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Updated: Apr 27, 2026

Systematic Hearing Performance Evaluation Process for Adolescents with Cochlear Implantation at Early Ages
Published on: March 24, 2023
Processing of speech temporal and spectral information by users of auditory brainstem implants and cochlear implants
Mahan Azadpour1, Colette M McKay
11School of Psychological Sciences, University of Manchester, United Kingdom; 2Department of Otolaryngology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York, USA; and 3The Bionics Institute, Melbourne, Australia.
Auditory brainstem implant (ABI) users showed varied speech perception abilities, with some accessing information like cochlear implant (CI) users. Performance differences in ABI users may stem from electrode placement or auditory brainstem anatomy.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Audiology
- Biomedical Engineering
Background:
- Auditory brainstem implants (ABI) utilize cochlear implant (CI) processing strategies.
- The cochlear nucleus (CN), ABI's target, is more complex than the auditory nerve targeted by CIs.
- Neurons in the CN have diverse roles in auditory processing.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare speech spectro-temporal information access between ABI and CI users.
- To investigate differences in temporal pattern encoding between CI and ABI stimulation sites.
- To test hypotheses regarding ABI users' abilities with existing speech processing strategies.
Main Methods:
- Six CI and four ABI users participated, using Nucleus implants and ACE processing.
- Speech perception evaluated using closed-set phoneme and word recognition tasks.
- Experimental strategies activated one, two, or four electrodes in a CIS manner.
Main Results:
- Three of four ABI users demonstrated phoneme perception within the CI user range.
- ABI user performance improved with increased active electrodes.
- One ABI user showed near-chance performance across all tested strategies.
Conclusions:
- ABI user speech perception varied, with some comparable to CI users.
- Better-performing ABI users accessed temporal and spectral speech information effectively.
- Poorer performance in some ABI users linked to within-channel temporal information deficits or lack of spectral benefit.
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