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Modeling Sound Localization with Cochlear Implants

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Book cover The Technology of Binaural Listening

Part of the book series: Modern Acoustics and Signal Processing ((MASP))

Abstract

This chapter describes a model framework for evaluating the precision of as to which interaural time differences, ITD, are represented in the left- and right-ear auditory-nerve responses. This approach is very versatile, as it allows not only for the evaluation of spiking neuronal responses from models of intact inner ears but also of responses of the deaf ears of cochlear implantees. The model framework delivers quantitative data and, therefore, enables comparisons between different cochlear-implant coding strategies. As the model of electric excitation of the auditory nerve also includes effects such as channel crosstalk, neuronal adaptation and mismatch of electrode positions between left and right ears, its predictive power is much higher than an analysis of the electrical impulses delivered to the electrodes. Evaluation of a novel fine-structure-coding strategy as used by a major implant manufacturer, revealed that, in a best case scenario, sophisticated strategies should be able to provide ITD cues with sufficient precision for sound localization. However, whether these cues can actually be exploited by cochlear implant users has yet to be determined by listening tests. Nevertheless, the model framework introduced here is a valuable tool for the development and pre-evaluation of bilateral cochlear implant coding strategies.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    This concept is realized in the MAESTRO cochlear implant system by MED-EL in the lowest-frequency channels, which stimulate the most apical electrodes.

  2. 2.

    Data not shown.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research within the Munich Bernstein Center of Computational Neuroscience, ref.# 01GQ1004B and 01GQ1004D, and MED-EL Innsbruck. The authors thank V. Hohmann, F.-M. Hoffmann, P. Nopp, J. Blauert and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments.

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  1. Bio-Inspired Information Processing, Institute of Medical Engineering, Technische Universität München, Garching, Germany

    M. Nicoletti, Chr. Wirtz & W. Hemmert

  2. MED-EL Deutschland GmbH, Starnberg, Germany

    Chr. Wirtz

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  1. Fak. Elektrotechnik, LS Allgm.Elektrotechn.+Akustik, Univ. Bochum, Bochum, Germany

    Jens Blauert

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Nicoletti, M., Wirtz, C., Hemmert, W. (2013). Modeling Sound Localization with Cochlear Implants. In: Blauert, J. (eds) The Technology of Binaural Listening. Modern Acoustics and Signal Processing. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-37762-4_12

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