My research has two main objectives. One is to optimize the transfer of the information carried by the acoustic signal of speech through the processors of cochlear implants. This is done by applying our knowledge of how this information is processed in normally functioning ears to changing parameters in the cochlear implant processors. These parameters include the assignment of frequency bands to filters and the mapping of the dynamic range of speech to the dynamic range of the electrical current that is sent to the implanted electrodes. The other objective is to investigate the acoustic characteristics of speech in different languages to determine features that are shared by all languages versus those that seem to be language specific.