Objective: To test the channel discrimination of cochlear implant (CI) users along all contacts of the electrode array and assess whether this is related to speech perception.Design: CI recipients... Show moreObjective: To test the channel discrimination of cochlear implant (CI) users along all contacts of the electrode array and assess whether this is related to speech perception.Design: CI recipients were tested with a custom-made channel discrimination test. They were asked to distinguish a target stimulus from two reference stimuli in a three-alternative forced choice (3AFC) task. The target stimulus was evoked using current steering, with current steering coefficients () of 1, 0.5 and 0.25. The test provided a discrimination score (D) for each electrode contact along the array.Study sample: Thirty adults implanted with a CI from Advanced Bionics.Results: Large variations in D scores were observed, both across the electrode array and between subjects. Statistical analysis revealed a significant channel-to-channel variability in D score (p<0.01). Further, there was a significant relationship between subjects' D scores and their speech perception in quiet (p<0.001).Conclusions: The large variations in D score emphasise the importance of testing pitch discrimination across the complete electrode array. The relationship between D score and speech perception indicates that pitch discrimination might be a contributing factor to the performance of individual implant users. Show less
