Electrical nerve stimulation based on channel specific sampling sequences
AssigneeMED-EL Elektromedizinische Geraete GmbH
InventorClemens M. Zierhofer
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Abstract
A method of activating at least two electrodes in a multichannel electrode array using channel specific sampling sequences is presented. A channel specific sampling sequence is defined for each electrode, the sequence having a particular duration, pulse amplitude distribution, and number of pulses. A weighting factor is applied to the channel specific sampling sequence. Each electrode in the multichannel electrode array is then simultaneously activated using sign-correlated pulses, the sign-correlated pulses based on parameters of spatial channel interaction reflecting geometric overlapping of electrical fields from each electrode, non-linear compression, and each electrode's weighted channel specific sampling sequence.
Claims20
A system for activating electrodes, the system including:
- a multi-channel electrode array;
- a stimulator for activating electrodes in the electrode array using channel specific sampling sequences;
- a signal processor including a filter bank for receiving an acoustic representative electrical signal, each filter in the bank of filters associated with one of the electrodes in the multi-channel electrode array, each electrode in the multi-channel electrode array associated with a different channel specific sampling sequence,
- wherein the channel specific sampling sequence has a predefined duration, amplitude, plurality of pulses and pulse rate, the duration and number of pulses in each channel specific sampling sequence derived from the center frequency of the associated band pass filter, and
- wherein a weighting factor is applied to each channel specific sampling sequence so as to create a weighted channel specific sampling sequence for each electrode in the electrode array, the weighting factor based, at least in part, on an acoustic representative electrical signal.
A method of defining a channel specific sampling sequence having a pulse descriptive characterization, the channel specific sampling sequence being used to activate electrodes in a multichannel electrode array, each filter in a bank of filters associated with a channel having an electrode, the method comprising:
- deriving pulse amplitudes of the channel sampling sequence by sampling a signal waveform;
- deriving the duration and number of pulses of the channel specific sampling sequence from a frequency associated with the channel's filter.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.