Comparison of different speech processing strategies on patients receiving the same implant

Two subjects with transcutaneously connected 8-electrode scala tympani implants were given subsets of the Minimal Auditory Capabilities test during stimulation with five speech processing strategies--two single channel and three multichannel. While there were significant (p = 0.05%) scores on some items with all types of stimulation, one subject did as well with single channel analog as with multichannel stimulation. She is an enthusiastic full-time user of single channel stimulation. The other, a nonuser of the same device, preferred (and performed better with) one of multichannel stimulation. This is an interim report because neither subject has yet had the opportunity of nonlaboratory use of the multichannel schemes.