07261
Title: Informational Masking and Spectral Resolution in Cochlear Implant Users
Author: Rabia Farooquee
Mentor: Fan-Gang Zeng, Ginger Stickney
A cochlear implant is a multi electrode device that can restore functional hearing for a deafened
person through the electric stimulation of the residual auditory nerve. Masker uncertainty was
examined in relation to spectral resolution. It is unclear that due to their poor spectral resolution,
cochlear implant users are more susceptible to masker uncertainty than normal hearing listeners. In
the experiment, masker uncertainty was examined in relation to spectral resolution. Due to their poor
spectral resolution, cochlear implant users may be more susceptible to masker uncertainty than
normal hearing listeners. With masker repetition, some users may be able to eventually extract
enough invariant acoustic information about the masker (such as its spectral or temporal pattern) to
identify the masker separate from the target, which may aid segregation of target from masker.
However, when the masker varies randomly from one trial to the next, it is very difficult for cochlear
implant users to segregate the target from the masker, even with significantly more experience. Based
on the test results for normal hearing listeners, subjects were able to identify the target sentences to a
larger extent when the masker was fixed. With a randomized masker, subjects scored lower as
hypothesized. The testing of cochlear implant users is in process; the results will answer whether
cochlear implant users are more susceptible to masker uncertainty than normal hearing listeners.