Kaibao Nie, Ph.D. (he/him/his)

Associate Teaching Professor

Affiliate member, UW Virginia Merrill Bloedel Hearing Research Center

Kaibao Nie, Ph.D. (he/him/his)

Associate Teaching Professor

Affiliate member, UW Virginia Merrill Bloedel Hearing Research Center

Dr. Kaibao Nie received his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Tsinghua University in 1999, and his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Electronic Engineering from Shandong University, China, in 1988 and 1991, respectively. He completed postdoctoral training as a postdoctoral scholar at the University of California, Irvine from 2001 to 2004. Nie has been a faculty member at the University of Washington since 2005. He teaches courses in electronic circuits, signals and systems, embedded systems, and random processes. His primary research interests focus on signal processing for cochlear implants, hearing aids and biomedical devices. His research has been published in leading journals, including Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering, Hearing Research, Ear & Hearing, Otology & Neurotology, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (JASA), and Frontiers in Neuroscience. Nie received the 2010 Outstanding Paper Award from the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society for his work published in IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering.

Education

  • University of California, Irvine, CA
    • Postdoc 2001-2004
  • Tsinghua University, China
    • Ph.D. 1999 – Biomedical Engineering
  •  Shandong University, China
    • M.S. 1991 – Electronic Engineering
    • B.S. 1988 – Electronic Engineering

Courses

  • B EE 235 Continuous Time Linear Systems
  • B EE 341 Discrete Time Linear Systems
  • B EE 425 Microprocessor System Design
  • B EE 442 Digital Signal Processing
  • B EE 461 Introduction to Digital Speech and Audio Processing
  • B EE 510 Probability and Random Processes for Electrical Engineering
  • B EE 561 Digital Speech and Audio Signal Processing

Teaching Interests

Digital signal processing, embedded systems, and speech signal processing

Research and Scholarship Interests

  • Signal processing in cochlear implants and hearing aids
  • Speech perception and speech signal processing
  • Biomedical signal processing

Peer-reviewed publications (selected)

  • Law, C. P., Wong, L. L. N., Nie, K., & Chung, K. (2025). Feasibility and accuracy of a game-based automated audiometric application (Aud•It) for testing the hearing sensitivity of children and adults. Speech, Language and Hearing, 28(1).
  • Nie, K., Hannaford, S., Nishigaki, M., Drennan, W., Rubinstein, J.T. Mandarin Tone Recognition in English Speakers with Normal Hearing and Cochlear Implants. International Journal of Audiology, 2019 Dec;58(12):913-922.
  • JO Phillips, L Ling, AL Nowack, CM Phillips, K Nie, Jay T Rubinstein. The dynamics of prosthetically elicited vestibulo-ocular reflex function across frequency and context. Frontiers in Neuroscience. 2018 May 15;12:88.
  • JO. Phillips, L. Ling, K. Nie, Elyse Jameyson, CM. Phillips, AL. Nowack, JS. Golub, and JT. Rubinstein. Vestibular Implantation and Longitudinal Electrical Stimulation of the Semicircular Canal Afferents in Human Subjects. Journal of Neurophysiology, 2015 Vol. 113 no. 10, 3866-3892.
  • X. Li, K. Nie, J.T. Rubinstein, and L. Atlas, Improved Perception of Music with a Harmonic Based Algorithm for Cochlear Implants. IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering, 2013 Jul;21(4):684-94 (corresponding author).
  • K. Nie, L. Ling, S.M. Bierer, J.T. Rubinstein and J. Phillips, An experimental vestibular neural prosthesis: design and preliminary with rhesus monkeys stimulated with modulated pulses. IEEE Trans. on Biomedical Engineering, 60(6):1685-92, 2013.
  • X. Li, K. Nie, N. Imennov, J.H. Won, L. Atlas, J.T. Rubinstein, Improved perception of speech in noise and Mandarin tones with acoustic simulations of harmonic coding for cochlear implants. (corresponding author) Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 2012 Nov;132(5):3387-98).
  • K. Nie, S.M. Bierer, L. Ling, T. Oxford, J.T. Rubinstein and J. Phillips. Characterization of the electrically-evoked compound action potential of the vestibular nerve. Otology and Neurotology, 32(1):88-97, 2011.
  • K. Nie, A. Barco, and F.G. Zeng, Spectral and temporal cues in cochlear implant speech perception, Ear and Hearing, vol. 27, pp. 208-217, 2006.
  • F.G. Zeng, K. Nie, G.S. Stickney, Y.Y. Kong, M. Vongphoe, A. Bhargave, C. Wei, and K. Cao. Speech recognition with amplitude and frequency modulations. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), vol.102, pp. 2293-2298, 2005.
  • K. Nie, G.S. Stickney, and F.G. Zeng. Encoding frequency modulation to improve cochlear implant performance in noise. IEEE Trans. on Biomedical Engineering, vol. 52, pp. 64-73, 2005 (IEEE Outstanding Paper Award).
  • N. Lan, K. Nie, S.K. Gao, and F.G. Zeng. A novel speech processing strategy for cochlear implant incorporating Chinese tonal information. IEEE Trans. on Biomedical Engineering, 51(5):752-60, 2004.

Book Chapters

  • K. Nie, W. Drennan and J. Rubinstein. The 17th Edition of Ballenger’s Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery. Chapter 33: Cochlear Implant Coding Strategies and Device Programming, 2009.
  • K. Nie and F. G. Zeng. Deafness: Fundamental and Clinical Treatments. Chapter 37: Engineering Design of Cochlear Implants. Hunan Science and Technology Press, 2004 (in Chinese).

2010 Outstanding Paper Award, IEEE Trans. on Biomedical Engineering, IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society