Patent ID: 7043303

Claim:
A method of fitting a cochlear implant, the cochlear implant having an electrode array with multiple electrode contacts through which a pulsatile stimulation waveform having a pulse rate and a pulse width may be applied to the cochlea of the patient; and wherein the fitting method builds an M iso-loudness contour and determines a T iso-loudness contour, the method comprising: a) setting a starting sound level to build an iso-loudness contour; b) setting volume on a first channel until the sound is at a predetermined level; c) adjusting volume on a second channel until the volume of sound on the second channel is similar to the volume of sound on the first channel; then d) setting the next channel to result in the same sound volume determined for the previous channel; e) repeating step (d) for each available channel until the stimulation level for the last channel is adjusted, and the M iso-loudness contour is built; and f) picking one channel and determining the volume level of that one channel; and g) generating a T-iso-loudness contour by determining the difference in the volume level measured for the one channel in step f) and the M volume level found previously for that channel and linearly shifting the M iso-loudness contour by the determined difference in volume level.