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Original Article

A psychophysical forward masking comparison of longitudinal spread of neural excitation in the Contour™ and straight Nucleus® electrode arrays

Comparación psicofísica con enmascaramiento anterógrado de la propagación longitudinal de la excitación neural con hilos de electrodos Contour ™y Nucleus® recto

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Pages 559-566 | Received 16 Dec 2004, Published online: 07 Jul 2009
 

Abstract

The objective of the study was to compare the widths of forward masking profiles in subjects implanted with the Nucleus® 24 Contour™ or straight electrode array. The Contour array is typically positioned closer to the modiolus than the straight array. Subjects were fourteen postlingually hearing-impaired adults with severe-profound hearing loss, seven used the Contour array and seven used the straight array. Forward masking profiles were measured at three positions along the array (apical, mid, and basal) using maskers at the 15% loudness level. It was hypothesized that masking profile widths would be more sensitive to differences in distance from the neural structures using low-level maskers. Masking width was calculated at the 50% point of the masking peak amplitude. There were no significant differences in masking widths between Contour and straight array subject groups. Current levels for hearing thresholds and maximum comfortable listening levels were significantly lower for the Contour array subjects.

Sumario

El objetivo del estudio fue comparar la anchura de los perfiles de enmascaramiento anterógrado en sujetos implantados con Nucleus® 24 Contour™ o con un hilo de electrodos recto. El hilo de electrodos Contour se coloca típicamente más cerca del modiolo que el hilo de electrodos recto. El grupo consistió en 14 adultos sordos postlingüísticos, de los cuales siete utilizaban el Contour y siete el de hilo de electrodos recto. Se midieron los perfiles de enmascaramiento anterógrado en tres posiciones del hilo de electrodos (apical, media y basal) utilizando los enmascaradores al 15% del nivel de intensidad. Hipotéticamente se pensó que la anchura de los perfiles de enmascaramiento serían más sensibles a las diferencias en distancia de las estructuras neurales utilizando los enmascaradores de nivel bajo. La anchura del enmascaramiento se calculó al 50% del pico máximo de amplitud. No hubo diferencias significativas en la anchura de enmascaramiento entre los sujetos con Contour o con el hilo de electrodos recto. Los niveles actuales de umbrales auditivos y los niveles máximos de comodidad fueron significativamente menores para los sujetos con Contour.

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