Personalized auditory-somatosensory stimulation to treat tinnitus
AssigneeThe Regents of the University of Michigan
InventorsSusan Shore, David Martel, Seth Koehler
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Abstract
Timed stimulation of both somatosensory system and auditory system is controlled, in such a manner, that an individual's brain activity is altered through spike-timing dependent plasticity, thereby reducing or removing tinnitus.
Claims46
A computer-implementable method of treating tinnitus in a subject, the method comprising:
- generating, in an audible signal generator, an audible stimulation signal having a first firing point and first firing period, stimulus onset, and/or duration;
- generating, in an electrical signal generator, a somatosensory stimulation signal to stimulate a somatosensory system of a subject, the somatosensory stimulation signal having a second firing point and second firing period, stimulus onset, and/or duration;
- and
- establishing, in a processor coupled to the audible signal generator and the electrical signal generator, a timing order and timing difference between the first firing point and the second firing point to reduce the tinnitus, wherein the first firing period and the second firing period are to be maintained asynchronously to reduce the tinnitus so that the firing period does not overlap the second firing period;
- and
- applying the somatosensory stimulation signal to the somatosensory system of the subject, and applying the audible stimulation signal to an auditory system of the subject.
A system for treating an auditory condition in a subject, the system being capable of stimulating (i) a somatosensory system of the subject with a generated somatosensory stimulation signal and (ii) an auditory system of the subject with an audible stimulation signal, the system comprising:
- a bimodal stimulation system having an audible signal generator, a somatosensory signal generator, a processor, and a memory, wherein the processor is operatively coupled to the audible signal generator and the somatosensory signal generator to control each, and wherein the bimodal stimulation system is configured to,
- generate, in the audible signal generator, the audible stimulation signal having a first firing point and first firing period, stimulus onset, and/or duration, and
- generate, in the somatosensory signal generator, the somatosensory stimulation signal to stimulate a somatosensory system of a subject, the somatosensory stimulation signal having a second firing point and second firing period, stimulus onset, and/or duration,
- wherein the memory stores instructions that when executed by the processor cause the processor to:
- establish a timing order and timing difference between the first firing point and the second firing point to reduce the auditory condition, wherein the first firing period and the second firing period are to be maintained asynchronously to reduce the auditory condition so that the onset of the first firing period does not overlap the onset of the second firing period.
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon a set of instructions, executable by a processor, for treating an auditory condition in a subject, the instructions comprising:
- instructions for generating an audible stimulation signal having a first firing point and first firing period, stimulus onset, and/or duration;
- instructions for generating a somatosensory stimulation signal to stimulate a somatosensory system of a subject, the somatosensory stimulation signal having a second firing point and second firing period, stimulus onset, and/or duration;
- and
- instructions for establishing a timing order and timing difference between the first firing point and the second firing point to reduce auditory condition, wherein the first firing period and the second firing period are to be maintained asynchronously to reduce the auditory condition so that the first firing period does not overlap the second firing period;
- and
- instructions for controlling a somatosensory signal generator to apply the somatosensory stimulation signal to the somatosensory system of the subject, and instructions for controlling an audible signal generator to apply the audible stimulation signal to an auditory system of the subject for reducing tinnitus in the subject.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.