Olivier Macherey, Pierre Stahl, Bastien Intartaglia, Sabine Meunier, Stéphane Roman, & Daniele Schön
Hearing Research, 403, April 2021, 108176
While electrically-evoked auditory brainstem response (eABR) thresholds for low-rate pulse 35 trains correlate well with behavioral thresholds measured at the same rate, the correlation is 36 much weaker with behavioral thresholds measured at high rates, such as used clinically. This 37 implies that eABRs to low-rate stimuli cannot be reliably used for objective programming of threshold levels in cochlear implant (CI) users. Here, we investigate whether the use of 39 bunched-up pulses (BUPS), consisting of groups of closely-spaced pulses may be used as an 40 alternative stimulus. 41 Experiment 1 measured psychophysical detection thresholds for several stimuli having 42 a period of 32 ms in nine CI subjects implanted with a Med-EL device. The stimuli differed in 43 the number of pulses present in each period (from 1 to 32), the pulse rate within period (1000 44 pps and as high as possible for BUPS) and the electrode location (apical or basal). The 45 correlation between psychophysical thresholds obtained for a high-rate (1000 pps) clinical 46 stimulus and for the BUPS stimuli increased as the number of pulses per period of BUPS 47.