| Patent application number | Description | Published |
| 20090018616 | Systems and Methods for Determining a Threshold Current Level Required to Evoke a Stapedial Muscle Reflex - Exemplary cochlear implant systems include an implantable cochlear stimulator configured to be implanted within a patient and generate a stimulation current having an adjustable current level, one or more electrodes communicatively coupled to the stimulator and configured to apply the stimulation current to one or more locations within an ear of the patient, and a probe configured to acquire sound data used to derive an acoustic reflectance of the ear. The implantable cochlear stimulator is configured to adjust the current level of the stimulation current until a change in the acoustic reflectance above a threshold is detected. | 01-15-2009 |
| 20090024185 | SPECTRAL CONTRAST ENHANCEMENT IN A COCHLEAR IMPLANT SPEECH PROCESSOR - Among other things, enhancing spectral contrast for a cochlear implant listener includes detecting a time domain signal. A first transformation is applied to the detected time domain signal to convert the time domain signal to a frequency domain signal. A second transformation is applied to the frequency domain signal to express the frequency domain signal as a sum of two or more components. A sensitivity of the cochlear implant listener to detect modulation of each component is obtained. | 01-22-2009 |
| 20100069998 | SPECTRAL TILT OPTIMIZATION FOR COCHLEAR IMPLANT PATIENTS - Methods and systems of spectral tilt optimization for a cochlear implant patient include applying electrical stimulation representative of an audio signal to a patient in accordance with a spectral tilt value and optimizing the spectral tilt value in response to a measured ability of the patient to recognize at least one attribute of the audio signal. | 03-18-2010 |
| 20100070000 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS OF CONVEYING FINE STRUCTURE INFORMATION TO A COCHLEAR IMPLANT PATIENT - An exemplary method of conveying fine structure information to a cochlear implant patient includes dividing an audio signal into a plurality of analysis channels, generating electrical stimulation in accordance with the information contained within each of the analysis channels, applying the electrical stimulation to at least one stimulation site within a patient via a plurality of stimulation channels, and at least partially isolating one of the stimulation channels from a rest of the stimulation channels, wherein fine structure information is conveyed to the patient via the isolated stimulation channel. Corresponding methods and systems are also disclosed. | 03-18-2010 |
| 20100161000 | COMPENSATION CURRENT OPTIMIZATION FOR COCHLEAR IMPLANT SYSTEMS - An exemplary cochlear stimulation method includes applying a main current to a first electrode associated with a first pitch and disposed within a cochlea of a patient, concurrently applying a compensation current to a second electrode disposed within the cochlea and associated with a second pitch during the application of the main current, the compensation current being out-of-phase with the main current, and optimizing an amount of the compensation current to result in a target pitch being presented to the patient that is distanced from the first pitch in a pitch direction opposite a pitch direction of the second pitch in relation to the first pitch. Corresponding methods and systems are also disclosed. | 06-24-2010 |
| 20100234920 | Spectral Contrast Enhancement in a Cochlear Implant Speech Processor - Psychophysical tests are administered to cochlear implant (CI) users to determine a spectral modulation transfer function (SMTF), smallest detectable spectral contrast as a function of spectral modulation frequency, for each individual CI user. The determined SMTF for individual CI user is compared against a SMTF of a normal hearing person to determine the specific enhancements needed. A profile of spectral enhancement achievable with variation of filter parameters, sigma and maximum that best fits the needed enhancements for the individual CI user is selected. Based on the corresponding sigma and maximum selected, a sound processing strategy is adjusted to provide customized spectral contrast enhancement for the individual CI user. The sound processing strategy implemented includes an outer hair cell model. | 09-16-2010 |
| 20110077710 | Methods and Systems for Representing Different Spectral Components of an Audio Signal Presented to a Cochlear Implant Patient - An exemplary method of representing different spectral components of an audio signal presented to a cochlear implant patient includes identifying one or more spectral peaks of an audio signal presented to a cochlear implant patient, applying electrical stimulation representative of the one or more spectral peaks to at least one stimulation site within the cochlear implant patient using a partial multipolar stimulation configuration, and applying electrical stimulation representative of one or more other spectral components of the audio signal to at least one other stimulation site within the cochlear implant patient using a monopolar stimulation configuration. Corresponding methods and systems are also disclosed. | 03-31-2011 |
| 20110106209 | Systems and Methods of Facilitating Manual Adjustment of One or More Cochlear Implant System Control Parameters - An exemplary cochlear system includes a sound processing unit configured to process an audio signal, an implantable cochlear stimulator communicatively coupled to the sound processing unit and configured to apply stimulation representative of the audio signal to a patient via one or more electrodes in accordance with the processing of the audio signal, and a user input facility communicatively coupled to the sound processing unit. The sound processing unit and the implantable cochlear stimulator are configured to operate in accordance with a plurality of control parameters, which may be selectively associated and disassociated with the user input facility in order to facilitate manual adjustment of one or more of the control parameters. Corresponding systems and methods are also disclosed. | 05-05-2011 |