Information theoretic inference of the optimal number of electrodes for future cochlear implants using a spiral cochlea model

Abstract

Contemporary cochlear implants stimulate the auditory nerve with an array of up to 22 electrodes. More electrodes do not typically provide improved hearing performance. Given that this limitation is primarily due to current spread, and that newly developing kinds of electrodes may enable more focused stimulation, we recently proposed an information theoretic modeling framework for estimating how many electrodes might achieve optimal hearing performance under a range of assumptions about electrodes and their placement relative to the nerve. Here, we extend this approach by introducing more realistic three-dimensional spiral geometries for the cochlea and array, and comparing the optimal number of electrodes predicted by our model for this case with that in our original model, which used a linear geometry.