Diese Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit der Simulation von Streuung und Absorption von elektromagnetischen Wellen in Gewebephantomen im Kontext optischer Cochlea-Implantate. Dabei werden wellen- und strahlenoptische Ansätze diskutiert und auf ihre Eignung für die Modellierung des Streuverhaltens in gewebeähnlichen Schichten untersucht. Im Einzelnen werden FDTD-Simulationen mit einem Mie-Streuprogramm verglichen, sowie Monte-Carlo-Simulationen durchgeführt. Die gewonnenen Daten für Gewebephantome werden mit einem experimentellem Ansatz und Literaturwerten für echtes Gewebe verglichen. Es wird gezeigt unter welchen Parametern die Lichtstreuung optimal für die gewünschte Anwendung in optischen Cochlea-Implantaten ist. Weiterhin ergibt sich, im Rahmen dieser Arbeit, die Monte-Carlo-Simulation in Verbund mit einem Mie-Streuprogramm als die praktikabelste Lösung, um mit Experiment und Literatur vergleichbare Schichtdicken zu simulieren und entsprechende Ergebnisse zu gewinnen. Die Übereinstimmung zwischen Simulationen und experimentellen Daten lies sich für Gewebephantome nachweisen. Weiterhin konnten erste Schlüsse über die Übereinstimmung des Verhaltens dieser Phantome gegenüber echter menschlicher Dermis gezogen werden. / This work addresses the simulation of scattering and absorption of electromagnetic waves in tissue phantoms in the context of optical cochlear implants. Wave-optical and ray-optical approaches are discussed and investigated for their suitability for modeling the scattering behavior in tissue-like layers. Specifically, FDTD simulations are compared with a Mie-scattering program, and Monte Carlo simulations are performed. The obtained data for tissue phantoms will be compared with an experimental approach and literature values for real tissue. It is shown under which parameters the light scattering is optimal for the desired application in optical cochlear implants. Furthermore, in the context of this work, the Monte-Carlo simulation in combination with a Mie-scattering program is most practicable to simulate layer thicknesses comparable to experiment and literature and to obtain the corresponding results. The agreement between simulations and experimental data could be demonstrated for tissue phantoms. Furthermore, first conclusions could be drawn about the agreement of the behavior of these phantoms compared to real human dermis.

Children with sensorineural hearing loss may (re)gain hearing with a cochlear implant—a device that transforms sounds into electric pulses and bypasses the dysfunctioning inner ear by stimulating the auditory nerve directly with an electrode array. Many implanted children master the acquisition of spoken language successfully, yet we still have little knowledge of the actual input they receive with the implant and specifically which language sensitive cues they hear. This would be important however, both for understanding the flexibility of the auditory system when presented with stimuli after a (life-) long phase of deprivation and for planning therapeutic intervention. In rhythmic languages the general stress pattern conveys important information about word boundaries. Infant language acquisition relies on such cues and can be severely hampered when this information is missing, as seen for dyslexic children and children with specific language impairment. Here we ask whether children with a cochlear implant perceive differences in stress patterns during their language acquisition phase and if they do, whether it is present directly following implant stimulation or if and how much time is needed for the auditory system to adapt to the new sensory modality. We performed a longitudinal ERP study, testing in bimonthly intervals the stress pattern perception of 17 young hearing impaired children (age range: 9–50 months; mean: 22 months) during their first 6 months of implant use. An additional session before the implantation served as control baseline. During a session they passively listened to an oddball paradigm featuring the disyllable “baba,” which was stressed either on the first or second syllable (trochaic vs. iambic stress pattern). A group of age-matched normal hearing children participated as controls. Our results show, that within the first 6 months of implant use the implanted children develop a negative mismatch response for iambic but not for trochaic deviants, thus showing the same result as the normal hearing controls. Even congenitally deaf children show the same developing pattern. We therefore conclude (a) that young implanted children have early access to stress pattern information and (b) that they develop ERP responses similar to those of normal hearing children.

Children with sensorineural hearing loss may (re)gain hearing with a cochlear implant—a device that transforms sounds into electric pulses and bypasses the dysfunctioning inner ear by stimulating the auditory nerve directly with an electrode array. Many implanted children master the acquisition of spoken language successfully, yet we still have little knowledge of the actual input they receive with the implant and specifically which language sensitive cues they hear. This would be important however, both for understanding the flexibility of the auditory system when presented with stimuli after a (life-) long phase of deprivation and for planning therapeutic intervention. In rhythmic languages the general stress pattern conveys important information about word boundaries. Infant language acquisition relies on such cues and can be severely hampered when this information is missing, as seen for dyslexic children and children with specific language impairment. Here we ask whether children with a cochlear implant perceive differences in stress patterns during their language acquisition phase and if they do, whether it is present directly following implant stimulation or if and how much time is needed for the auditory system to adapt to the new sensory modality. We performed a longitudinal ERP study, testing in bimonthly intervals the stress pattern perception of 17 young hearing impaired children (age range: 9–50 months; mean: 22 months) during their first 6 months of implant use. An additional session before the implantation served as control baseline. During a session they passively listened to an oddball paradigm featuring the disyllable “baba,” which was stressed either on the first or second syllable (trochaic vs. iambic stress pattern). A group of age-matched normal hearing children participated as controls. Our results show, that within the first 6 months of implant use the implanted children develop a negative mismatch response for iambic but not for trochaic deviants, thus showing the same result as the normal hearing controls. Even congenitally deaf children show the same developing pattern. We therefore conclude (a) that young implanted children have early access to stress pattern information and (b) that they develop ERP responses similar to those of normal hearing children.