Electro-tactile stimulation (ETS) enhances cochlear-implant Mandarin tone recognition

World Journal of Otorhinolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery
Juan HuangFan-Gang Zeng

Abstract

Electro-acoustic stimulation (EAS) is an effective method to enhance cochlear-implant performance in individuals who have residual low-frequency acoustic hearing. To help the majority of cochlear implant users who do not have any functional residual acoustic hearing, electro-tactile stimulation (ETS) may be used because tactile sensation has a frequency range and perceptual capabilities similar to that produced by acoustic stimulation in the EAS users. Following up the first ETS study showing enhanced English sentence recognition in noise,1 the present study evaluated the effect of ETS on Mandarin tone recognition in noise in two groups of adult Mandarin-speaking individuals. The first group included 11 normal-hearing individuals who listened to a 4-channel, noise-vocoded, cochlear-implant simulation. The second group included 1 unilateral cochlear-implant user and 2 bilateral users with each of their devices being tested independently. Both groups participated in a 4-alternative, forced-choice task, in which they had to identify a tone that was presented in noise at a 0-dB signal-to-noise ratio via electric stimulation (actual or simulated cochlear implants), tactile stimulation or the combined ETS. While electric or tactile s...Continue Reading

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
cochlear implant
cochlear-implant
cochlear implants

Software Mentioned

Matlab

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