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J Am Acad Audiol 2017; 28(03): 187-199
DOI: 10.3766/jaaa.15063
Articles
Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.

Pitch Matching between Electrical Stimulation of a Cochlear Implant and Acoustic Stimuli Presented to a Contralateral Ear with Residual Hearing

Authors

  • Chin-Tuan Tan

    *   Department of Otolaryngology, NYU School of Medicine, New York, NY

  • Brett Martin

    †   Speech and Hearing Sciences, Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, NY

  • Mario A. Svirsky

    *   Department of Otolaryngology, NYU School of Medicine, New York, NY
Further Information

Publication History

Publication Date:
26 June 2020 (online)

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Abstract

Background:

Cochlear implants (CIs) successfully restore hearing in postlingually deaf adults, but in doing so impose a frequency-position function in the cochlea that may differ from the physiological one.

Purpose:

The CI-imposed frequency-position function is determined by the frequency allocation table programmed into the listener's speech processor and by the location of the electrode array along the cochlea. To what extent can postlingually deaf CI users successfully adapt to the difference between physiological and CI-imposed frequency-position functions?

Research Design:

We attempt to answer the question by combining behavioral measures of electroacoustic pitch matching (PM) and measures of electrode location within the cochlea.

Study Sample:

The participants in this study were 16 adult CI users with residual hearing who could match the pitch of acoustic pure tones presented to their unimplanted ears to the pitch resulting from stimulation of different CI electrodes.

Data Collection and Analysis:

We obtained data for four to eight apical electrodes from 16 participants with CIs (most of whom were long-term users), and estimated electrode insertion angle for 12 of these participants. PM functions in this group were compared with the two frequency-position functions discussed above.

Results:

Taken together, the findings were consistent with the possibility that adaptation to the frequency-position function imposed by CIs does happen, but it is not always complete.

Conclusions:

Some electrodes continue to be perceived as higher pitched than the acoustic frequencies with which they are associated despite years of listening experience after cochlear implantation.

Key Words

auditory adaptation - cochlear implant - electric-to-acoustic pitch matching

Author C.T. was supported by NIH/NIDCD grant number 1K25DC010834-01; author M.S. was supported by NIH/NIDCD grant numbers R01-DC03937 and R01-DC011329; author B.M. was supported by a PSC-CUNY grant. This research was also supported by a research contract from Cochlear Americas (P.I.: J. Thomas Roland Jr.).