Speaker
Description
Psycho-acoustics can be found on the very basis of the development of cochlear implants. Several design features can be directly derived from psycho-acoustic experiments, like the number of electrode contacts, or the timing requirements of stimulation pulses. After bilateral cochlear implantation, psycho-acoustic methods are used to determine the effectiveness of the treatment.
My current working hypothesis: Inner ear hearing loss comes besides a reduction of amplification (through the loss of outer hair cell function) also with a broadening of auditory filters (a lack of population synchrony). This broadening can hardly be compensated for by acoustic amplification and signifies the sweet spot between hearing aid benefit and cochlear implant effectiveness.
Under development is an online tool running a streamlined 2-stage procedure, starting with a baseline test, followed by super-threshold psycho-acoustic tests.