Description:
Profound sensorineural hearing loss can be successfully treated with cochlear implants. In recent decades, great success has been achieved for these devices when used in quiet environments. However, cochlear implant users still face challenges in everyday communication. These include, for example, soft or distant speech, reverberation, interference of speech by sounds with different temporal characteristics, and varying numbers and locations of interfering signals.
There are a variety of approaches to address this challenge, including digital signal processing algorithms, bilateral and bimodal provision, etc. Furthermore, research methods utilized to study this topic include, e.g., psycho-acoustics, speech audiometry, electrophysiology, virtual acoustics, data-logging, and questionnaires.