Re: History of cochlear implant slides

["C.M. Rankovic" <rankovic@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello Doug:

I've followed cochlear implant improvements over the years (since about
1980).  Certainly, here have been dramatic improvements in speech
recognition attributable to improved technologies.  It is important to note,
however, the many persons being implanted today have greater residual
hearing than those who received implants in the early days when only persons
with profound hearing loss were candidates.  That is, the audiometric
criteria for implantation has loosened over the years.  It could be argued
that neurons along the cochlear are more intact for people with greater
residual hearing and therefore electrical stimulation is more effective.
This is probably a significant factor in the increase in effectiveness.

Christine Rankovic, PhD
Articulation Incorporated
36 Hampshire Street, 2nd Floor
Cambridge, MA  02139
617-354-8335
rankovic@articulation.com

AI = V x E x F x H

----- Original Message -----
From: "Sladen, Douglas P." <douglas.p.sladen@VANDERBILT.EDU>
To: <AUDITORY@LISTS.MCGILL.CA>
Sent: Wednesday, March 24, 2004 2:42 PM
Subject: Re: History of cochlear implant slides


> Ward,
>
> There is a slide that shows improvement in speech recognition starting
from
> 1981 up to 1999, but I'm not sure it's exactly what you're looking for.
This
> slide mostly shows that as we moved from feature extraction type
strategies to
> ones that provide more of the incoming signal, patients improved. However,
It
> does not seperate the influence of a broader criteria and other issues
that
> influence performance. I have attached a powerpoint file with this slide.
>
> Doug
>
>
>
>
> Quoting "Ward R. Drennan" <wdrennan@MAIL.KHRI.MED.UMICH.EDU>:
>
> > I've heard that there's a slide (power point image) from Cochlear
> > Corp. that showed changes in the cochlear implant performance over
> > its history. It shows the improvements in speech recognition over the
> > last 40 years based mostly on improvements in the speech processor
> > design, but also on increases in the number of electrodes used. If I
> > recall correctly avergage word recognition performance improved from
> > 10-15% in the late 70s to 70-80% in the mid 90s for post-lingually
> > deafened adults. This is great progress and the slide shows it well.
> >
> > Does anyone have this slide or know where I could get a copy?
> >
>
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
> Sladen, Douglas P.
> Vanderbilt University
> Email: douglas.p.sladen@Vanderbilt.Edu
>