Cochlear implant studies at Research Triangle Institute and Duke University Medical Center

Examples from several areas of cochlear implant research are presented, with emphasis on the continuous interleaved sampling (CIS) approach to speech processor design. Within-subject comparisons of such processors with the compressed analog (CA) approach of the clinical Ineraid device are reviewed, and ongoing similar comparisons with the clinical Nucleus spectral peak (SPEAK) strategy are outlined. Correlations between chronic performance levels with clinical CA processors and initial performance levels with CIS, data on further improvements in performance with chronic use of CIS, and instances of substantial benefit from custom fitting of CIS parameters are presented as examples of findings with immediate clinical implications. New studies are described, involving the measurement of intracochlear evoked potentials in response to cochlear implant stimulation, and the integration of such work with computer modeling studies.