Results using the OPAL strategy in Mandarin speaking cochlear implant recipients |
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Authors: | Andrew E. Vandali Pam W. Dawson Komal Arora |
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Affiliation: | 1. The Hearing CRC, Carlton, Victoria, Australia,;2. The Bionics Institute, East Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, and andrewev@unimelb.edu.au;4. Cochlear Ltd, East Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
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Abstract: | AbstractObjective: To evaluate the effectiveness of an experimental pitch-coding strategy for improving recognition of Mandarin lexical tone in cochlear implant (CI) recipients. Design: Adult CI recipients were tested on recognition of Mandarin tones in quiet and speech-shaped noise at a signal-to-noise ratio of?+10?dB; Mandarin sentence speech-reception threshold (SRT) in speech-shaped noise; and pitch discrimination of synthetic complex-harmonic tones in quiet. Two versions of the experimental strategy were examined: (OPAL) linear (1:1) mapping of fundamental frequency (F0) to the coded modulation rate; and (OPAL+) transposed mapping of high F0s to a lower coded rate. Outcomes were compared to results using the clinical ACE? strategy. Study sample: Five Mandarin speaking users of Nucleus® cochlear implants. Results: A small but significant benefit in recognition of lexical tones was observed using OPAL compared to ACE in noise, but not in quiet, and not for OPAL+?compared to ACE or OPAL in quiet or noise. Sentence SRTs were significantly better using OPAL+?and comparable using OPAL to those using ACE. No differences in pitch discrimination thresholds were observed across strategies. Conclusions: OPAL can provide benefits to Mandarin lexical tone recognition in moderately noisy conditions and preserve perception of Mandarin sentences in challenging noise conditions. |
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Keywords: | cochlear implant pitch coding Mandarin perception lexical tone |
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