Bilateral CI Setup
Pod triggering hardware
For bilateral streaming, we use two sets of L34 and Cochlear Programming pod, and their trigger feature
for synchronization. The two pods are connected by a synchronization cable (trigger cable), one of them
waits for a trigger signal before beginning to stream, and the other one generates a trigger signal when
starting to stream.
1. Trigger port
This is the 3.5mm jack on the right side (when looking at the Cochlear logo) of a pod.
It is used as either the output port of generated trigger signals or the input port for external
trigger signals, which is selected by the switch on the other side.
The NIC software needs to send special commands to make use of this port. Otherwise this port
is simply ignored.
2. Trigger signal in/out selection switch
This is the toggle switch on the left side of a pod.
It determines whether the trigger port is used for input or output.
When it is set to input
, the LED on its L34 lights up green indicating it will be waiting for
a trigger signal before starting to stream. However, without proper NIC software commands,
this switch is silently ignored and streaming begins regardless of trigger signals.
When it’s set to output
, the pod can generate trigger signals upon proper NIC software
commands to trigger other pods or devices.
3. Synchronization cable
This looks like a regular stereo audio cable with 3.5mm 3-conductor plugs on both ends. But its
ring connection (the middle conductor of the plug) must be disconnected. (Cut the white wire
inside a regular 3-wire stereo audio cable.)
ground
not connected
trigger
Bilateral setup procedure
1. Connect the two Cochlear Programming Pods by plugging each end of the synchronization cable
(trigger cable) into each pod’s trigger port (3.5 mm jack).
(OSU CI Lab: Currently we have only one of these cables, which is kept in the inside pocket of
the pod case labeled “L-34#2”)
2. Set the switch of each pod to the opposite position. (The left pod for input and the right for
output)
3. Turn on the L34s. The left one’s LED should have green light on and the right one’s should be off.
4. Edit bi_aceplayer.ini so that the [PROCESSOR] section has both L34-CIC4-1 and L34-CIC4-2 (CIC3
can be used instead of CIC4). Start the BiAcePlayer and wait for the MCR initialization to finish.
Make sure the status line shows “L34-CIC4-1 L34-CIC4-2 Bi”.
5. Test streaming with only map A. The green light on the left L34 should turn red during
streaming.
If the right L34’s LED lights up in red, you got the left and right devices reversely. Rearrange the
devices and set the pod switches accordingly. You may need to power-cycle the L34s and restart
BiAcePlayer after flipping the switches.
6. Test streaming with only map B. The LED on the right L34 should light up in red during
streaming.
7. Test streaming with both map A and map B. Make sure the LEDs on both L34s turn red and go
back to the original state simultaneously. If not, check if the toggle switches on the pods are at
the correct position, and the connection of the trigger cable.
8. Now you are ready for bilateral streaming.
BiAcePlayer
1. You need to supply bi_aceplayer.ini , aceproXXXXA.dll , and mxaceYY_XXXXA.dll. All of them can
be shared with, or copied from, AcePlayer.
2. In bilateral setup (dual devices), BiAcePlayer prohibits streaming using map A unless its subject
name ends with an ‘L’, and map B with subject name not ending with a ‘R’. This is a safety
feature.
3. You can use BiAcePlayer in unilateral setup (single device), but then you cannot stream using
map B. This is mainly for testing with emulator (L34-CIC4-0).
bi_aceplayer.ini
1. [PROCESSOR] can have “SPRINT”, “L34-CIC3[4]-0” or “L34-CIC3[4]-1 L34-CIC3[4]-2”. Can be
either single-line or multi-line when specifying two devices.
2. [TRIGGER DELAY IN MS] specifies the delay of trigger propagation in milliseconds. This will be
added to the power-up frames duration of the triggering (right) channel in order to compensate
the delay (to wait for the other, triggered (left) channel to respond to the trigger signal). The
default is 14.132ms.
3. [POWER-UP FRAMES DURATION IN MS] is same as AcePlayer. The default is 200ms.
4. [MAKE STREAM FILE NIC2] can be 0 or 1. If 1, BiAcePlayer generates “qstream_l.xml” and / or
“qstream_r.xml” for each streaming through NIC2.