Objective determination of acoustic prescriptions
AssigneeCochlear Limited
InventorsJohn Michael Heasman, Kerrie Plant, Peter Gibson, Stephen O'Leary, Luke Campbell
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Abstract
Presented herein are techniques that make use of objective measurements obtained in response to acoustic stimulation signals. More specifically, at least one measure of outer hair cell function and at least one measure of auditory nerve function are obtained from a tonotopic region of an inner ear of a recipient of a hearing prosthesis. The at least one measure of auditory nerve function and the least one measure of outer hair cell function are then analyzed relative to one another.
Claims20
A method, comprising:
- delivering one or more sets of acoustic stimulation signals to an inner ear of a recipient of a hearing prosthesis;
- obtaining, in response to the one or more sets of acoustic stimulation signals, at least one measure of outer hair cell function from a tonotopic region of the inner ear of the recipient;
- obtaining, in response to the one or more sets of acoustic stimulation signals, at least one measure of auditory nerve function from the tonotopic region of the inner ear of the recipient;
- comparing a value associated with the at least one measure of auditory nerve function to a value associated with the at least one measure of outer hair cell function;
- identifying a dead region of the inner ear based on a deviation between the value associated with the at least one measure of auditory nerve function and the value associated with the at least one measure of outer hair cell function;
- and
- generating an acoustic prescription for the recipient that excludes fitting frequencies corresponding to the dead region.
An apparatus, comprising:
- a memory;
- and
- one or more processors configured to:
- obtain at least one cochlear microphonic evoked at a tonotopic region of an inner ear of a recipient of a hearing prosthesis,
- obtain at least one auditory nerve neurophonic evoked from the tonotopic region of the inner ear of the recipient,
- determine whether the at least one auditory nerve neurophonic differs from an expected auditory nerve neurophonic for the tonotopic region the inner ear;
- determine whether the at least one cochlear microphonic differs from an expected cochlear microphonic for the tonotopic region the inner ear;
- correlate any differences between the at least one auditory nerve neurophonic and the expected auditory nerve neurophonic with any differences between the at least one cochlear microphonic and the expected cochlear microphonic;
- identify a dead region of the inner ear based on a deviation between the at least one auditory nerve neurophonic and the at least one cochlear microphonic;
- and
- generating an acoustic prescription for the recipient that excludes fitting frequencies corresponding to the dead region.
One or more non-transitory computer readable storage media encoded with instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
- obtain at least one measure of outer hair cell function from a tonotopic region of an inner ear of a recipient of a hearing prosthesis;
- obtain at least one measure of auditory nerve function from the tonotopic region of the inner ear of the recipient, wherein the at least one measure of outer hair cell function and the least one measure of auditory nerve function are evoked in response to acoustic stimulation signals delivered to the inner ear;
- compare a value associated with the at least one measure of auditory nerve function to a value associated with the at least one measure of outer hair cell function;
- provide at least one of a visible or audible indication of a result of the comparing of the value associated with the at least one measure of auditory nerve function relative to the value associated with the at least one measure of outer hair cell function;
- identify a dead region of the inner ear based on a deviation between the at least one measure of auditory nerve function and the at least one measure of outer hair cell function;
- and
- generating an acoustic prescription for the recipient that excludes fitting frequencies corresponding to the dead region.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.