Gochlear implants from model to patients

Abstract

Cochlear implants (CI) are by now an accepted form of rehabilitation for profoundly deaf patients. CI users regain part of their hearing by direct electrical stimulation of the auditory nerve. With modern cochlear implants most users are able to achieve open-set speech understanding and are able to use the telephone. There are, however, still a lot of unanswered questions regarding the optimal design, stimulation paradigms, fitting methods and objective measurements. With the development of a realistic computer model of the implanted cochlea, as described in this thesis, these questions are analyzed from a fundamental perspective. This realistic model enables the analysis of clinical devices and gives insight in discrepancies between human and animal results. Insights gained from the model are used to improve clinical practice. Based on the model outcomes presented the characteristics of an improved electrode design were defined, and finally tested in a temporal bone study.