Graeme Clark Collection
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ItemA multiple-channel cochlear implant: an evaluation using nonsense syllables( 1981)A study using nonsense syllables has shown that a multiple-channel cochlear implant with speech processor is effective in providing information about, voicing and manner and to a lesser extent place distinctions. These distinctions supplement lipreading cues. Furthermore, the average percentage improvements in overall identification scores for multiple-channel electrical stimulation and lipreading compared to lipreading alone were 71% for a laboratory-based speech processor and 122 % for a wearable unit.
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ItemSpeech processing for a multiple-electrode cochlear implant hearing prosthesis( 1980)Abstract not available due to copyright.
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ItemA signal processor for a multiple-electrode hearing prosthesis( 1984)A 22-electrode implantable hearing prosthesis uses a wearable speech processor which estimates three speech signal parameters. These are voice pitch, second formant frequency and flattened spectrum amplitude. The signal is monitored continuously for periodicity in the range 80-400 Hz and, if this is present, stimulation occurs at the same rate. Otherwise, as in the case of unvoiced sounds, it occurs at the random rate of fluctuation of the signal envelope. The second formant is obtained by filtering to extract the dominant peak in the midband region and by continuous measurement of the zero crossing rate. The amplitude measured is that of the whole speech spectrum pre-emphasized by differentiation. The values that are presented to the patient are the parameter estimates immediately prior to the stimulation pulse. Second formant frequency is coded by selection of an appropriate electrode in the cochlea and amplitude by a suitably controlled current. Automatic gain control is used to keep the dynamic range of the amplitude estimate within the 30 dB range of the circuitry.
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ItemA multi-channel hearing prosthesis for profound-to-total hearing loss( 1984)A multi-channel cochlear implant hearing prosthesis providing 22 separate channels of stimulation has been developed. The electronics for the implantable receiver-stimulator have been incorporated on a single chip, using digital circuits and employing CMOS technology. The chip is enclosed in a titanium capsule with platinum/ceramic electrode feed-throughs. A pocket-sized speech processor and directional microphone extract the following speech parameters: signal amplitude, fundamental frequency and formant frequency. The fundamental frequency is coded as electric pulse rate, and formant frequency by electrode position. The speech processor has been realized using hybrid circuits and CMOS gate arrays. The multi-channel prosthesis has undergone a clinical trial on four postlingually deaf patients with profound-total hearing losses. The speech perception results indicate that they were able to obtain open-set speech recognition scores for phonetically balanced words, CID sentences and spondees. In all cases the tests showed significant improvements when using the cochlear prosthesis combined with lipreading compared to lipreading alone.
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ItemA multi-channel cochlear prosthesis for profound-to-total hearing loss( 1984)A multi-channel cochlear prosthesis for profound-total hearing loss has been developed by the University of Melbourne and Nucleus Limited. Clinical trials have shown that the prosthesis provides significant help for postlingually deaf adult patients (lost hearing after normal language patterns have been established). The prosthesis helps the patients understand running speech when combined with lipreading, and a proportion obtain significant open-set speech scores for electrical stimulation alone. The patients with these open-set score can use the device in situations where lipreading is not possible, for example, to converse over the telephone. The prosthesis consists of an externally worn, pocket-sized speech-processor, a headset and an implanted receiver/stimulator and electrode array. The headset contains an .ear-level directional microphone that picks up the speech signal. The speech processor encodes the speech as a series of electrical pulses on the electrode array. The data describing these pulses and the power required to produce them, are sent to the receiver/stimulator from .a radio-frequency coil mounted on the headset. The receiver/stimulator decodes the data and delivers the speech signal as a series of biphasic electrical pulses to the 22 electrodes which have been gently passed along the scala tympani during implantation.
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ItemClinical trial of a multi-channel cochlear prosthesis: results on 10 postlingually deaf patients( 1984)The clinical trial of a multi-channel cochlear prosthesis has been carried out on 10 profoundly-totally deaf adult patients. Speech perception tests have shown that all the patients received significant benefit from the device. They obtained improvements in understanding running speech from 47% to 550% when using the device in conjunction with lipreading compared to lipreading alone. With an open-set CID sentence test, three patients obtained scores showing an ability to understand speech without the need to lipread, and a further three patients had scores indicating they could also receive useful information without lipreading. In two patients, very limited open-set scores for electrical stimulation alone were obtained. This was most probably due to the fact that only a few channels of stimulation were possible due to cochlear disease and they were therefore receiving information more like a single-channel device. The prosthesis has also been found to provide considerable help in hearing and recognizing everyday sounds.
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ItemA lip-reading assessment for profoundly deaf patients(Cambridge University Press, 1983)To understand spoken sentences, first the acoustic information is processed, and secondly linguistic knowledge is applied (Fry, 1961; Kalikow et al., 1977). The more the spoken message contains linguistic redundancies in the form of lexical, syntactical and semantic constraints, the less the listener needs to rely on processing the details of the acoustic signal. For normal listening conditions there is usually enough information available to make an unambiguous decision about the spoken message. However, when the acoustic signal is degraded, more reliance is placed on the context in which the message was spoken (Miller et al., 1951). For some hearing-impaired individuals the auditory signal is permanently degraded. In addition, if people are totally or profoundly deaf, speech is usually perceived via lip-reading alone. This is usually difficult because not all phonemes can be clearly distinguished visually. For example, some phonemes form homophenous groups, i.e. they look the same on the lips; such a group would be the bilabial plosives and nasal /p, b, m/. Since the information reaching the individual is incomplete, greater reliance must also be placed on linguistic skills and on the context in which the message is spoken.
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ItemClinical trial of a multiple-channel cochlear prosthesis: an initial study in four patients with profound total hearing loss( 1983)The clinical trial of a multiple-channel cochlear prosthesis was undertaken in four patients with postlingual deafness and profound total hearing loss. The results of open-set speech tests confirmed that, using electrical stimulation alone, one patient could have a meaningful conversation with resorting to lipreading (for example, this patient uses the prosthesis to converse with her husband on the telephone). The results of closed-set speech tests also suggested that a multiple-channel stimulator is more effective than a single-channel one in conveying speech information. The cochlear prosthesis was especially effective in all four patients when it was used in conjunction with lipreading, and speech-tracking tests showed that the patients could combine the information obtained from both electrical stimulation and lipreading.
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ItemThe preliminary clinical trial of a multichannel cochlear implant hearing prosthesis( 1983)Abstract not available due to copyright.
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ItemA 12-consonant confusion study on a multiple-channel cochlear implant patient( 1982)A consonant confusion study was undertaken on a multiple-channel cochlear implant patient using a wearable speech processing device. This patient suffered from total bilateral deafness acquired postlingually. The consonants /b/, /p/, /m/, /v/, /f/, /d/, /t/,/n/, /z/, /s/, /g/, /k/ were presented in VCV context with the vowel /a/ as in father by a male and female speaker under three conditions: lipreading alone; electrical stimulation alone using the wearable speech processor and multiple-channel cochlear implant; lipreading in conjunction with electrical stimulation. No significant difference was detected between the results for the male and female speakers. The percentage correct scores for the pooled results of both speakers were lipreading alone - 30%; electrical stimulation alone - 48%; lipreading with electrical simulation - 70%. Performance was significantly better for lipreading with electrical stimulation than for lipreading alone and for electrical stimulation alone than for lipreading alone. An information transmission analysis demonstrated the effective integration of visual and auditory information for lipreading with electrical stimulation. There was a significant improvement in performance for the electrical stimulation alone condition over the 2 months of the study in contrast to no such improvement for lipreading alone.