A method for evaluating a selected hearing stimulation strategy in a hearing impaired patient, the method comprising: accessing a healthy neurogram representation of a normal auditory neural response to a selected sound input by a healthy auditory system; accessing an impaired neurogram representation of an impaired auditory neural response to the selected sound input by a hearing impaired patient auditory system using the hearing stimulation strategy; and comparing the impaired neurogram to the healthy neurogram based on: i. partitioning the neurograms into corresponding temporal and frequency domain tiles, ii. determining local variability between corresponding individual tiles by comparison of selected tile features, wherein the local variability is determined based on a Levenshtein distance or an approximation thereof between the selected tile features, iii. determining global variability between the neurograms by weighted averaging of the individual tile comparisons, and iv. using the local and global variabilities for one of - developing a perception estimate representing effectiveness of the selected hearing stimulation strategy in approaching normal healthy hearing for the implanted patient, - developing an estimate of signal processing sound quality, - optimizing the modeled neuronal responses of the hearing impaired patient auditory system to minimize distance between the neurograms in an online-procedure, or - optimizing the modeled neuronal responses of the hearing impaired patient auditory system to minimize distance between the neurograms in an off-line-procedure. accessing a healthy neurogram representation of a normal auditory neural response to a selected sound input by a healthy auditory system; accessing an impaired neurogram representation of an impaired auditory neural response to the selected sound input by a hearing impaired patient auditory system using the hearing stimulation strategy; and comparing the impaired neurogram to the healthy neurogram based on: i. partitioning the neurograms into corresponding temporal and frequency domain tiles, ii. determining local variability between corresponding individual tiles by comparison of selected tile features, wherein the local variability is determined based on a Levenshtein distance or an approximation thereof between the selected tile features, iii. determining global variability between the neurograms by weighted averaging of the individual tile comparisons, and iv. using the local and global variabilities for one of - developing a perception estimate representing effectiveness of the selected hearing stimulation strategy in approaching normal healthy hearing for the implanted patient, - developing an estimate of signal processing sound quality, - optimizing the modeled neuronal responses of the hearing impaired patient auditory system to minimize distance between the neurograms in an online-procedure, or - optimizing the modeled neuronal responses of the hearing impaired patient auditory system to minimize distance between the neurograms in an off-line-procedure. i. partitioning the neurograms into corresponding temporal and frequency domain tiles, ii. determining local variability between corresponding individual tiles by comparison of selected tile features, wherein the local variability is determined based on a Levenshtein distance or an approximation thereof between the selected tile features, iii. determining global variability between the neurograms by weighted averaging of the individual tile comparisons, and iv. using the local and global variabilities for one of - developing a perception estimate representing effectiveness of the selected hearing stimulation strategy in approaching normal healthy hearing for the implanted patient, - developing an estimate of signal processing sound quality, - optimizing the modeled neuronal responses of the hearing impaired patient auditory system to minimize distance between the neurograms in an online-procedure, or - optimizing the modeled neuronal responses of the hearing impaired patient auditory system to minimize distance between the neurograms in an off-line-procedure. - developing a perception estimate representing effectiveness of the selected hearing stimulation strategy in approaching normal healthy hearing for the implanted patient, - developing an estimate of signal processing sound quality, - optimizing the modeled neuronal responses of the hearing impaired patient auditory system to minimize distance between the neurograms in an online-procedure, or - optimizing the modeled neuronal responses of the hearing impaired patient auditory system to minimize distance between the neurograms in an off-line-procedure.