Auditory Prosthesis Research

Associate Professor

919-684-6968

RTI is working to improve the performance of signal-processing devices that restore some hearing to people who cannot be helped with hearing aids. Recent projects include studies of profoundly deaf patients with electrodes implanted in their inner ears (cochleas) or brain stems and pilot studies of acoustic synthesis aids designed to bring similar benefits without surgery to patients who have some residual hearing.

 

RTI's scientists and engineers have received international recognition from the scientific community and from the President of the Otological Society for their development of an innovative approach to speech processing. Known as continuous interleaved sampling, this approach dramatically improved the performance of cochlear implants and is now used by all major implant manufacturers.

 

Supported primarily by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), RTI integrates neurobiology, neurophysiology, electrical engineering, and speech analysis in the development and evaluation of speech processors for auditory prostheses.

 

RTI also designs and evaluates speech processors for auditory brain stem implants, and we are currently developing new processing strategies for hearing aids. RTI develops neural and electric field models of intracochlear electrical stimulation and evaluates models in psychological and in vivo studies.