Stochastic stimulation in a hearing prosthesis
AssigneeCochlear Limited
InventorSean Lineaweaver
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A hearing prosthesis configured for delivery of stochastic stimulation to a recipient. The hearing prosthesis comprises a sound pickup component configured to receive a sound signal having at least one pitch; a stochastic stimulation generator configured to generate a stochastic sequence of stimulation pulses having first and second inter-pulse intervals distributed stochastically throughout the sequence within controlled limits, the first inter-pulse interval based on the at least one pitch; and at least one stimulation channel to deliver the sequence of electrical stimulation pulses to the recipient.
Claims29
A method for providing a hearing percept to a recipient of a cochlear implant comprising:
- receiving a sound signal having at least one pitch;
- generating a stochastic sequence of electrical stimulation pulses having first and second inter-pulse intervals distributed stochastically throughout the sequence within controlled limits, the first inter-pulse interval being based on the at least one pitch;
- and
- delivering the generated stochastic sequence to the recipient via a single stimulation channel of the cochlear implant.
A cochlear implant, comprising:
- a sound pickup component configured to receive a sound signal having at least one pitch;
- a stochastic stimulation generator configured to generate a stochastic sequence of electrical stimulation pulses having first and second inter-pulse intervals distributed stochastically throughout the sequence within controlled limits, the first inter-pulse interval being based on the at least one pitch;
- and
- an electrode assembly having a stimulation channel to deliver the sequence of electrical stimulation pulses to the recipient.
The cochlear implant 9, wherein the cochlear implant is configured to deliver sequences of conditioning pulses to the recipient, and wherein the cochlear implant further comprises:
- a sound processor configured to generate a first electrical signal usable to generate a first sequence of electrical stimulation pulses having a substantially constant inter-pulse interval associated with the at least one pitch;
- and
- a conditioner configured to generate a second electrical signal usable to generate a desired sequence of conditioning pulses having a substantially constant inter-pulse interval;
- wherein the stochastic stimulation generator is configured to generate the stochastic sequence based on the first and second electrical signals, and wherein the first inter-pulse interval is substantially the same as the inter-pulse interval of the first sequence corresponding to the first electrical signal, and wherein the second inter-pulse interval is substantially the same as the inter-pulse interval of the sequence of conditioning pulses.
A computer program embodied on a machine readable medium stored in a cochlear implant for providing a hearing percept of a received sound signal having at least one pitch to a recipient of the cochlear implant, the program comprising:
- code for generating a stochastic sequence of electrical stimulation pulses having first and second inter-pulse intervals distributed stochastically throughout the sequence within controlled limits, the first inter-pulse interval being based on the at least one pitch;
- and
- code for delivering the generated stochastic sequence to the recipient via a single stimulation channel of the cochlear implant.
A method for providing a hearing percept to a recipient of a hearing prosthesis comprising:
- receiving a sound signal having at least one pitch;
- generating a stochastic sequence of stimulation pulses having first and second inter-pulse intervals distributed stochastically throughout the sequence within controlled limits, the first inter-pulse interval being based on the at least one pitch;
- and
- delivering the generated stochastic sequence to the recipient via a single stimulation channel of the hearing prosthesis.
A hearing prosthesis, comprising:
- a sound pickup component configured to receive a sound signal having at least one pitch;
- a stochastic stimulation generator configured to generate a stochastic sequence of stimulation pulses having first and second inter-pulse intervals distributed stochastically throughout the sequence within controlled limits, the first inter-pulse interval being based on the at least one pitch;
- and
- at least one stimulation channel to deliver the sequence of electrical stimulation pulses to the recipient.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.