Graeme Clark Collection
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ItemA "Combionic Aid": Combined speech processing for a cochlear implant in one ear and speech processing hearing aid in the other ear [Abstract]( 1993)Independent use of a cochlear implant in one ear and a hearing aid in the other is not acceptable for many implant users with some residual hearing. Psychophysical evidence suggests that there are substantial interactions between acoustic and electrical signals including masking and loudness summation. These effects may contribute to the difficulty in using two independent devices and it is desirable to control the parameters of the electrical and acoustical signals far more accurately than is possible with two independent devices with separate microphones. In order to achieve this control we have developed a Combionic aid incorporating an implant and an 'in1planlcompatible' hearing aid controlled from the same speech processor. The new processor is particularly flexible and can implement a wide variety of speech processing strategies for combined acoustic and electrical stimulation. A benchtop prototype has been tested with five patients using a range of different speech tests. In general, patients do better when they use acoustic and electrical information simultaneously than they do with either alone. Some patients on some tests perform significantly better with the bimodal aid than they do with independent hearing aids and implant processors worn together. Wearable devices have now been built and evaluations of these devices are continuing.
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ItemPsychophysical matching of sensations produced by acoustic and electrical stimulation of the auditory nerve [Abstract](Monash University Press, 1983)The aim of this study was to establish an acoustic model of a multiple-channel cochlear implant that could be used in the development of speech coding strategies. Identical psychophysical tests were carried out with electrical stimuli for two cochlear implant patients and with acoustic stimuli for three normally hearing listeners. Each electrical stimulus was a train of biphasic pulses at a constant rate between 50 and 100 pps directed to one of the 10 electrodes spaced at 1.5mm intervals around the basal turn of the cochlea (Clark et al. 1977). The corresponding acoustic stimulus was a train of noise bursts at a rate equal to the electrical pulse rate. The noise bursts were passed through one of 8 bandpass filters with centre frequencies equally spaced on a logarithmic scale from 1140 to 10880 Hz representing 8 different electrodes.
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ItemImproved sound processing for cochlear implants( 2002)Four signal processing schemes currently under development aim to improve the perception of sounds/ especially speech, for children and adults using the Nucleus cochlear implant system. The schemes are (1) fast-acting input-signal compression, (2) Adaptive Dynamic Range Optimisation (ADRO), (3) TESM, a scheme that emphasises transients in signals, and (4) DRSP, a strategy that applies different stimulation rates to selected sets of electrodes.
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ItemPre- & post-operative factors affecting speech perception in adult cochlear implant users( 1997)A common feature of published studies of cochlear implantation is a very wide range of performance levels within a group of patients. It is well-established that preoperative factors including duration of deafness, age at implantation, duration of implant use and etiology can have statistically significant effects on speech perception with a cochlear implant, but they do not account for a very high proportion of the variance within groups of implant users. The biological basis for these effects is not well established. For example, it is unclear whether the effect of duration of deafness is due to a decrease in the number of surviving ganglion cells in the cochlea, to the detailed distribution of functional neurons within the cochlea, to degeneration of nerve function at higher auditory centers, to plastic neural effects during deafness, or to a combination of all of these mechanisms. Data for other factors may cast some light on these possibilities.
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ItemThe auditory cortex and auditory deprivation: experience with cochlear implants in the congenitally deaf [Abstract]( 1995)The primary auditory cortex (AI) exhibits a topographic representation of the organ of Corti in normal hearing animals. Plasticity studies have shown that this orderly representation of frequency can be modified following a restricted hearing loss or by behavioural trainingl,2. Little is known, however, of the effects of a profound hearing loss on AI, although a number of early studies have suggested an enhancement of activity from other modalities3. Knowledge of the functional status of the central auditory pathway in the profoundly deaf, and the ability of these structures to undergo reorganization particularly following long periods of auditory deprivation - are important issues for the clinical management of cochlear implant patients. In this paper we review our recent clinical and experimental experience with cochlear implants in the congenitally deaf.
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ItemThe effect of language knowledge on speech perception: what are we really assessing? [Abstract]( 1996)It is a common finding that many hearing-impaired children have poorer language skills than their normally-hearing peers of the same age. It is also logical to assume that the measurement of open-set speech perception in children with cochlear implants could be affected by limited receptive vocabulary and syntactic knowledge. Therefore, we may be significantly underestimating the speech perception abilities of some hearing-impaired children.
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ItemFuture directions in the clinical application of multichannel cochlear prostheses [Abstract]( 1992)Three main areas of work at the University of Melbourne relating to the clinical application of multichannel cochlear prostheses will be discussed. Speech perception results for 40 children and adolescents implanted with the Nucleus multichannel device will be presented with an analysis of potentially predictive clinical factors. Overall results have shown that 60% of the children have developed useful open-set speech recognition ability without visual cues. Due to the improved speech perception for postlinguistically deafened adult cochlear implant patients, the multichannel implant has become a viable alternative for patients with some useful residual hearing. A "bimodal" speech processor which provides acoustic output for the residual hearing ear and electrical output for the cochlear implant will also be discussed. This device provides a flexible, programmable acoustic processor which can make use of feature coding aspects of the implant processing. The "bimodal" device has also addressed problems of incompatibility of the implant signal with the acoustic signal from conventional hearing aids. Results for the new "Spectral Maxima Speech Processor" (SMSP) will also be presented. The SMSP has shown improved speech perception performance in quiet and in noise when compared with the MSP (MULTIPEAK) system, currently in use with the Nucleus device. Results for four subjects with the SMSP showed mean scores of 57.4% for open-set monosyllabic words in quiet, and 78.7% for open-set sentences in a 10 dB signal-to-noise ratio
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ItemResults for the Nucleus multiple-electrode cochlear implant in two children [Abstract]( 1988)Two males, 9 years 10 months (CHILD 1) and 5 years 5 months (CHILD 2) at time of surgery, were implanted with the Nucleus multiple-electrode cochlear implant. Both patients were deafened as a result of meningitis in their third year. Assessments of speech perception, speech production and language skills were undertaken at regular intervals, pre and post operatively. For both patients in the audition alone condition, some speech perception post operative scores were significantly higher than pre operative scores and progressive improvements in scores over successive post operative data collection times were seen. Significant differences between the visual alone and auditory-visual condition scores were also observed for CHILD 1 post operatively. Speech production post operative scores were significantly higher than pre operative scores for both patients. The receptive vocabulary scores for both patients improved at a higher rate than that of age-matched normal children. The acquisition of expressive and receptive language skills for CHILD 2 was at a higher rate than that of age-matched children. Differences in the results between the two patients were seen, and this may be related to age and duration of deafness.
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ItemTraining and assessment of children using a multi-electrode cochlear implant [Abstract]( 1986)A training and assessment protocol has been developed for a research study on deaf children using multi-electrode cochlear implants. The areas of assessment and training include speech perception and production, language and communication skills. Material which is appropriate for language-and developmental-age is selected from a large battery of: tests to ensure that the individual abilities of children are addressed. A single-subject, time-series design has been adopted for regular assessment of the child's performance. The participating child receives a minimum of six months' pre-operative training and assessment using high gain hearing aids or a tactile device. Also included are audiological and medical evaluations to determine the child's suitability for inclusion in the study. Approximately two months are allocated for pre-operative, operative and postoperative surgical management as well as fitting and setting the external speech processor. Post-operatively, the same training and assessment procedures continue for a number of years. Extensive psychophysical studies are also undertaken to measure the child's abilities to discriminate simple stimuli which differ in electrical stimulus parameter values.