Listening to speech with a guinea pig-to-human brain-to-brain interface.

Nicolelis wrote in his 2003 review on brain-machine interfaces (BMIs) that the design of a successful BMI relies on general physiological principles describing how neuronal signals are encoded. Our study explored whether neural information exchanged between brains of different species is possible, similar to the information exchange between computers. We show for the first time that single words processed by the guinea pig auditory system are intelligible to humans who receive the processed information via a cochlear implant.

The effects of short-term computerized speech-in-noise training on postlingually deafened adult cochlear implant recipients.

Purpose: To determine if short-term computerized speech-in-noise training can produce significant improvements in speech-in-noise perception by cochlear implant (CI) recipients on standardized audiologic testing measures.

Method: Five adult postlingually deafened CI recipients participated in 4 speech-in-noise training sessions using the Seeing and Hearing Speech program (Sensimetrics; Malden, MA). Each participant completed lessons concentrating on consonant and vowel recognition at word, phrase, and sentence levels.