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US 8,285,383 B2Granted
Directional sound processing in a cochlear implant
AssigneeCochlear Limited
InventorsBastiaan van Dijk, Ernst L. von Wallenberg, Kyriaky Griffin
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Abstract
A cochlear implant implementing a directional sound processing system is provided. Specifically, the cochlear implants implementing the present invention comprise a plurality of audio sensors arranged in at least one external component of the cochlear implant to spatially receive ambient sound. At least one audio sensor is located in one of the external components of the cochlear implant, while one other audio sensor is located elsewhere, such as in a component other than the first component. The cochlear implant includes an directional sound processor comprising an array processor and a sound processor to convert the received sounds into a cochlea stimulation instruction signal.
Claims25
A cochlear implant comprising:
- a behind the ear (BTE) sound processing unit;
- a cable;
- a transmit unit connected to said BTE by said cable and configured to transmit signals from said BTE to an internal component of said cochlear implant;
- a plurality of spatially-arranged audio sensors, configured to receive ambient sound, and comprising any combination of:
- a sensor located in said BTE, a sensor located in said transmit unit, and a sensor located in said cable;
- and
- a directional sound processor having an array-processing stage configured to generate a directional sound signal from sound received by a first one of said plurality of sensors, and wherein said directional sound processor is configured to combine said directional sound signal and a signal representative of sound received by a second one of said plurality of sensors to generate a processed sound signal from which sound received from non-desired directions is attenuated.
4 more elements
A cochlear implant comprising:
- a headset;
- a body-worn sound processor;
- first and second cables;
- and
- a transmit unit connected to said headset by said first cable and connected to said body-worn sound processor by said second cable, and configured to transmit signals from said body-worn sound processor to an internal component of said cochlear implant;
- a plurality of spatially-arranged audio sensors, configured to receive ambient sound, comprising any combination of:
- a sensor located in said headset, a sensor located in said transmit unit, a sensor located in said body-worn sound processor, and a sensor located in at least one of said first cable and said second cable;
- and
- a directional sound processor comprising:
- a first array-processing stage configured to generate a first directional sound signal from sound received by a first one of said plurality of sensors, independent of sound received by a second one of said plurality of sensors;
- and
- a second array-processing stage configured to generate a second directional sound signal from said sound received by said second one of said plurality of sensors, independent of said sound received by said first one of said plurality of sensors, wherein said directional sound processor is configured to utilize said first and second directional sound signals to generate a processed sound signal from which sound received from non-desired directions is attenuated.
9 more elements
A cochlear implant comprising:
- a body-worn sound processor;
- a transmit unit configured to transmit signals from said body-worn sound processor to an internal component of said cochlear implant;
- a plurality of spatially-arranged audio sensors, configured to receive ambient sound, comprising:
- a sensor located in said transmit unit, and a sensor located in said body-worn sound processor;
- and
- a directional sound processor having a first array-processing stage configured to generate a first directional sound signal from sound received by a first one of said plurality of sensors, and having a second array-processing stage configured to combine the first directional sound signal and a signal representative of sound received by a second one of said plurality of sensors to generate a second directional sound signal.
3 more elements
A cochlear implant comprising:
- a plurality of external components comprising:
- a behind the ear (BTE) sound processing unit, a cable, and a transmit unit connected to said BTE by said cable and configured to transmit signals from said BTE to an internal component of said cochlear implant;
- a plurality of spatially-arranged audio sensors, configured to receive ambient sound, comprising any combination of:
- a sensor located in said BTE, a sensor located in said transmit unit, and a sensor located in said cable;
- an array-processing stage located in a first one of said external components and configured to generate a directional sound signal from sound received by a first one of said plurality of sensors;
- and
- a directional sound processor located in a second one of said external components and configured to combine said directional sound signal and a signal representative of sound received by a second one of said plurality of sensors to generate a processed sound signal from which sound received from non-desired directions is attenuated.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.