Improving speech perception outcomes in deaf adults and children using cochlear implants

Funding Activity

Website
http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/145724

Funding Status
Closed

Does something not look right? The information on this page has been harvested from data sources that may not be up to date. We continue to work with information providers to improve coverage and quality. To report an issue, use the .

Funded Activity Summary

This project aims to further improve on speech understanding by deaf adults and children using the cochlear implant. In particular, we aim to individually modify the speech coding scheme on the basis of the basic hearing skills of the subject. In this manner, more speech information should be available and the users will likely gain more benefit from their cochlear implants. The speech processing strategy of the multiple-electrode cochlear implant, manufactured by the Australian biomedical company Cochlear Limited, codes acoustic frequency information on electrodes which are located in the cochlea. The assignment of frequencies to electrodes is consistent with the ordering of pitch in the cochlea. For optimum performance, all electrodes would need to be perceptually distinct from each other. Recent research with adults and children has shown that this is not the case for a number of subjects as adjacent electrodes sound the same. Thus important speech information may not be heard by these subjects. In this project, we will determine how well adults and children are able to hear differences between the electrodes, and then provide speech processing schemes which exclude those electrodes which sound the same as others in close proximity. The project will compare these modified strategies with the standard strategy currently used by the subjects over time, so that any differences in the way adults and children are able to improve on speech understanding will be determined. As far as can be determined, this project will be the first investigation to improve on speech understanding in children using the cochlear implant.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 01-01-2001

End Date: 01-01-2002

Funding Scheme: NHMRC Project Grants

Funding Amount: $160,604.00

Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

Rehabilitation And Therapy: Hearing And Speech

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

There are no SEO codes available for this funding activity

Other Keywords

adults | children | cochlear implant | deafness | speech perception

Related Links