Understanding speech in environments where significant noise is present is a challenging task for the majority of cochlear implantees.  Whilst algorithms exist which attempt to improve the comfort of listening in noise for implantees, none are capable of improving speech intelligibility. 

Recent research based on the principles of auditory binary masking, has demonstrated that significant improvements in speech understanding can be achieved in cochlear implantees when the true signal to noise ratio is employed to select the channels that are delivered to the implant.  This research is in contrast to the conventional wisdom employed in cochlear implant processing whereby channels are selected based on their amplitude.