Effect of stimulus level and place of stimulation on temporal pitch perception by cochlear implant users

Three experiments studied the effect of pulse rate on temporal pitch perception by cochlear implant users. Experiment 1 measured rate discrimination for pulse trains presented in bipolar mode to either an apical, middle, or basal electrode and for standard rates of 100 and 200 pps. In each block of trials the signals could have a level of -0.35, 0, or +0.35 dB re the standard, and performance for each signal level was recorded separately. Signal level affected performance for just over half of the combinations of subject, electrode, and standard rate studied. Performance was usually, but not always, better at the higher signal level. Experiment 2 showed that, for a given subject and condition, the direction of the effect was similar in monopolar and bipolar mode. Experiment 3 employed a pitch comparison procedure without feedback, and showed that the signal levels in experiment 1 that produced the best performance for a given subject and condition also led to the signal having a higher pitch. It is concluded that small level differences can have a robust and substantial effect on pitch judgments and argue that these effects are not entirely due to response biases or to co-variation of place-of-excitation with level.