TY - JOUR
T1 - Looking for mickey mouseTm but finding a munchkin
T2 - The perceptual effects of frequency upshifts for single-sided deaf, cochlear implant patients
AU - Dorman, Michael F.
AU - Natale, Sarah C.
AU - Zeitler, Daniel M.
AU - Baxter, Leslie
AU - Noble, Jack H.
N1 - Funding Information:
Author J. H. N. was supported by NIH R01DC014037, authors M. F. D. and S. C. N. by a grant from MED EL, and author D. M. Z. by a grant from Advanced Bionics. This work was conducted at Arizona State University after approval by the institutional review board. Dan Freed of Advanced Bionics wrote the code for the metallic filter. We thank the computerized tomography imaging staff at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center for their extraordinary efforts to make this project possible.
Funding Information:
Author J. H. N. was supported by NIH R01DC014037, authors M. F. D. and S. C. N. by a grant from MED EL, and author D. M. Z. by a grant from Advanced Bionics. This work was conducted at Arizona State University after approval by the institutional review board. Dan Freed of Advanced Bionics wrote the code for the metallic filter. We thank the computerized tomography imaging staff at St. Joseph?s Hospital and Medical Center for their extraordinary efforts to make this project possible.
PY - 2019/9
Y1 - 2019/9
N2 - Purpose: Our aim was to make audible for normal-hearing listeners the Mickey MouseTm sound quality of cochlear implants (CIs) often found following device activation. Method: The listeners were 3 single-sided deaf patients fit with a CI and who had 6 months or less of CI experience. Computed tomography imaging established the location of each electrode contact in the cochlea and allowed an estimate of the place frequency of the tissue nearest each electrode. For the most apical electrodes, this estimate ranged from 650 to 780 Hz. To determine CI sound quality, a clean signal (a sentence) was presented to the CI ear via a direct connect cable and candidate, and CI-like signals were presented to the ear with normal hearing via an insert receiver. The listeners rated the similarity of the candidate signals to the sound of the CI on a 1- to 10-point scale, with 10 being a complete match. Results: To make the match to CI sound quality, all 3 patients need an upshift in formant frequencies (300-800 Hz) and a metallic sound quality. Two of the 3 patients also needed an upshift in voice pitch (10-80 Hz) and a muffling of sound quality. Similarity scores ranged from 8 to 9.7. Conclusion: The formant frequency upshifts, fundamental frequency upshifts, and metallic sound quality experienced by the listeners can be linked to the relatively basal locations of the electrode contacts and short duration experience with their devices. The perceptual consequence was not the voice quality of Mickey MouseTmbut rather that of Munchkins in The Wizard of Oz for whom both formant frequencies and voice pitch were upshifted.
AB - Purpose: Our aim was to make audible for normal-hearing listeners the Mickey MouseTm sound quality of cochlear implants (CIs) often found following device activation. Method: The listeners were 3 single-sided deaf patients fit with a CI and who had 6 months or less of CI experience. Computed tomography imaging established the location of each electrode contact in the cochlea and allowed an estimate of the place frequency of the tissue nearest each electrode. For the most apical electrodes, this estimate ranged from 650 to 780 Hz. To determine CI sound quality, a clean signal (a sentence) was presented to the CI ear via a direct connect cable and candidate, and CI-like signals were presented to the ear with normal hearing via an insert receiver. The listeners rated the similarity of the candidate signals to the sound of the CI on a 1- to 10-point scale, with 10 being a complete match. Results: To make the match to CI sound quality, all 3 patients need an upshift in formant frequencies (300-800 Hz) and a metallic sound quality. Two of the 3 patients also needed an upshift in voice pitch (10-80 Hz) and a muffling of sound quality. Similarity scores ranged from 8 to 9.7. Conclusion: The formant frequency upshifts, fundamental frequency upshifts, and metallic sound quality experienced by the listeners can be linked to the relatively basal locations of the electrode contacts and short duration experience with their devices. The perceptual consequence was not the voice quality of Mickey MouseTmbut rather that of Munchkins in The Wizard of Oz for whom both formant frequencies and voice pitch were upshifted.
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U2 - 10.1044/2019_JSLHR-H-18-0389
DO - 10.1044/2019_JSLHR-H-18-0389
M3 - Article
C2 - 31415186
AN - SCOPUS:85072546193
VL - 62
SP - 3493
EP - 3499
JO - Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research
JF - Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research
SN - 1092-4388
IS - 9
ER -