A method for fitting a cochlear implant to a patient. A genetic algorithm operates to generate successive generations of multiple groups of values for a parameter subset, and patient feedback during execution of the genetic algorithm determines the multiple groups of subset values in successive generations. In each generation, half of the groups of values for the parameter subset are selected and used to determine the groups of values for the next generation. Values for the parameters not included in the subset are selected by any traditional method that does not use a genetic algorithm. In one illustrative embodiment of the invention, there are only three parameters in the subset that are selected by a genetic algorithm-parameters relating to rate, number of channels and filtering characteristics.
