A system for generating electrode stimulation signals to electrode contacts in an implanted cochlear implant electrode array , the system comprising: a preprocessor filter bank configured to process an input sound signal to generate a plurality of band pass signals, wherein each band pass signal represents a band pass channel defined by an associated band of audio frequencies, and wherein each band pass signal has a characteristic amplitude and temporal fine structure features; an envelope detector configured to extract band pass envelope signals reflecting time varying amplitude of the band pass signals; a stimulation timing module configured to generate stimulation timing signals reflecting the temporal fine structure features of the band pass signals; a key feature monitor module configured to monitor a key feature value present in the input sound signal or the band pass signals; a stimulation coding module configured to: i. select a stimulation coding strategy for one or more selected band pass signals from a plurality of stimulation coding strategies based on the key feature value, wherein the plurality of stimulation coding strategies include: an envelope-based stimulation coding strategy based on the band pass envelope signals, and an event-based stimulation coding strategy based on the stimulation timing signals; ii. switch between different selected stimulation coding strategies as a function of changes in the key feature value; a pulse generator configured to use the selected stimulation coding strategy to produce the electrode stimulation signals for the electrode contacts. a preprocessor filter bank configured to process an input sound signal to generate a plurality of band pass signals, wherein each band pass signal represents a band pass channel defined by an associated band of audio frequencies, and wherein each band pass signal has a characteristic amplitude and temporal fine structure features; an envelope detector configured to extract band pass envelope signals reflecting time varying amplitude of the band pass signals; a stimulation timing module configured to generate stimulation timing signals reflecting the temporal fine structure features of the band pass signals; a key feature monitor module configured to monitor a key feature value present in the input sound signal or the band pass signals; a stimulation coding module configured to: i. select a stimulation coding strategy for one or more selected band pass signals from a plurality of stimulation coding strategies based on the key feature value, wherein the plurality of stimulation coding strategies include: an envelope-based stimulation coding strategy based on the band pass envelope signals, and an event-based stimulation coding strategy based on the stimulation timing signals; ii. switch between different selected stimulation coding strategies as a function of changes in the key feature value; i. select a stimulation coding strategy for one or more selected band pass signals from a plurality of stimulation coding strategies based on the key feature value, wherein the plurality of stimulation coding strategies include: an envelope-based stimulation coding strategy based on the band pass envelope signals, and an event-based stimulation coding strategy based on the stimulation timing signals; an envelope-based stimulation coding strategy based on the band pass envelope signals, and an event-based stimulation coding strategy based on the stimulation timing signals; ii. switch between different selected stimulation coding strategies as a function of changes in the key feature value; a pulse generator configured to use the selected stimulation coding strategy to produce the electrode stimulation signals for the electrode contacts. <EOS>