The results support the hypothesis that the relationship between the radial distance of the electrode and the psychophysical measures are influenced by patterns of fibrous tissue growth and individual patient differences, such as etiology and neural survival. Impedance measures for the Nucleus 24 Contour electrode array were higher than the banded electrode array, but this is primarily due to the reduction in electrode surface area. The different outcomes in impedance over time suggest differences in the relative contributions of the components of impedance with the two arrays.

Objective:This paper provides a detailed description of the Nucleus 6 system, and clinically evaluates user performance compared to the previous Nucleus 5 system in cochlear implant recipients. Additionally, it clinically evaluates a range of Nucleus 6 and Nucleus 5 programs to determine the performance benefits provided by new input processing technologies available in SmartSound iQ.DesignSpeech understanding tests were used to clinically validate the default Nucleus 6 program, by comparing performance outcomes against up to five custom Nucleus 5 or Nucleus 6 programs in a range of listening environments. Clinical comparisons between programs were conducted across the following listening environments; quiet, speech weighted noise (co-located and spatially separated noise), and 4-talker babble (co-located and spatially separated noise).Study sample Twenty-one adult cochlear implant recipients participated. Results Significant speech understanding benefits were found with the default Nucleus 6 program compared to the participants’ preferred program using their Nucleus 5 processor and compared to a range of custom Nucleus 6 programs. All participants successfully accepted and upgraded to the new default Nucleus 6 SmartSound iQ program. Conclusion This study demonstrates the acceptance and clinical benefits of the Nucleus 6 cochlear implant system and SmartSound iQ.