DEVELOPING A CLINICAL TOOL FOR MEASURING SPATIAL SOUND LOCALIZATION ABILITIES OF BILATERAL COCHLEAR IMPLANT USERS

Cochlear implants (CI) restore hearing in profoundly deaf individuals by converting sound into electrical signals that directly stimulate the auditory nerve. Bilateral CIs have been shown to improve sound localization abilities by providing additional cues not present in unilateral CI patients. Currently, localization tests take place in large rooms with expensive speaker arrays.

This project is developing a clinical tool that can be used to test sound localization abilities of bilateral CI users by using a virtual reality headset.

Project Aims

Develop a portable, easy-to-use clinical tool for measuring spatial sound localization abilities of bilateral CI users

Validate the performance of the tool against the current gold standard by conducting tests with bilateral CI users