From electric acoustic stimulation to improved sound coding in cochlear implants.

Research into electric acoustic stimulation (EAS) indicates that performance improves when acoustic stimulation is added to electric stimulation in subjects with residual low-frequency acoustic hearing. Research further indicates that information from the voice fundamental frequency (F(0)) region accounts for the majority of the added speech perception benefit with EAS. This implies that improved frequency coding in the low frequencies could hold great potential for improving performance with cochlear implants (CIs). Results with new speech coding strategies such as fine structure processing indeed indicate that with improved low-frequency coding, at least some of the benefits of EAS can be translated to regular CI users. Copyright 2010 S. Karger AG, Basel.