Patients with multi-electrode cochlear implants can distinguish vowels well, but the ‘sounds’ they hear through this device are unknown. In order to simulate vowels through multielectrode cochlear implants, we synthesized waves which have translated formant frequencies using a computer and reverse fourier transformation .Through a digital-analog converter, we heard the synthesized sounds. Each sound is quite different from each vowel, but we can easily distinguish them from each other. With the use of this procedure, cochlear implants can be expected to be improved.
