The Cochlear Implant Hackathon is a joint effort between Advanced Bionics, University of California San Francisco, and University of Minnesota with a goal to inspire members of the general public to improve cochlear implant (CI) sound processing. Advanced Bionics, one of three FDA-approved cochlear implant manufacturers, sponsored the contest and provided a “gold standard” reference implementation of a fully-featured cochlear implant sound coding strategy. The Purdue team beat the gold standard and won 3rd Place in this competition winning a $1,000 cash prize, and the opportunity to evaluate their algorithm with real CI patients!  The results of this hackathon will be made available through publication with the top teams and the organizing committee.

Rav and Andres are part of the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, and the Interdisciplinary Training Program in Auditory Neuroscience (TPAN) that spans three colleges at Purdue. Rav and Andres have also played leadership roles in the Auditory Neuroscience Association at Purdue (ANAP), a vibrant student group which aims to foster collaborations, and enrich the professional development and technical training of its members.

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