Method of processing auditory data

A method for the real-time transformation of a first electrical signal produced by a microphone located in or near one of the ears of a human and a second electrical signal produced by a microphone located in or near the other of the ears of said human, comprising:

• (a) performing a signal transformation on said first and second electrical signals to compute first and second time-varying complex signals including real and imaginary components,
• (c) passing said first and second time-varying complex signals, in parallel, through a number of bandpass filters to create a first and second set of time domain band limited complex signals;
• (d) computing a first and second set of instantaneous phase angle value streams and instantaneous magnitude value streams for said first and second sets of time domain band limited complex signals;
• (e) detecting a first and second set of instantaneous phase angle transition event time streams for said first and second set of instantaneous phase angle value time streams;
• (f) computing and forming a first and second set of time domain pulse time streams coinciding with said first and second set of instantaneous phase angle transition event streams;
• and
• (g) sending said first set of time domain pulse streams to a set of electrodes positioned on a first human cochlea, each electrode position corresponding to the frequency band of said band limited signal from which said time domain pulse stream was formed and sending said second set of time domain pulse streams to a set of electrodes positioned on a second human cochlea of the same human, each electrode position corresponding to the frequency band of said band limited signal from which said time domain pulse stream was formed, thereby effecting a binaural hearing restoration.

A method for stimulating a cochlea, comprising:

• (a) providing an electrical signal representative of sound waveform;
• (b) performing a signal transformation on said electrical signal to compute a time-varying complex signal including real and imaginary components, (c) passing said time-varying complex signal through a number of bandpass filters to create a parallel set of time domain band limited complex signals each in a substantially separate frequency band;
• (d) computing an instantaneous phase angle and magnitude value time stream for each of said set of parallel time domain band limited complex signals;
• (e) detecting an instantaneous phase angle transition event time stream for each said instantaneous phase angle value time stream;
• (f) providing a cochlear implant bearing a set of electrodes and positioned within a cochlea so as to stimulate the cochlear nerve and wherein said set of electrodes may be divided into subsets, each subset corresponding to a cochlear section that corresponds to one of said substantially separate frequency bands and thereby to a said instantaneous phase angle transition event time stream;
• and
• (g) stimulating one or more cochlear sections with a time stream of electrical pulse sets matched in timing to said phase angle transition event time stream corresponding to said cochlear section.