Simulation of the response of a multichannel nerve array to pulse shapes produced by single-channel electrostimulation

Results of experiments on single-channel electrostimulation of the cochlea which throw light on the performance of the central auditory nervous system (CANS) have recently been reported by Dobie and Dillier. Trains of pulses with different rise times could be distinguished by subjects with cochlea implants, even though time differences involved were very small. It was suggested by the authors that the information is carried to the CANS by an array of nerve fibres with characteristic time differences. In the present paper, simulations produced by means of a nerve model are reported and used to compute the patterns of action potentials evoked on the nerve array by different pulse trains. The changes in the patterns of the nerve responses resulting from the shape variations which have to be perceived by the CANS are examined.