In this project, Dr Tobias Goehring, Dr Lidea Shahidi and Dr Robert Carlyon at the University of Cambridge aim to reduce the communication difficulties that people often experience with cochlear implants in noisy situations.
Project start date: November 2023
Project end date: October 2026
About the project
One of the most common difficulties for people with cochlear implants is understanding speech in noisy places, such as a restaurant or classroom, which makes communication in everyday life challenging, often leading to poorer mental health.
In this project, the team aim to improve the Sound Processing Strategy used in cochlear implants by simplifying the pattern of electrical signals sent to the hearing nerve. This has the potential to reduce the negative impact of background noise and to save energy.
How it works
The researchers have produced a computer programme that analyses the sound information after it has been transformed by the cochlear implant and removes parts of the electrical signals that are not heard by the listener. Their early results have shown that this approach can improve speech perception in noisy places for people listening with cochlear implants.
Removing parts of the electrical signals that are not needed for hearing will also reduce the electrical power required by the cochlear implant. They will measure the electrical power savings and associated increase in battery life with their Sound Processing Strategy.
How will this research benefit people who use cochlear implants?
If successful, this research could reduce the communication difficulties that people with cochlear implants face in their daily lives. By saving electrical power, it could make cochlear implants more energy efficient which could ultimately lead to smaller, more convenient cochlear implant devices.
Finally, the Sound Processing Strategy could be used by all cochlear implant companies to make their products work better, making the benefits of the strategy widely available.
About the researchers
Dr Tobias Goehring, Dr Lidea Shahidi and Dr Robert Carlyon are Research Scientists at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge. They were awarded with an RNID Discovery Research Grant in 2023 to work on this project.
I hope to provide high-quality scientific evidence with proof-of-concepts and listening studies to inspire the uptake of improved technology into hearing devices in the future. My goal is to help people with hearing difficulties communicate in noisy situations and to increase their quality of life.”
– Dr Tobias Goehring
