Image-Guidance Enables New Methods for Customizing Cochlear Implant Stimulation Strategies

TLDR

Cochlear implants are a highly successful neural prosthesis, yet many recipients still experience limited hearing restoration and normal fidelity is rare. This study presents image processing methods to locate CI electrodes and the nerves they stimulate in individual users. The methods use image processing to detect electrode and nerve positions for each implant. The image‑guided strategy produced significant hearing improvement in 11 recipients and indicates that such guidance can enhance outcomes without additional surgery.

Abstract

Over the last 20 years, cochlear implants (CIs) have become what is arguably the most successful neural prosthesis to date. Despite this success, a significant number of CI recipients experience marginal hearing restoration, and, even among the best performers, restoration to normal fidelity is rare. In this paper, we present image processing techniques that can be used to detect, for the first time, the positions of implanted CI electrodes and the nerves they stimulate for individual CI users. These techniques permit development of new, customized CI stimulation strategies. We present one such strategy and show that it leads to significant hearing improvement in an experiment conducted with 11 CI recipients. These results indicate that image-guidance can be used to improve hearing outcomes for many existing CI recipients without requiring additional surgical procedures.