System comprising a cochlear stimulation device and a second hearing stimulation device and a method for adjustment according to a response to combined stimulation

A system comprising:

• a first stimulation device configured to provide neural stimulation of a cochlea of a patient's ipsilateral ear;
• a second stimulation device selected from the group consisting of a device configured to provide neural stimulation of the cochlea of the patient's contralateral ear, a device configured to provide acoustic stimulation of the patient's ipsilateral ear, and a device configured to provide acoustic stimulation of the patient's contralateral ear;
• and
• a fitting device configured to adjust at least one of the first stimulation device and the second stimulation device according to a response of the patient to combined stimulation by the first stimulation device and the second stimulation device;
• the first stimulation device comprising
• a sound processor configured to generate a neural stimulation signal from an input audio signal;
• and
• a cochlear implant stimulation arrangement comprising a plurality of stimulation channels configured to stimulate the ipsilateral cochlea at various stimulation sites according to the neural stimulation signal, with each stimulation channel being attributed to a certain one of the stimulation sites;
• the fitting device comprising
• a unit configured to cooperate with the first stimulation device and with the second stimulation device in order to generate, in a synchronized manner, a probe neural stimulation signal to be supplied to the cochlear implant stimulation arrangement and a second probe stimulation signal be supplied to the second stimulation device, with the probe neural stimulation signal and the second stimulation signal being adapted to be recognized by the patient as carrying a target speech information in case that the patient is able to correctly fuse the stimuli resulting from the probe neural stimulation signal and the second stimulation signal in the auditory cortex, with the target speech information being divided onto the probe neural stimulation signal and the second stimulation signal, and with the probe neural stimulation signal and the second stimulation signal not carrying said target speech information when perceived separately by the patient,
• a unit for recording a perceptual behavioral response of the patient to the synchronized neural stimulation of the user's hearing with the probe neural stimulation signal and the second stimulation signal, and
• a unit for programming the first stimulation device and/or the second stimulation device according to the recorded perceptual response.