Analysis of Speech Processing Strategies in Cochlear Implants

Cochlear implants can restore partial hearing to profoundly deaf people; the main function of these prostheses is to electrically stimulate the auditory nerve using an electrode array inserted in the cochlea. The acoustic signal is picked up by a microphone and analyzed. Then the extracted parameters of the signal are coded to generate electrical signals reconstituting the original signal. Currently all commercialized implants are multichannel they allow to stimulate the auditory nerve at different place of the cochlea, exploiting the tonotopic coding of the frequencies. This research will present an overview of various signal processing techniques that have been used for cochlear prosthesis over the years.