A multichannel cochlear implant can be an effective prosthesis only if its channels are
independent of each other. Presumably independence is achieved by stimulating different
populations of surviving neurons. Two types of interaction might occur between channels:
electrical current field summation peripheral to stimulation of the nerves and neural-
perceptual interaction following stimulation. Two psychophysical techniques to assess
channel independence are discussed. In one technique a masker is presented on one …