McKay, Henshall, Farrell, and McDermott [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 113, 2054–2063 (2003)] developed a practical method to estimate the loudness of periodic electrical signals presented through a cochlear implant. In the present work, this method was extended to time-varying sounds based on two models of time-varying loudness for normal listeners. To fit the model parameters, loudness balancing data was collected with six cochlear implant listeners. The pulse rate of a modulated pulse train was adjusted to equalize its loudness to a reference stimulus. The stimuli were single-electrode time-limited pulse bursts, repeated at a rate of 50 Hz, with on-times varying between 2 and 20 ms. The parameters of two different models of time-varying loudness were fitted to the results. For each model, parameters defining the time windows over which the electrical pulses contribute to instantaneous loudness were optimized. In each case, a good fit was obtained with the loudness balancing results. Therefore, the practical method was successfully extended to time-varying sounds by combining it with existing models of time-varying loudness for acoustic stimulation.

1.
Chalupper
,
J.
, and
Fastl
,
H.
(
2002
). “
Dynamic loudness model (DLM) for normal and hearing-impaired listeners
,”
Acta Acust. Acust.
88
,
378
386
.
2.
Francart
,
T.
, and
McDermott
,
H. J.
(
2012a
). “
Development of a loudness normalisation strategy for combined cochlear implant and acoustic stimulation
,”
Hear. Res.
294
,
114
124
.
3.
Francart
,
T.
, and
McDermott
,
H. J.
(
2012b
). “
Speech perception and localisation with SCORE bimodal: A loudness normalisation strategy for combined cochlear implant and hearing aid stimulation
,”
PLoS One
7
,
e45385
.
4.
Francart
,
T.
,
van Wieringen
,
A.
, and
Wouters
,
J.
(
2008
). “
APEX 3: A multi-purpose test platform for auditory psychophysical experiments
,”
J. Neurosci. Methods
172
,
283
293
.
5.
Glasberg
,
B. R.
, and
Moore
,
B.
(
2002
). “
A model of loudness applicable to time-varying sounds
,”
J. Audio Eng. Soc.
50
,
331
342
.
6.
Laneau
,
J.
,
Wouters
,
J.
, and
Moonen
,
M.
(
2006
). “
Improved music perception with explicit pitch coding in cochlear implants
,”
Audiol. Neurootol.
11
,
38
52
.
7.
McDermott
,
H.
,
McKay
,
C. M.
,
Richardson
,
L. M.
, and
Henshall
,
K. R.
(
2003
). “
Application of loudness models to sound processing for cochlear implants
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
114
,
2190
2197
.
8.
McKay
,
C. M.
, and
Henshall
,
K. R.
(
2010
). “
Amplitude modulation and loudness in cochlear implantees
,”
J. Assoc. Res. Otolaryngol.
11
,
101
111
.
9.
McKay
,
C. M.
,
Henshall
,
K. R.
,
Farrell
,
R. J.
, and
McDermott
,
H.
(
2003
). “
A practical method of predicting the loudness of complex electrical stimuli
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
113
,
2054
2063
.
10.
McKay
,
C. M.
,
Lim
,
H. H.
, and
Lenarz
,
T.
(
2013
). “
Temporal processing in the auditory system: Insights from cochlear and auditory midbrain implantees
,”
J. Assoc. Res. Otolaryngol.
14
,
103
124
.
11.
McKay
,
C. M.
, and
McDermott
,
H.
(
1998
). “
Loudness perception with pulsatile electrical stimulation: The effect of interpulse intervals
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
104
,
1061
1074
.
12.
McKay
,
C. M.
,
Remine
,
M. D.
, and
McDermott
,
H.
(
2001
). “
Loudness summation for pulsatile electrical stimulation of the cochlea: Effects of rate, electrode separation, level, and mode of stimulation
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
110
,
1514
1524
.
13.
Milczynski
,
M.
,
Chang
,
J. E.
,
Wouters
,
J.
, and
van Wieringen
,
A.
(
2012
). “
Perception of Mandarin Chinese with cochlear implants using enhanced temporal pitch cues
,”
Hear. Res.
285
,
1
12
.
14.
Moore
,
B. C.
,
Peters
,
R. W.
, and
Glasberg
,
B. R.
(
1996
). “
Detection of decrements and increments in sinusoids at high overall levels
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
99
,
3669
3677
.
15.
Oxenham
,
A. J.
(
2001
). “
Forward masking: Adaptation or integration?
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
109
,
732
741
.
16.
Oxenham
,
A. J.
, and
Moore
,
B. C.
(
1994
). “
Modeling the additivity of nonsimultaneous masking
,”
Hear. Res.
80
,
105
118
.
17.
Penner
,
M. J.
(
1978
). “
A power law transformation resulting in a class of short-term integrators that produce time-intensity trades for noise bursts
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
63
,
195
201
.
18.
Plack
,
C. J.
and
Oxenham
,
A. J.
(
1998
). “
Basilar-membrane nonlinearity and the growth of forward masking
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
103
,
1598
1608
.
19.
Rennies
,
J.
,
Verhey
,
J. L.
, and
Fastl
,
H.
(
2010
). “
Comparison of loudness models for time-varying sounds
,”
Acta Acust. Acust.
96
,
383
396
.
20.
Vandali
,
A. E.
,
Sucher
,
C. M.
,
Tsang
,
D. J.
,
McKay
,
C. M.
,
Chew
,
J. W.
, and
McDermott
,
H.
(
2005
). “
Pitch ranking ability of cochlear implant recipients: a comparison of sound-processing strategies
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
117
,
3126
3138
.
21.
Varsavsky
,
A.
, and
McDermott
,
H. J.
(
2013
). “
Application of real-time loudness models can improve speech recognition for cochlear implant users
,”
IEEE Trans. Neural Syst. Rehabil. Eng.
21
,
81
87
.
22.
Zwicker
,
E.
(
1958
). “
Ueber psychologische und methodische Grundlagen der Lautheit” (“On psychological and methodical principles of loudness”)
,
Acustica
8
, Suppl.
1
,
237
258
.
23.
Zwicker
,
E.
(
1977
). “
Procedure for calculating loudnesss of temporally variable sounds
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
62
,
675
682
.
You do not currently have access to this content.