There are many opportunities for research participation in our ongoing studies! To learn more, please complete this interest form: https://redcap.link/ihearlab
This study aims to understand the effects of donepezil on speech recognition, cognition, and neural activity in adult cochlear implant users. Donepezil is a medication that enhances neuroplasticity by increasing acetylcholine levels in the brain. We hypothesize that donepezil may facilitate hearing restoration after cochlear implant surgery. The findings from this study will provide important insight into the mechanisms of sensory plasticity and could potentially improve hearing and cognitive outcomes for cochlear implant users.
The general premise of the image-guided program is to improve spectral resolution by decreasing channel interaction. Image processing techniques developed by our researchers are used to accurately detect the post-operative position of an individual’s cochlear implant (CI) electrodes relative to stimulation targets. We then deactivate CI electrodes that are determined to create overlapping stimulation patterns based on the imaging information.
We are investigating how adults and children perform on various tasks of speech understanding, basic auditory function, and locating sounds in the environment. We are studying this in individuals with normal hearing, in those with a hearing loss that falls within the severe or poorer range in the high frequencies and have no worse than a moderately-severe hearing loss in the low frequencies in both ears, and in those who have cochlear implant in 1 or 2 ears, but have no worse than a moderately-severe hearing loss in the low frequencies in both ears.
