Individualised and self-adapting sound processing for cochlear - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Individualised and self-adapting sound processing for cochlear implants

• Prof. Dr. Tom Francart

ExpORL, Dept. Neurosciences, KU Leuven

3 December 2014

ISIFit - ERC Starting Grant

Problem definition

• CI Sound processor: sound → series of electrical pulses

– Different strategies – Many parameters, ideally set individually

• Fitting of parameters

– By highly trained audiologist – Time consuming: minimal number of parameters is fitted individually

• Consequences

– Speech intelligibility not optimal – Problem to cope with increasing number of implantees

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ISIFit - ERC Starting Grant

Current situation - fitting session

• Fitting session

– By highly trained audiologist – Limited number of fitting parameters (threshold and comfortable stimulation levels for each electrode) – Infrequently (yearly)

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ISIFit - ERC Starting Grant

Current situation - daily operation

• Daily operation

– No audiologist present – Open-loop system

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ISIFit - ERC Starting Grant

ERC project proposal: closed-loop CI

• Closed-loop CI that automatically adapts to an individual

patient using measurements of brain activity from implanted electrodes

– Better individualisation → Improved speech intelligibility – Automatic → Reduced workload in clinic

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ISIFit - ERC Starting Grant

Unique aspects

Electrical Engineering Audiology Neuroscience Multidisciplinary

Perfect control over the stimulus and signal processing Evaluation with normal-hearing and hearing-impaired test subjects using well-defined audiological measures Combine neuroscience with models

• f the auditory periphery

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ISIFit - ERC Starting Grant

Societal significance

• Improved fitting

→ Improved speech intelligibilitiy → Improved communication → Improved quality of life

• Improved time efficiency in clinic

→ More time for other revalidation aspects → Time to follow-up more patients

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