Auditory Capabilities of Patients Implanted with the House Single-channel Cochlear Implant

Abstract

Research into the development of a wearable cochlear prosthesis has been ongoing at the House Ear Institute since 1960. Several different signal processing schemes and electrode arrays have been tried. Presently, the patients use a wearable signal processor in which the analog of the acoustic signal amplitude modulates at 16 kHz carrier wave; the modulated signal is electrically transduced across the skin via a pair of induction coils. The implanted induction coil terminates at a single active electrode placed 6 to 15 mm into the scala tympani and a return electrode placed in the eustachian tube or temporalis muscle (Danley & Fretz, 1982; House, 1982).