Cochlear implants (CIs) are prosthetic devices that restore hearing in deaf individuals via electric stimulation of the auditory nerve through an electrode array inserted in the cochlea. The device consists of a microphone and an externally worn speech processor that converts acoustic signals into electric signals. The speech signal coded with electric pulses is then delivered via a wireless tr...

Recent work suggests that once the auditory cortex of deaf persons has been reorganized by cross-modal plasticity, it can no longer respond to signals from a cochlear implant (CI) installed subsequently. To further examine this issue, we compared the evoked potentials involved in the processing of visual stimuli between CI users and hearing controls. The stimuli were concentric circles replaced...

Surveys measuring users’ opinion of software quality serve not only as indications of users’ satisfaction with a software product, but they also permit a more sophisticated degree of analysis required by organisations with higher levels of quality maturity. However, in surveys, some difficulties arise related to the quality of data, the high cost of conducting the survey and the usual revisions...

Combined use of a hearing aid (HA) and cochlear implant (CI) has been shown to improve CI users' speech and music performance. However, different hearing devices, test stimuli, and listening tasks may interact and obscure bimodal benefits. In this study, speech and music perception were measured in bimodal listeners for CI-only, HA-only, and CI + HA conditions, using the Sung Speech Corpus, a d...

Spectrotemporal modulation (STM) detection performance was examined for cochlear implant (CI) users. The test involved discriminating between an unmodulated steady noise and a modulated stimulus. The modulated stimulus presents frequency modulation patterns that change in frequency over time. In order to examine STM detection performance for different modulation conditions, two different tempor...

Background: The correct position of bristles of a toothbrush requires them to be bent at an angle of 45 along with gums and teeth surfaces. This practice is quite difficult by many people especially disadvantage group of people. Aim: The objective of this study was to evaluate the perception of users on a newly designed toothbrush with two brushing surfaces where bristles were prefabricated at ...

CONCLUSIONS In prelingually deaf children with cochlear implants, tone perception and production performance are highly correlated. This result is consistent with the hypothesis that tone perception is the prerequisite for good tone production. OBJECTIVES Previous research has shown remarkable deficits in tone perception and production in native tone language-speaking, prelingually deafened c...

Current empirical research on gamification has mainly focused on individual’s performance and motivation. However, there are a number of social and ethical aspects, which should be considered in future research. The workshop “Fictional Game Elements: Critical Perspectives on Gamification Design” would give us the possibility to outline possible side-effects of these social and cultural aspects.

BACKGROUND cochlear implant is a rather processing electronic device in terms of its benefits, as it provides the deaf child with the appropriation of incidental oral language. AIM to evaluate the hearing performance of the first 60 children with pre-lingual sensorineural hearing loss who were implanted at the Audiologic Research Centre of the Hospital de Reabilitação de Anomalias Craniofacia...