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Biomedical subjects

G Bachelot

Publications and source records attributed to G Bachelot.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

[Digital multi-filter auditory prosthesis: study of its efficiency in function of number of filters and their programming].

We designed a prototype of a 7-filter digital auditory prosthesis table prototype. For each of these filters frequency band width, amplification and compression were programmable in order to adapt these parameters to the deaf patient's audiometric particularities. We compared the hearing improvement it was possible to obtain either with the 3-analogue-filter auditory prosthesis Triton 3004 from Siemens, or with our prototype as a function of the number of filters (3, 4 or 7) and their frequency band width programmability. We tested 21 patients suffering from middle or severe neurosensory hearing loss. This study allows to demonstrate that to overpass the present analogue T004 device a 7 programmable-width-filter strategy seems to be the most appropriate. Further studies benefiting with material improvement of our prototype and finer audiometric adjustment of filter strategies as well as long term clinical studies have to be carried out.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

Asynchronous interleaved stimulation (AIS): a new speech coding strategy for cochlear implant.

Cochlear implants use a fixed or F0 dependent stimulation rate, whatever the sound analysed (vowel or consonant) or procedure (fixed filters or FFT). We present a procedure which varies as a function of the input signal. This method is based on FFT analysis using a variable width analysis window. Short windows are applied on the transient part of the signal, providing poor frequency resolution but good time resolution; they permit us to accurately follow the speech signal in time during its fast temporal variations. Large windows are applied on the stationary parts of the signal, providing better frequency resolution but poor time resolution. Transient parts of the speech order this window switching; they are detected using the statistical properties of the FFT; moreover, the narrow windowing is coupled to an increase of the stimulation frequency. This strategy has been implemented using the DIGISONIC cochlear implant software, and clinically assessed in 6 regular cochlear implant users, on the basis of a consonant-vowel-consonant test. This Asynchronous-Interleaved-Stimulation (AIS) strategy provides the patients with better discrimination than fixed window FFT analysis. The coding protocol will be described and results presented.

Cochlear Implants↗

[Asynchronous sequential stimulation. A new signal treatment for cochlear implants].

Cochlear implants use a fixed or FO dependent stimulation rate, whatever the sound analysed (vowel or consonant) and its analysis procedure (fixed filters or FFT). We present a procedure which varies as a function of the nature of the input signal. This method is based on FFT analysis using a variable with analysis window. Short windows are applied on the transient part of the signal, providing poor frequency resolution but good time resolution; they accurately permit to follow the speech signal in time during its fast temporal variations. Large windows are applied on the stationary parts of the signal, providing better frequency resolution, but poor time resolution. Transient parts of the speech order this window switching; they are detected using the statistical properties of the FFT; moreover the narrow windowing is coupled with an increase of the stimulation frequency. This strategy has been implemented using the Digisonic cochlear implant software, and clinically assessed on 6 regular cochlear implant users, owing to a consonant-vowel-consonant test. This Asynchronous-Interleaved-Stimulation (AIS) strategy provides the patients with better discrimination than fixed window FFT analysis. The coding protocol are described and results presented.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

Objective evaluation of vowel identification with the Digisonic cochlear implant.

Perceptual assessment of speech recognition performance with cochlear implants is confronted with problems raised by patients' availability and specificity. These problems can be avoided by using objective evaluation methods based on automatic classification of speech sounds. In the present report, different tuning strategies for the Digisonic cochlear implant were evaluated by discriminant analysis. The results presented here concern the correct classification of vowels. A set of 600 vocalic items, corresponding to 10 vowel categories and produced by 20 French speakers, were processed by the Digisonic DX10 with two different strategies. In the linear strategy, center frequencies of the 15 Digisonic channels were almost equally spaced in acoustic units (Hz). In the mel strategy, center frequencies were almost equally spaced in psychoacoustic units. For each strategy, energy levels of the frequency channels were quantified for each vocalic item and processed by statistical discriminant analysis for classification into 10 vowel categories. Results mainly show that the percent correct classification (PCC) is larger for the mel strategy and that the improvement is due to a higher concentration of frequency channels below 4 kHz. Implications of these results for the tuning of cochlear implants are discussed.

Adult↗

Auditory performances of a 3-4-7 programmable numeric filter hearing aid.

We designed a non-portable prototype seven-filter digital auditory hearing aid. For each of the filters, frequency bandwidth, amplification and compression were programmable in order to adapt these parameters to the deaf patient's audiometric characteristics. We compared the hearing improvement it was possible to obtain either with the three-analogue filter auditory prosthesis Triton 3004 hearing aid from Siemens or with our prototype as a function of the number of filters (three, four or seven) and their frequency bandwidth programmability. We tested 21 patients suffering from moderate to severe sensorineural hearing loss. This study allowed us to demonstrate that a seven programmable-width filter strategy seems to be more effective than the present analogue T004 device. Further studies with improvement of our prototype and finer audiometric adjustment of filter strategies, together with long-term clinical studies, need to be carried out.

Acoustic Stimulation↗