About the Researcher

Cody Jeu, MD, received his medical degree from University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and is now a resident in Otolaryngology at the University of Illinois College of Medicine. His current research looks at the functional impact of malpositioned lower lateral cartilage in primary rhinoplasty patients.

About the Research

A cochlear implant simulation study to determine the effects of transposing frequencies on binaural benefits
Listening with two ears can help people localize sounds and understand speech in noisy environments. However, individuals with a cochlear implant (CI) in each ear, i.e., bilateral CIs, do not receive the full benefit of having two ears. Part of the reason for these reduced benefits is that bilateral CIs are independently programmed in clinics, and this programing does not account for differences in the relative locations of the CI electrodes in each ear. While this can potentially be addressed by creating individualized programs for each ear that account for differences in electrodes across ears, current approaches to do this often results in some frequencies only being presented to one ear or the other. The goal of this study is to determine if the benefits of having two ears can be preserved or improved for bilateral CI users by presenting all frequencies to both ears through new programming methods.