Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42040332›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in neuroscience2026

A digital audio workstation approach for matching the sound quality of speech and music for single-sided deaf patients fit with cochlear implants.

Stephen R Dennison, Katelyn A Berg, Sarah C Natale, Beatriz de Diego-Lázaro, David Carabias-Galindo, Alberto Acebes-de-Pablo, Joshua S Stohl, Michael F Dorman

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Article in Frontiers in neuroscience, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

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1citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

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2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Stephen R DennisonMED-EL Corp., Durham, NC, United States.
Katelyn A BergWashington University, St. Louis, MO, United States.
Sarah C NataleArizona State University, Tempe, AZ, United States.
Beatriz de Diego-LázaroUniversidad de Valladolid, Segovia, Spain.
David Carabias-GalindoUniversidad de Valladolid, Segovia, Spain.
Alberto Acebes-de-PabloUniversidad de Valladolid, Segovia, Spain.
Joshua S StohlMED-EL Corp., Durham, NC, United States.
Michael F DormanArizona State University, Tempe, AZ, United States.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Introduction: Cochlear implant (CI) patients who are single-sided deaf can match the sound quality of speech presented to their CI ear and speech presented to their normal hearing ear. Previous work using this patient population has generated acoustic approximations of CI sound quality for speech, achieving high similarity ratings through interactive manipulation of sound parameters such as filtering, pitch shifting, and spectral smearing. The present study aimed to extend this approach to music. Methods: A digital audio workstation (DAW) methodology was developed for generating sound quality matches to both speech and music in 11 adults with unilateral MED-EL CIs and contralateral acoustic hearing. Participants compared the sound quality created by acoustically manipulated signals presented to their better hearing ear with the sound quality of unprocessed signals presented to the CI ear. The similarity of the two signals was rated on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 indicating a perfect match. Results: On average, speech matches achieved higher similarity ratings (9.3) than music matches (6.7). Speech matches were typically achieved using bandpass filtering, pitch shifts, and distortion. Similarity ratings for speech using the digital audio workstation (9.3) were not different from those (8.7) using the custom, speech-specific software of previous studies. Music matches frequently required additional manipulations, including frequency equalization and modulation. The specific manipulations required varied across participants, and several individuals could not complete music matches despite extensive attempts. Discussion: These findings suggest that music introduces perceptual dimensions not fully addressed by speech-based matching procedures. The DAW methodology provides an accessible framework for investigating CI sound quality and may guide future efforts to characterize and optimize sound quality for signals beyond speech.

Indexed as

bimodalcochlear implantsdigital audio workstationmusicsingle-sided deafspeech quality

Identifiers

PMID42040332
PMCPMC13102824

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.