Method and system to convey the within-channel fine structure with a cochlear implant
First Claim
1. A cochlear stimulation system for capturing and delivering fine time structure (FTS) in incoming sounds, the system comprising:
- an electrode array, having a plurality of electrodes for placing into a duct of a human cochlea;
a plurality of stimulation channels connected to the electrode array, each stimulation channel connected to at least one electrode in the electrode array;
an envelope extractor for extracting a slowly varying frequency envelope in the incoming sound;
an FTS analyzer for estimating the FTS information within a frequency band; and
a current navigator, which uses the identified dominant FTS component at each band of frequency and precisely directs, employing virtual electrodes, stimulation to each place of the cochlea that spatially corresponds to the identified dominant FTS component.
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Abstract
The present invention provides a cochlear stimulation system and method for capturing and translating fine time structure (“FTS”) in incoming sounds and delivering this information spatially to the cochlea. The system comprises a FTS estimator/analyzer and a current navigator. An embodiment of the method comprises analyzing the incoming sounds within a time frequency band, extracting the slowly varying frequency components and estimating the FTS to obtain a more precise dominant FTS component within a frequency band. After adding the fine structure to the carrier to identify a precise dominant FTS component in each analysis frequency band (or stimulation channel), a stimulation current may be “steered” or directed, using the concept of virtual electrodes, to the precise spatial location (place) on the cochlea that corresponds to the dominant FTS component. This process is simultaneously repeated for each stimulation channel and each FTS component.
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Citations
22 Claims
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1. A cochlear stimulation system for capturing and delivering fine time structure (FTS) in incoming sounds, the system comprising:
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an electrode array, having a plurality of electrodes for placing into a duct of a human cochlea;
a plurality of stimulation channels connected to the electrode array, each stimulation channel connected to at least one electrode in the electrode array;
an envelope extractor for extracting a slowly varying frequency envelope in the incoming sound;
an FTS analyzer for estimating the FTS information within a frequency band; and
a current navigator, which uses the identified dominant FTS component at each band of frequency and precisely directs, employing virtual electrodes, stimulation to each place of the cochlea that spatially corresponds to the identified dominant FTS component. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A cochlear stimulation method for capturing and delivering FTS in incoming sounds, wherein the stimulation is provided by a plurality of electrodes in an electrode array connected to a multi-channel stimulator, the method comprising:
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analyzing the incoming sounds within a plurality of frequency bands;
extracting the slowly varying frequency carrier component of the incoming sound in each frequency band with an envelope;
estimating the dominant FTS component in each frequency band using an FTS analyzer;
adding the dominant FTS component to the carrier component to provide a precise corresponding spatial location on the cochlea; and
directing the stimulation current, using a current navigator, to the precise spatial place on the cochlea. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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Specification