Charge normalization for electrical stimulation of excitable tissue to facilitate the comparison of neural responses to behavioral measurements having different parameters
First Claim
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1. A method for stimulating using a neural stimulation implant system comprising:
- determining a threshold neural response elicited from application of at least one stimulus having a known amplitude and pulse width;
determining the charge associated with the stimulus that produced the threshold neural response; and
setting the program levels of the stimuli applied by the implant system during its operation to stimuli having approximately the same charge as the charge of the stimulus that produced the threshold neural response.
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Abstract
A method is disclosed that allows the comparison of neural response measures made at one pulse duration to programs using pulse durations of arbitrary duration. The method converts both the neural response stimulation levels (i.e., the pulse amplitudes and pulse widths of the applied electrical stimuli at which a given neural response measure is obtained) and the program stimulation levels (i.e., the pulse amplitudes and pulse widths of the electrical stimuli provided by the operating program of the cochlear implant system) into units of charge/phase, or charge delivered per unit time.
36 Citations
16 Claims
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1. A method for stimulating using a neural stimulation implant system comprising:
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determining a threshold neural response elicited from application of at least one stimulus having a known amplitude and pulse width;
determining the charge associated with the stimulus that produced the threshold neural response; and
setting the program levels of the stimuli applied by the implant system during its operation to stimuli having approximately the same charge as the charge of the stimulus that produced the threshold neural response. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method for fitting a cochlear implant system comprising:
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measuring a plurality of neural responses elicited from a corresponding plurality of applied stimuli, each applied stimuli having a different intensity level associated therewith;
determining a tNRI value from the measured plurality of neural responses;
using the tNRI value to guide the selection of an initial operating point for the cochlear implant system by;
determining the charge level associated with the tNRI value, where charge level is defined as pulse width X pulse amplitude, and setting the programmed levels used by the cochlear implant system to stimuli having approximately the same charge as the charge associated with the tNRI value. - View Dependent Claims (9)
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10. A neural stimulation system comprising an implantable pulse generator, an electrode array attached to the pulse generator, and control circuitry for controlling operation of the implantable pulse generator, wherein the control circuitry includes:
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means for determining a threshold neural response elicited from application of at least one stimulus having a known amplitude and pulse width;
means for determining the charge associated with the stimulus that produced the threshold neural response; and
means for setting the program levels of the stimuli applied by the implant system during its operation to stimuli having approximately the same charge as the charge of the stimulus that produced the threshold neural response. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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Specification