Interaural bimodal pitch matching with two-formant vowels

Authors

  • François Guérit Centre for Applied Hearing Research, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark
  • Josef Chalupper Advanced Bionics European Research Center GmbH, Hanover, Germany
  • Sébastien Santurette Centre for Applied Hearing Research, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6868-5734
  • Iris Arweiler Advanced Bionics European Research Center GmbH, Hanover, Germany
  • Torsten Dau Centre for Applied Hearing Research, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark

Abstract

For bimodal patients, with a hearing aid (HA) in one ear and a cochlear implant (CI) in the opposite ear, usually a default frequency-to-electrode map is used in the CI. This assumes that the human brain can adapt to interaural place-pitch mismatches. This ‘one-size-fits-all’ method might be partly responsible for the large variability of individual bimodal benefit. Therefore, knowledge about the location of the electrode array is an important prerequisite for optimum fitting. Theoretically, the electrode location can be determined from CT scans. However, these are often not available in audiological practice. Behavioral pitch matching between the two ears has also been suggested, but has been shown to be tedious and unreliable. Here, an alternative method using two-formant vowels was developed and tested with a vocoder system simulating different CI insertion depths. The hypothesis was that patients may more easily identify vowels than perform a classical pitch-matching task. A spectral shift is inferred by comparing vowel spaces, measured by presenting the first formant in the HA and the second either in the HA or the CI. Results suggest that pitch mismatches can be derived from such vowel spaces. In order to take auditory adaptation in individual patients into account, the method is tested with CI patients with contralateral residual hearing.

References

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Published

2013-12-15

How to Cite

Guérit, F., Chalupper, J., Santurette, S., Arweiler, I., & Dau, T. (2013). Interaural bimodal pitch matching with two-formant vowels. Proceedings of the International Symposium on Auditory and Audiological Research, 4, 333–340. Retrieved from https://proceedings.isaar.eu/index.php/isaarproc/article/view/2013-37

Issue

Vol. 4 (2013): Auditory Plasticity - Listening with the Brain

Section

2013/6. New processing and fitting strategies in cochlear implants

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