Potential distributions and neural excitation patterns in a rotationally symmetric model of the electrically stimulated cochlea.

In spite of many satisfactory results, the clinical outcome of cochlear implantation is poorly predictable and further insight into the fundamentals of electrical nerve stimulation in this complex geometry is necessary. For this purpose we developed a rotationally symmetric volume conductor model of the implanted cochlea, using the Boundary Element Method (BEM). This configuration mimics the cochlear anatomy more closely than previous, unrolled models. The calculated potential distribution in the cochlea due to stimulating electrodes is combined with a multiple non-linear node model of auditory nerve fibres, which we recently developed. The combined model is used to compute excitation profiles of the auditory nerve for a variety of stimulus levels and electrode positions. The model predicts that the excitation threshold, the spatial selectivity and the dynamic range depend on the exact position of the electrode in the scala tympani. These results are in good agreement with recently published electrical ABR data. It is shown that the use of actively modelled nerve fibres is essential to obtain correct predictions for the biphasic stimuli typically used in cochlear implants and that unrolling the cochlear duct as done in previous models leads to erroneous predictions regarding modiolar stimulation.