Artificial cochlea
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsJean Fompeyrine, Youri Popoff, Stefan Abel
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An artificial cochlea device for processing audio signals by electro-mechanical amplitude changes may be provided. The device comprises a micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) microphone comprising a membrane, an electro-mechanical feedback loop embedded in the MEMS microphone. Thereby, the electro-mechanical feedback loop comprises a piezo-electric actuator acting on the MEMS microphone by influencing the membrane's way to swing, such that an electro-mechanical amplitude change of an output signal is achieved.
Claims20
A artificial cochlea device for processing audio signals by electro-mechanical amplitude changes, said device comprising
- a micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) microphone, comprising a membrane configured to convert an acoustic signal to an electrical signal, and
- an electro-mechanical feedback loop embedded in said MEMS microphone,
- wherein said electro-mechanical feedback loop comprises a piezo-electric actuator configured to mechanically act on said membrane of said MEMS microphone with an amount of force derived from and in-phase with said electrical signal converted from said acoustic signal and configured to amplify a mechanical aspect of a mechanical to electrical conversion by said MEMS microphone.
A method for operating an artificial cochlea for processing audio signals by electro-mechanical amplitude changes, said method comprising:
- providing a micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) microphone comprising a membrane configured to convert an acoustic signal to an electrical signal,
- feeding back an output signal based on the electrical signal of said MEMS microphone to said MEMS microphone in an electro-mechanical feedback loop embedded in said MEMS microphone, and
- stimulating a piezo-electric actuator based on the output signal by signals of said electro-mechanical feedback loop, wherein said piezo-electric actuator is mechanically acting on said membrane of said MEMS microphone with an amount of force derived from and in-phase with said electrical signal converted from said acoustic signal and configured to amplify a mechanical aspect of a mechanical to electrical conversion by said MEMS microphone.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.