Deactivating multiple electrodes can worsen rather than improve information precision.

Evidence

For both cases it could be beneficial to deactivate electrodes, however when doing so frequency information is re-allocated to other electrodes making analysis bands broader and distorting frequency-to-electrode mapping. These effects are small for individual electrode deactivation but can be substantial for deactivation of multiple electrodes, potentially resulting in poorer precision of information transmission; a completely opposite effect to that intended. — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 2053

Categorization

• XREF: Relates to the reader’s interest in spectral-to-place mapping distortions in hearing.