In this project, Dr Charlotte Garcia at the University of Cambridge seeks to improve how people using cochlear implants can hear different pitches of sound, to help them better understand speech and enjoy music.
Project start date: March 2026
Project end date: February 2029
About the project
Cochlear implants allow people with severe to profound hearing loss to hear by sending electrical signals directly to the hearing nerve inside the ear. There is a lot of variation among cochlear-implant users in the perception of speech and music, as this requires hearing different frequencies, or pitches, of sound.
Cochlear implants separate sounds based on pitch and send information about them through different channels. Each channel can be manipulated and programmed separately.
Most research for improving and/or personalising cochlear-implant programming use only one technique at a time to identify good vs bad channels. Additionally, they usually focus on improvements in understanding speech, a complex signal that requires a person to be able to detect multiple features of a sound.
In this project, Charlotte will focus on a simpler sound signal – pitch – and use multiple methods to identify the best channels for individual cochlear-implant users.
How it works
To improve the ability of cochlear-implant users to hear different pitches of sound, Charlotte will build a ‘fingerprint’ of the relationship between the cochlear implant and the inner ear of each individual user. She will record the response of the brain to sound signals delivered through the implant, and she will send signals to different channels and at different speeds within the implant and ask users to tell her which are higher in pitch.
Together, the brain measurements and the pitch-rating information may help to design automated procedures for choosing the settings of an individual’s cochlear-implant software.
How will this research benefit people with hearing loss?
This research will shed light on different methods to measure how individuals hear through their cochlear implant, making it easier for clinicians to assess how people using a cochlear implant can hear.
This project will also support ways of programming cochlear implants to help users perceive details such as tone of voice, better understand tonal languages like Mandarin, and pitches of melodies or chords within music.
About the researcher
Dr Charlotte Garcia is an Assistant Research Professor and an RNID Research Fellow based in the Cognition & Brain Sciences Unit at the University of Cambridge.
My focus on cochlear implants is driven both by a fascination with the technology and my desire to do work that can improve the lives of others. I also have numerous family members with significant hearing loss and have watched them recede from their social world as they aged – I want to be doing work that helps people maintain social connections to support them in living meaningful, connected lives.”
