Spatial release from masking assessment in virtual reality for bilateral cochlear implants users
In addition to enhanced sound localisation abilities, one of the potential benefits of having bilateral cochlear implants is the improvement of speech-in-noise perception, as bilateral auditory inputs potentially allow the spatial separation of speech and noise sources. This process is known as spatial release from masking (SRM). When assisting bilateral cochlear implant users, it is essential to assess binaural hearing performance in a timeefficient manner, trying to maintain some of the real-world complexities, eg multiple sources and reverberation. Traditional tests of SRM and/or localization are often time consuming, and typically assess these in unrealistic settings, with only one controlled stimulus to attend to. With this in mind, Bizley and colleagues (2015) developed the Spatial Speech in Noise test (SSiN), which allows for the simultaneous evaluation of speech discrimination for various locations, SRM, and relative …
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