Electrode deactivation benefits depend on the sound processing strategy used.

Evidence

The findings from different deactivation studies are inconclusive, partly due to the difficulties of comparing experimental to clinical maps that the CI users had adapted to and partly due to the impact that deactivating channels can have on other factors (e.g. rate of stimulation; filter-frequency allocation) which differ between devices and sound processing strategies. There is a trend suggesting that deactivating electrodes may be less effective for ACE or SPEAK users than for the CIS based sound processing strategies incorporated in AB or MEDEL devices. — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 2060