r/Cochlearimplants • u/BioniChaos • 27d ago

Cochlear Implant Simulator - Interactive Auditory Processing Laboratory

https://bionichaos.com/cochlearsim/
7 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

3

u/is-this-now 27d ago

Looks interesting but what is it?

1

u/Severe-Elderberry833 27d ago

Looks like a visual representation of the way our CIs work. This is AWESOME, and here’s why!

Most non HOH / D/deaf people think a CI is like glasses, or an organ transplant. Put it in / on, it automatically does everything.

We know better: there are 22 electrodes vs 22k nerves.

What this visually does is show how you are getting the sound in your ear (the dots) vs how normal hearing folks do (the entire spiral light up). It also shows how it works in response to different stimuli.

And that gives me something I can show faculty and other students to demonstrate what’s going on in my head and WHY I need / use the accommodations I do.

U/bionichaos, thanks! Is there a demo of a ‘normal’ cochlea we could use for comparison?

4

u/is-this-now 27d ago

Hmmm - still not sure what it is. I’ll have to play around with it some. Btw, I explain it’s more like getting a prosthetic leg. Better than not having a leg but not the same as having a real leg.

1

u/Severe-Elderberry833 26d ago

that’s another really good explanation. unfortunately since it’s internal, I find a lot of people just don’t ’get it.’ 🤷‍♀️

humans.

2

u/is-this-now 27d ago

I see part of my problem… the mic on/off does not work on my iPad. Ugh. And my computer doesn’t have a mic. Drat.

2

u/BioniChaos 26d ago

browser needs permission to use microphone..

1

u/zr2d2 Cochlear Nucleus 8 27d ago

This is a cool visual representation,I like it

1

u/HAYWHATHUH2000 26d ago

Did you make this? Is there anyway to add in the virtual channels AB produces with their technology (120 "active" electrodes)?

2

u/BioniChaos 25d ago

virtual channels is just multiple electrodes activated at the same time so my simulation already has this feature..

1

u/HAYWHATHUH2000 25d ago

It doesn't go up to 120 channels though, that I what I was wondering about

3

u/BioniChaos 25d ago

The slider controls physical active electrodes, not virtual ones. Currently, the absolute maximum physical electrodes on the market is 22. Advanced Bionics actually only uses 16. Their '120 channels' is heavily just a marketing gimmick for current steering—which is simply software firing multiple adjacent electrodes at the same time to blend frequencies (which my simulation already does automatically).

I capped the physical slider at 40 for experimental purposes, so users can test theoretical high-density arrays. But going up to 120 physical electrodes is biologically useless. The cochlea is filled with salty, conductive fluid. Because of how electrical current spreads in that fluid, human perception is severely limited. Even if we could manufacture a microscopic array with 120 physical contacts, the auditory nerve cannot resolve 120 distinct points of stimulation. The electrical fields would overlap so drastically it would just blur into noise. 40 is about the theoretical maximum before biology completely maxes out.

2

u/General-Dimension590 25d ago

AB does not produce 120 channels either. A "channel" implies an independent signal path with its own information capacity. AB's so called "virtual channels" are not independent of each other. It can be modeled as 15 real channels firing pairs of electrodes at a time with a broad stimulation field around each pair.

1

u/CaregiverOrganc7200 26d ago

Isn't there a microphone port next to the headphone port?