults listening to an acoustic simulation of a cochlear implant, we investigate what frequency maps are initially preferred, and how the ability to understand speech with that preferred map compares with two other maps. We show that naive listeners prefer a map that balances the need for low-frequency information with the desire for a naturally-sounding stimulus, and that initial performance with this listener-selected map is better than that with a map that distorts the signal to provide low-frequency information

This study assessed the effects of stimulus misidentification and memory processing errors on immediate memory span in 25 normal-hearing adults exposed to degraded auditory input simulating signals provided by a cochlear implant. The identification accuracy of degraded digits in isolation was measured before digit span testing. Forward and backward digit spans were shorter when digits were degraded than when they were normal. Participants' normal digit spans and their accuracy in identifying isolated digits were used to predict digit spans in the degraded speech condition. The observed digit spans in degraded conditions did not differ significantly from predicted digit spans. This suggests that the decrease in memory span is related primarily to misidentification of digits rather than memory processing errors related to cognitive load. These findings provide complementary information to earlier research on auditory memory span of listeners exposed to degraded speech either experimentally or as a consequence of a hearing-impairment

Cochlear implants are electrical prostheses that partially replace the functions of the human ear. They bypass normal hearing operation to directly simulate the auditory nerve with electric current. The input acoustic signal passes through a filter bank and the output of each filter modulates the energy of a stimulation waveform delivered to a different intra-cochlear electrode. This approach attempts to mimic the signal processing that takes place in a normal ear. When fitting a cochlear implant to a patient who has lost his hearing after learning language, one important problem is how to optimize the frequency range of the filter bank This optimization seeks a tradeoff between maximum speech perception and the patient\\\\\\\'s subjective preference. Unfortunately, currently available tools to change the frequency-to-electrode mapping (i.e., the frequencies of the filter bank) are cumbersome to use. In a previous project we developed a real time speech processor for the Nucleus-22 and Nucleus-24 cochlear implants, based on a common PC and additional hardware drivers. The present project involves the development of a similar system that is adjustable in real time. In other words, the patient can modify the frequency-to-electrode map using computer keystrokes, and a visual representation of the frequency range employed by the filter bank is displayed on the monitor. The patient adjusts the frequency range interactively and selects the preferred setting in a much faster way than can be accomplished with commercially available hardware. If successful, this approach may be implemented in the next generation of hardware used to program cochlear implants in the clinic

Like any other surgery requiring anesthesia, cochlear implantation in the first few years of life carries potential risks, which makes it important to assess the potential benefits. This study introduces a new method to assess the effect of age at implantation on cochlear implant outcomes: developmental trajectory analysis (DTA). DTA compares curves representing change in an outcome measure over time (i.e. developmental trajectories) for two groups of children that differ along a potentially important independent variable (e.g. age at intervention). This method was used to compare language development and speech perception outcomes in children who received cochlear implants in the second, third or fourth year of life. Within this range of age at implantation, it was found that implantation before the age of 2 resulted in speech perception and language advantages that were significant both from a statistical and a practical point of view. Additionally, the present results are consistent with the existence of a 'sensitive period' for language development, a gradual decline in language acquisition skills as a function of age

OBJECTIVE: Cochlear implants (CIs) attempt to mimic the tonotopicity of the normal ear by stimulating more basal regions of the cochlea in response to higher frequencies. However, there may be a mismatch between the normal place-frequency map and that implemented by a CI. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Aiming to measure this potential mismatch and its changes over time, the present study used a method-of-adjustment procedure where CI users and normal-hearing listeners selected synthetic vowels to match prespecified vowel targets. Data from CI users were obtained longitudinally, starting on the day of initial stimulation and continuing for 2 years. RESULTS: CI users showed a significant amount of initial mismatch with respect to the normal-hearing listeners, but they also showed significant learning and adaptation over time and achieved nearly normal performance after some experience with the CI. CONCLUSION: In general, the adaptation process took several months, suggesting that some CI users may benefit from alternative signal processing or rehabilitation procedures designed to facilitate perceptual learning after cochlear implantation

This study examined the effects of perceptual learning on nonword repetition performance of normal-hearing listeners who were exposed to severely degraded auditory conditions that were designed to simulate the auditory input of a cochlear implant. Twenty normal-hearing adult listeners completed a nonword repetition task using an eight-band, frequency-shifted cochlear implant simulation strategy both before and after training on open- and closed-set word recognition tasks. Feedback was provided during training. The nonword responses obtained from each participant were digitally recorded and played back to normal-hearing listeners. These listeners rated the nonword repetition accuracy in comparison to the original unprocessed target stimuli using a seven-point scale. The mean nonword accuracy ratings were significantly higher for the non words repeated after training than for non words repeated prior to training. These results suggest that the word recognition training tasks encouraged auditory perceptual learning that generalized to novel, nonword auditory stimuli. The present findings also suggest that adaptation and learning from the degraded auditory stimuli produced by a cochlear implant simulation can be achieved even in a difficult perceptual-motor task such as nonword repetition which involves both speech perception and production of an auditory stimulus that lacks any lexical or semantic representation