Project Name:"Improving Binaural Fitting Procedures of Hearing Aid and Cochlear Implant through Loudness Judgments throughout the Dynamic Range"

The Cochlear Implant



Monika Kordus Working in Sound Booth

Monika Kordus, Ph.D., Principal Investigator

"Improving Binaural Fitting Procedures of Hearing Aid and Cochlear Implant through Loudness Judgments throughout the Dynamic Range"

Hearing loss is a common handicap among a considerable amount of people worldwide suffering from moderate to profound hearing loss in both ears. In normal hearing persons binaural hearing input is imperative for proper localization of sounds originating from different sources. My research interests are focused on hearing impairment and the performance improvement of binaural hearing in patients wearing either cochlear implants in one ear and hearing aids in the contralateral ear (CI+HA) or are implanted bilaterally with cochlear implants in both ears (CI+CI) respectively. Initial steps to achieve this goal include at first the improvement of simultaneous binaural fitting procedures for CI+HA and CI+CI users, rather than adjusting the two devices independently as it is done in current clinical practice.  At second the development and evaluation of new high-rate signal processing in cochlear implants let expect a better speech intelligibility and music appreciation. Valuable data for performing these adjustments is obtained from both CI+HA and CI+CI subjects who are tested in newly developed  more realistic speech perception and localization essays, which utilize spatially separated noise sources. Additional studies aim at the quantification of loudness summation throughout the dynamic range of cochlea implants as well as surveying directionality and speech perception in CI users. Combined with additional psychoacoustic procedures this is one of the most prospective and socially useful application of psychoacoustics.

currently funded projects

library of past projects funded

donate to capita foundation

other current CFAR grant recipients:

Karen A. Doherty, Ph.D.

Avril Genene Holt, Ph.D.

Zheng-Yi Chen, D.Phil.

Deron Herr, Ph.D.

Lisa Goodrich, Ph.D.