Research could lead to customized cochlear implants
Research could lead to better hearing in noisy environments

Date:
October 19, 2020
Source:
University of Sydney
Summary:
Researcher have analyzed the accuracy of predictions for cochlear
implant outcomes, with a view to further improve their performance
in noisy environments.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Cochlear implants are a groundbreaking technology that has changed the
lives of many people living with severe to profound hearing loss.


========================================================================== University of Sydney School of Biomedical Engineering researcher,
Dr Greg Watkins, hears with the assistance of two cochlear implants
after experiencing profound deafness in both ears following a 30-year
career as an electrical engineer. Despite his profound deafness, with
the help of his cochlear implant he has been able to complete a PhD in biomedical engineering.

Dr Watkins' desire to help others living with deafness, his personal
experience and career in engineering, motivated him to research cochlear implants. Now, his new paper has analysed the accuracy of predictions
for cochlear implant outcomes with a view to further improving their performance in environments with lots of background noise.

Published in Ear and Hearing the paper presents a new method for the
prediction of speech perception for individual recipients, providing a methodology that could make patient trials more efficient, potentially
leading to implants that are personalised to an individual's listening capability.

"My hearing deteriorated over a number of years and even with powerful
hearing aids I had great difficulty having a conversation. Cochlear
implants have helped to restore my hearing and stay connected socially
and professionally," said Dr Watkins, who received his doctorate earlier
this month.

"Cochlear implants often provide near-perfect speech perception in quiet conditions, but hearing can still be improved in noisy environments,
like in cafe's or near traffic, compared to having no hearing loss.



========================================================================== "Evaluation of new sound processing ideas and testing them on recipients
is a lengthy process. We have developed a metric which reliably predicts cochlear implant speech intelligibility in a range of conditions,
allowing for more sound processing ideas to be tested.

"We took existing hearing test results for cochlear implant recipients
and, using the output signal to noise ratio (OSNR) metric, accurately
predicted how well they would hear in a range of quite different listening conditions.

"Potentially, this metric could be used to develop configurations which
are customised to an individual recipient's unique hearing capabilities,"
said Dr Watkins.

The study was conducted under the supervision of Head of School of
Biomedical Engineering, Professor Gregg Suaning and Dr Brett Swanson,
a researcher at Cochlear Ltd. Professor Suaning said the research could
lead to better outcomes for implant recipients.

"Cochlear implants are already extraordinary devices and have transformed
the lives of hundreds of thousands of people world-wide," said Professor Suaning.



========================================================================== "Despite their successes, there remain areas such as the cochlear
implant's performance in noisy environments where a personalised approach
in taking the sound from the environment and translating that into
electrical stimulation could conceivably make a world of difference."
Dr Swanson said Dr Watkins' research could reduce the amount of time
needed to test the viability of new cochlear implant algorithms.

"A cochlear implant stimulates the auditory nerve directly, so if you're a researcher with normal hearing, you can't listen to it yourself. Instead,
we rely on dedicated volunteers with cochlear implants who spend hours
in sound- proof rooms listening to sentences in noise and telling us
what they hear. It is vital work, but mentally draining. This research
has the potential to drastically reduce the amount of time that we need
from our volunteers," said Dr Swanson.

HOW THE RESEARCH WORKED The study was conducted as a retrospective
analysis of existing clinical data sets. Each data set contained hearing
test results of cochlear implant recipients in several test conditions.

The test condition closest to the recipient's "everyday" listening
condition was taken as a reference and the scores in that condition
mapped to a prediction metric, the Output Signal to Noise Ratio (OSNR).

The OSNR was then calculated in other listening conditions and combined
with the reference speech scores to predict the intelligibility that
would be achieved for an individual recipient. The predicted scores were compared to the clinical scores and had a high accuracy.

Dr Watkins is currently evaluating extensions of the OSNR metric to
determine whether even more accurate predictions are feasible and hopes
to work with a manufacturer to develop a more accurate sound processing
system.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Sydney. Note: Content
may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Greg D. Watkins, Brett A. Swanson, Gregg J. Suaning. Prediction of
Individual Cochlear Implant Recipient Speech Perception With the
Output Signal to Noise Ratio Metric. Ear & Hearing, 2020; 41 (5):
1270 DOI: 10.1097/AUD.0000000000000846 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/10/201019103457.htm

--- up 8 weeks, 6 hours, 50 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1337:3/111)