The impact of spectral resolution on the mismatch response to Mandarin Chinese tones: an ERP study of cochlear implant simulations.

Objective: This study examined the impact of spectral resolution on the processing of lexical tones and the number of frequency channels required for a cochlear implant (CI) to transmit Chinese tonal information to the brain.

Methods: ERPs were recorded in an auditory oddball task. Normal-hearing participants listened to speech sounds of two tones and their CI simulations in 1, 4, 8, or 32 channels.