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Related Concept Videos

The Cochlea01:13

The Cochlea

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The cochlea is a coiled structure in the inner ear that contains hair cells—the sensory receptors of the auditory system. Sound waves are transmitted to the cochlea by small bones attached to the eardrum called the ossicles, which vibrate the oval window that leads to the inner ear. This causes fluid in the chambers of the cochlea to move, vibrating the basilar membrane.
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Hearing01:31

Hearing

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When we hear a sound, our nervous system is detecting sound waves—pressure waves of mechanical energy traveling through a medium. The frequency of the wave is perceived as pitch, while the amplitude is perceived as loudness.
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The Auditory Ossicles01:11

The Auditory Ossicles

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The auditory ossicles of the middle ear transmit sounds from the air as vibrations to the fluid-filled cochlea. The auditory ossicles consist of two malleus (hammer) bones, two incus (anvil) bones, and two stapes (stirrups), one on each side. These bones develop during the fetal stage and are the ones to ossify first. They are fully mature at birth and do not grow afterward.
The aptly named stapes look very much like a stirrup. The three ossicles are unique to mammals, and each plays a role in...
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Hair Cells01:22

Hair Cells

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Hair cells are the sensory receptors of the auditory system—they transduce mechanical sound waves into electrical energy that the nervous system can understand. Hair cells are located in the organ of Corti within the cochlea of the inner ear, between the basilar and tectorial membranes. The actual sensory receptors are called inner hair cells. The outer hair cells serve other functions, such as sound amplification in the cochlea, and are not discussed in detail here.
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Robotic Cochlear Implantation for Direct Cochlear Access
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Celebrating the one millionth cochlear implant.

Fan-Gang Zeng1

  • 1Departments of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Biomedical Engineering, Cognitive Sciences, Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and Center for Hearing Research, University of California, 110 Medical Sciences E, Irvine, California 92697, USA fzeng@uci.edu.

JASA Express Letters
|September 26, 2022
PubMed
Summary

Cochlear implants are successful neural prostheses, but speech recognition in quiet has plateaued. Redesigning the stimulating interface and collaborating with neurotechnology experts is crucial for future progress.

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Area of Science:

  • Neurotechnology
  • Bioengineering
  • Auditory Neuroscience

Background:

  • Cochlear implants represent the most successful neural prosthesis, with a global user base of one million.
  • Modern multi-channel cochlear implants, designed using the source-filter model and speech vocoder, enable average sentence recognition of 70%-80% in quiet.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review the advancements in cochlear implant technology and identify limitations in current performance.
  • To highlight the need for innovation in cochlear implant design to overcome performance plateaus.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of historical data on cochlear implant performance.
  • Review of signal processing techniques, including the source-filter model and speech vocoder.
  • Examination of research into loudness, pitch perception, and cortical plasticity facilitated by cochlear implants.

Main Results:

  • Significant improvements in speech recognition in noise have been achieved through front-end processing advances.
  • Speech recognition in quiet for unilateral cochlear implant users has plateaued since the early 1990s.
  • Cochlear implants have provided valuable insights into fundamental auditory processing mechanisms.

Conclusions:

  • The plateau in speech recognition performance necessitates a re-evaluation of the cochlear stimulating interface.
  • Collaboration between cochlear implant researchers and the broader neurotechnology community is essential for future breakthroughs.