Abstract
Individual speech intelligibility was measured in quiet and noise for cochlear Implant recipients upgrading from the Freedom to the CP900 series sound processor. The postlingually deafened participants (n = 23) used either Nucleus CI24RE or CI512 cochlear implant, and currently wore a Freedom sound processor. A significant group mean improvement in speech intelligibility was found in quiet (Freiburg monosyllabic words at 50 dBSPL) and in noise (adaptive Oldenburger sentences in noise) for the two CP900 series SmartSound programs compared to the Freedom program. Further analysis was carried out on individual’s speech intelligibility outcomes in quiet and in noise. Results showed a significant improvement or decrement for some recipients when upgrading to the new programs. To further increase speech intelligibility outcomes when upgrading, an enhanced upgrade procedure is proposed that includes additional testing with different signal-processing schemes. Implications of this research are that future automated scene analysis and switching technologies could provide additional performance improvements by introducing individualized scene-dependent settings.
Highlights
Cochlear implant performanceCochlear implantation is currently a well-established method for restoring hearing to people with profound hearing loss
Individual speech intelligibility was measured in quiet and noise for cochlear Implant recipients upgrading from the Freedom to the CP900 series sound processor
A significant group mean improvement in speech intelligibility was found in quiet (Freiburg monosyllabic words at 50 dBSPL) and in noise for the two CP900 series SmartSound programs compared to the Freedom program
Summary
Cochlear implant performanceCochlear implantation is currently a well-established method for restoring hearing to people with profound hearing loss. Some performance improvements in noise can be achieved with current CI systems through the use of sound processing technologies, such as dynamic range optimization [4,5,6], noise reduction [7,8,9], and multi-microphone beam-forming techniques [10, 11]. Connected to this technological progress is an additional programming and speech-testing effort for individual recipients: The application of signal processing does not lead to an improvement in every individual case [11]. The integration of CI fitting in clinical routine is a topic with changing boundary conditions
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