Project overview
Stimulus Fund Project
Cochlear implants (CI) are the most effective neuroprosthetic device, allowing people with severe to profound hearing impairment to access speech and communicate verbally. There are roughly 100,000 CI users globally. With ever improving health infrastructure, technology and surgical techniques implant numbers are increasing proportionally each year. Despite the significant benefits afforded by CI in terms of speech recognition and environmental sound awareness, music perception and enjoyment can be limited. The reasons for this limitation are complex and include: biological variability, the electrode-tissue interface, acoustic conditions and CI device signal processing strategies.
The proposed project has 2 aims that are made possible through the interdisciplinary team’s complementary skills and experience. 1) Optimise signal processing of music to allow improved access and enjoyment 2) Gain access to unprecedented volumes of subjective CI user data to learn more about the function of the auditory brain when using a CI.
Cochlear implants (CI) are the most effective neuroprosthetic device, allowing people with severe to profound hearing impairment to access speech and communicate verbally. There are roughly 100,000 CI users globally. With ever improving health infrastructure, technology and surgical techniques implant numbers are increasing proportionally each year. Despite the significant benefits afforded by CI in terms of speech recognition and environmental sound awareness, music perception and enjoyment can be limited. The reasons for this limitation are complex and include: biological variability, the electrode-tissue interface, acoustic conditions and CI device signal processing strategies.
The proposed project has 2 aims that are made possible through the interdisciplinary team’s complementary skills and experience. 1) Optimise signal processing of music to allow improved access and enjoyment 2) Gain access to unprecedented volumes of subjective CI user data to learn more about the function of the auditory brain when using a CI.
