Artificial cochlea
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsJean Fompeyrine, Youri Popoff, Stefan Abel
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
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 said electrical signal converted from said acoustic signal and configured to alter 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 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 said electrical signal converted from said acoustic signal and configured to alter a mechanical aspect of a mechanical to electrical conversion by said MEMS microphone.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.