Browsing by Author "Wong, Yan"

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    Cortical auditory evoked potential time-frequency growth functions for fully objective hearing threshold estimation
    (Elsevier, Inc., 2018-12) Mao, Darren; Innes-Brown, Hamish; Petoe, Matthew; Wong, Yan; McKay, Colette
    Cortical auditory evoked potential (CAEPs) thresholds have been shown to correlate well with behaviourally determined hearing thresholds. Growth functions of CAEPs show promise as an alternative to single level detection for objective hearing threshold estimation; however, the accuracy and clinical relevance of this method is not well examined. In this study, we used temporal and spectral CAEP features to generate feature growth functions. Spectral features may be more robust than traditional peak-picking methods where CAEP morphology is variable, such as in children or hearing device users. Behavioural hearing thresholds were obtained and CAEPs were recorded in response to a 1 kHz puretone from twenty adults with no hearing loss. Four features, peak-to-peak amplitude, root-mean-square, peak spectral power and peak phase-locking value (PLV) were extracted from the CAEPs. Functions relating each feature with stimulus level were used to calculate objective hearing threshold estimates. We assessed the performance of each feature by calculating the difference between the objective estimate and the behaviourally-determined threshold. We compared the accuracy of the estimates using each feature and found that the peak PLV feature performed best, with a mean threshold error of 2.7 dB and standard deviation of 5.9 dB across subjects from behavioural threshold. We also examined the relation between recording time, data quality and threshold estimate errors, and found that on average for a single threshold, 12.7 minutes of recording was needed for a 95% confidence that the threshold estimate was within 20 dB of the behavioural threshold, using the peak-to-peak amplitude feature, while 14 minutes is needed for the peak PLV feature. These results show that the PLV of CAEPs can be used to find a clinically relevant hearing threshold estimate. Its potential stability in differing morphology may be an advantage in testing infants or cochlear implant users.
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    Fully objective hearing threshold estimation in cochlear implant users using phase-locking value growth functions
    (Elsevier B.V., 2019-03) Mao, Darren; Innes-Brown, Hamish; Petoe, Matthew; Wong, Yan; McKay, Colette
    Cochlear implant users require fitting of electrical threshold and comfort levels for optimal access to sound. In this study, we used single-channel cortical auditory evoked responses (CAEPs) obtained from 20 participants using a Nucleus device. A fully objective method to estimate threshold levels was developed, using growth function fitting and the peak phase-locking value feature. Results demonstrated that growth function fitting is a viable method for estimating threshold levels in cochlear implant users, with a strong correlation (r=0.979, p<0.001) with behavioral thresholds. Additionally, we compared the threshold estimates using CAEPs acquired from a standard montage (Cz to mastoid) against using a montage of recording channels near the cochlear implant, simulating recording from the device itself. The correlation between estimated and behavioural thresholds remained strong (r=0.966, p<0.001), however the recording time needed to be increased to produce a similar estimate accuracy. Finally, a method for estimating comfort levels was investigated, and showed that the comfort level estimates were mildly correlated with behavioral comfort levels (r=0.50, p=0.024).
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    Minimally invasive endovascular stent-electrode array for high-fidelity, chronic recordings of cortical neural activity
    (Nature Publishing Group, 2016-02-08) Oxley, Thomas; Opie, Nicholas; John, Sam; Rindl, Gil; Ronayne, Stephen; Wheeler, Tracey; Judy, Jack; McDonald, Alan; Dornom, Anthony; Lovell, Timothy; Steward, Christopher; Garrett, David; Moffat, Bradford; Lui, Elaine; Yassi, Nawaf; Campbell, Bruce; Wong, Yan; Fox, Kate; Nurse, Ewan; Bennett, Iwan; Bauquier, Sebastien; Lyanage, Kishan; van de Nagel, Nicole; Perucca, Piero; Ahnood, Arman; Gill, Katherine; Yan, Bernard; Churilov, Leonid; French, Christopher; Desmond, Patricia; Horne, Malcolm; Kiers, Lynette; Prawer, Steven; Davis, Stephen; Burkitt, Anthony; Mitchell, Peter; Grayden, David; May, Clive; O'Brien, Terence
    High-fidelity intracranial electrode arrays for recording and stimulating brain activity have facilitated major advances in the treatment of neurological conditions over the past decade. Traditional arrays require direct implantation into the brain via open craniotomy, which can lead to inflammatory tissue responses, necessitating development of minimally invasive approaches that avoid brain trauma. Here we demonstrate the feasibility of chronically recording brain activity from within a vein using a passive stent-electrode recording array (stentrode). We achieved implantation into a superficial cortical vein overlying the motor cortex via catheter angiography and demonstrate neural recordings in freely moving sheep for up to 190 d. Spectral content and bandwidth of vascular electrocorticography were comparable to those of recordings from epidural surface arrays. Venous internal lumen patency was maintained for the duration of implantation. Stentrodes may have wide ranging applications as a neural interface for treatment of a range of neurological conditions.
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    Neural Responses to Multielectrode Stimulation of Healthy and Degenerate Retina
    (IOVS, 2017-07) Halupka, Kerry; Abbott, Carla; Wong, Yan; Cloherty, Shaun; Grayden, David; Burkitt, Anthony; Sergeev, Evgeni; Brandli, Alice; Allen, Penelope; Meffin, Hamish; Shivdasani, Mohit
    Purpose: Simultaneous stimulation of multiple retinal electrodes in normally sighted animals shows promise in improving the resolution of retinal prostheses. However, the effects of simultaneous stimulation on degenerate retinae remain unknown. Therefore, we investigated the characteristics of cortical responses to multielectrode stimulation of the degenerate retina. Methods: Four adult cats were bilaterally implanted with retinal electrode arrays in the suprachoroidal space after unilateral adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-induced retinal photoreceptor degeneration. Functional and structural changes were characterized by using electroretinogram a-wave amplitude and optical coherence tomography. Multiunit activity was recorded from both hemispheres of the visual cortex. Responses to single- and multielectrode stimulation of the ATP-injected and fellow control eyes were characterized and compared. Results: The retinae of ATP-injected eyes displayed structural and functional changes consistent with mid- to late-stage photoreceptor degeneration and remodeling. Responses to multielectrode stimulation of the ATP-injected eyes exhibited shortened latencies, lower saturated spike counts, and higher thresholds, compared to stimulation of the fellow control eyes. Electrical receptive field sizes were significantly larger in the ATP-injected eye than in the control eye, and positively correlated with the extent of degeneration. Conclusions: Significant differences exist between cortical responses to stimulation of healthy and degenerate retinae. Our results highlight the importance of using a retinal degeneration model when evaluating the efficacy of novel stimulation paradigms.
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    Prediction of cortical responses to simultaneous electrical stimulation of the retina
    (IOP Publishing, 2016-11) Halupka, Kerry; Shivdasani, Mohit; Cloherty, Shaun; Grayden, David; Wong, Yan; Burkitt, Anthony; Meffin, Hamish
    OBJECTIVE: Simultaneous electrical stimulation of multiple electrodes has shown promise in diversifying the responses that can be elicited by retinal prostheses compared to interleaved single electrode stimulation. However, the effects of interactions between electrodes are not well understood and clinical trials with simultaneous stimulation have produced inconsistent results. We investigated the effects of multiple electrode stimulation of the retina by developing a model of cortical responses to retinal stimulation. APPROACH: Electrical stimuli consisting of temporally sparse, biphasic current pulses, with amplitudes sampled from a bi-dimensional Gaussian distribution, were simultaneously delivered to the retina across a 42-channel electrode array implanted in the suprachoroidal space of anesthetized cats. Visual cortex activity was recorded using penetrating microelectrode arrays. These data were used to identify a linear-nonlinear model of cortical responses to retinal stimulation. The ability of the model to generalize was tested by predicting responses to non-white patterned stimuli. MAIN RESULTS: The model accurately predicted two cortical activity measures: multi-unit neural responses and evoked potential responses to white noise stimuli. The model also provides information about electrical receptive fields, including the relative effects of each stimulating electrode on every recording site. SIGNIFICANCE: We have demonstrated a simple model that accurately describes cortical responses to simultaneous stimulation of a suprachoroidal retinal prosthesis. Overall, our results demonstrate that cortical responses to simultaneous multi-electrode stimulation of the retina are repeatable and predictable, and that interactions between electrodes during simultaneous stimulation are predominantly linear. The model shows promise for determining optimal stimulation paradigms for exploiting interactions between electrodes to shape neural activity, thereby improving outcomes for patients with retinal prostheses.
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    Spectral distribution of local field potential responses to electrical stimulation of the retina
    (IOP Publishing, 2016-03) Wong, Yan; Halupka, Kerry; Kameneva, Tatiana; Cloherty, Shaun; Grayden, David; Burkitt, Anthony; Meffin, Hamish; Shivdasani, Mohit
    OBJECTIVE: Different frequency bands of the local field potential (LFP) have been shown to reflect neuronal activity occurring at varying cortical scales. As such, recordings of the LFP may offer a novel way to test the efficacy of neural prostheses and allow improvement of stimulation strategies via neural feedback. Here we use LFP measurements from visual cortex to characterize neural responses to electrical stimulation of the retina. We aim to show that the LFP is a viable signal that contains sufficient information to optimize the performance of sensory neural prostheses. APPROACH: Clinically relevant electrode arrays were implanted in the suprachoroidal space of one eye in four felines. LFPs were simultaneously recorded in response to stimulation of individual electrodes using penetrating microelectrode arrays from the visual cortex. The frequency response of each electrode was extracted using multi-taper spectral analysis and the uniqueness of the responses was determined via a linear decoder. MAIN RESULTS: We found that cortical LFPs are reliably modulated by electrical stimulation of the retina and that the responses are spatially localized. We further characterized the spectral distribution of responses, with maximum information being contained in the low and high gamma bands. Finally, we found that LFP responses are unique to a large range of stimulus parameters ( approximately 40) with a maximum conveyable information rate of 6.1 bits. SIGNIFICANCE: These results show that the LFP can be used to validate responses to electrical stimulation of the retina and we provide the first steps towards using these responses to provide more efficacious stimulation strategies.