Re: ICA, a key to solve the puzzle of hearing

[jan schnupp <jan.schnupp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> On Fri, 25 Mar 2005, Guoping Li wrote:
>
> >  ICA was designed to solve the problem of cocktail party effect using
> >  higher order statistical methods. Is it possible that we can use this
> >  technique and implement it in the hearing aid or cochlear implant?
> >   
Toth Laszlo wrote:
> As far as I remember, when ICA is used for blind signal separation, it
> needs at least N input signals (for example, from a microphone array) for
> extracting N independent components.
> :(

That's true, but there is no reason a priori why one shouldn't build a
device that incorporates dozens of microphone capsules in the users
clothing, and that could separate dozens of different sources. Then
you'd just need a little switch that allows you to quickly scan through
those separated sources to find the one you want to listen to. It
wouldn't be very "biological", but it might nevertheless work quite
well. 

Jan
--------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Jan Schnupp
University Laboratory of Physiology             St Peter's College
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