Multiple channel-electrode mapping

• US 20060052841A1
• Filed: 09/07/2005
• Published: 03/09/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 09/07/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cochlear Limited
• Original Assignee: Cochlear Limited
• Inventors: Seligman, Peter, Daly, Christopher N., Law, Mary-Ann, Plant, Kerrie
• Granted Patent: US 7,421,298 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 607/57
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/0541 Cochlear electrodes
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/36038 Cochlear stimulation
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2225/67 Implantable hearing aids or parts thereof not covered by H04R25/606
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/606 acting directly on the eardrum, the ossicles or the skull, e.g. mastoid, tooth, maxillary or mandibular bone, or mechanically stimulating the cochlea, e.g. at the oval window

Abstract

In accordance with one aspect of the invention, methods and systems are disclosed for delivering a stimulating signal by a stimulating medical device having a plurality of electrodes. Such methods and systems comprise receiving a signal; filtering the received signal to obtain a plurality of band pass filtered signals; delivering to each electrode of a first group of one or more electrodes, a first set of stimulation signals, wherein the first set of stimulation signals comprises stimulations signals for each of a first group of two or more band pass filtered signals; and delivering to each of electrodes of a second group of one or more electrodes, a second set of stimulation signals, wherein the second set of stimulation signals comprises stimulations signals for each of a second group of one or more band pass filtered signals; and wherein the first set of stimulation signals are delivered at a different effective stimulation rate than the second set of stimulation signals.

Claims

1. A method for delivering a stimulating signal by a stimulating medical device having a plurality of electrodes, comprising:

receiving a signal;

filtering the received signal to obtain a plurality of band pass filtered signals;

delivering to each electrode of a first group of one or more electrodes, a first set of stimulation signals, wherein the first set of stimulation signals comprises stimulations signals for each of a first group of two or more band pass filtered signals; and

delivering to each of electrodes of a second group of one or more electrodes, a second set of stimulation signals, wherein the second set of stimulation signals comprises stimulations signals for each of a second group of one or more band pass filtered signals; and

wherein the first set of stimulation signals are delivered at a different effective stimulation rate than the second set of stimulation signals.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the band pass filtered signals of the first filter channel group comprise higher frequency signals than the band pass filtered signals of the second filter channel group;

and wherein the first set of stimulations signals are delivered at a higher effective stimulation rate than the second set of stimulation signals.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first filter channel group are mapped to a first group of one or more electrodes and the second filter channel group are mapped to a second group of one or more electrodes, and wherein the mapping is performed by software that automatically maps higher frequency filter channel groups to more band pass filters than lower frequency channel groups.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the delivering of the first set of stimulation signals, comprises delivering the signals of the first set of stimulation signals interspaced with other stimulation signals in order to reduce a burst rate for the delivering of the first set of stimulation signals.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the delivering of the first set of stimulation signals comprises automatically limiting the burst rate for delivering the first set of stimulation signals.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first group of electrodes comprises two or more electrodes, the method further comprising:

electrically coupling the electrodes comprising the first group of electrodes; and

wherein the delivering of the first set of stimulation signals comprises simultaneously delivering to the group of electrically-coupled electrodes a stimulation signal from the first set of stimulations signals.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the simultaneous delivering of the stimulation signal to the first group of electrodes comprises:

simultaneously delivering the stimulation signal to the first group of electrically-coupled electrodes a stimulation signal via a single current source.

8. A cochlear implant system, comprising:

a plurality of electrodes disposed in a cochlear of a recipient, wherein the plurality of electrodes comprise a first group of one or more electrodes and a second group of one or more electrodes;

a speech processing unit comprising a plurality of band pass filters configured to process received acoustical signals to obtain a plurality of band pass filtered signals; and

a stimulator unit configured to deliver to each electrode of a first group of one or more electrodes, a first set of stimulation signals, wherein the first set of stimulation signals comprises stimulations signals for each of a first group of two or more band pass filtered signals, and to deliver to a second group of one or more electrodes a second set of stimulation signals, wherein the second set of stimulation signals comprises stimulations signals for each of a second group of one or more band pass filtered signals, and wherein the first set of stimulation signals are delivered at a different effective stimulation rate than the second set of stimulation signals.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the speech processing unit further comprises:

a processor configured to map the first filter channel group of two or more band pass filtered signals to the first group of one or more electrodes, and to map the second filter channel group of one or more of the band pass filtered signals to the second group of one or more electrodes; and

wherein the band pass filtered signals of the first filter channel group comprise higher frequency signals than the band pass filtered signals of the second filter channel group; and

wherein the first set of stimulations signals are delivered at a higher effective stimulation rate than the second set of stimulation signals.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the processor comprises software configured to map the first filter channel group to the first group of one or more electrodes and map the second filter channel group to the second group of one or more electrodes, and wherein the software automatically maps higher frequency filter channel groups to more band pass filters than lower frequency channel groups.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the speech processing unit is configured to direct the stimulator unit to deliver the signals of the first set of stimulation signals interspaced with other stimulation signals in order to reduce a burst rate for the delivering of the first set of stimulation signals.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the speech processing unit comprises software configured to automatically limit the burst rate for delivering the first set of stimulation signals.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the first group of electrodes comprises two or more electrodes, and wherein the stimulator unit is configured to electrically couple the electrodes comprising the first group of electrodes, and to simultaneously deliver a stimulation signal to the first group of electrically-coupled electrodes.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the stimulator unit is further configured to simultaneously deliver the stimulation signal to the first group of electrically-coupled electrodes via a single current source.

15. A system for delivering a stimulating signal by a stimulating medical device having a plurality of electrodes, comprising:

means for receiving a signal;

means for filtering the received signal to obtain a plurality of band pass filtered signals;

means for delivering to each electrode of a first group of one or more electrodes, a first set of stimulation signals, wherein the first set of stimulation signals comprises stimulations signals for each of a first group of two or more band pass filtered signals; and

means for delivering to each of electrodes of a second group of one or more electrodes, a second set of stimulation signals, wherein the second set of stimulation signals comprises stimulations signals for each of a second group of one or more band pass filtered signals; and

wherein the first set of stimulation signals are delivered at a different effective stimulation rate than the second set of stimulation signals.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the band pass filtered signals of the first filter channel group comprise higher frequency signals than the band pass filtered signals of the second filter channel group;

and wherein the first set of stimulations signals are delivered at a higher effective stimulation rate than the second set of stimulation signals.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the first filter channel group are mapped to a first group of one or more electrodes and the second filter channel group are mapped to a second group of one or more electrodes, and wherein the mapping is performed by software that automatically maps higher frequency filter channel groups to more band pass filters than lower frequency channel groups.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the first group of electrodes comprises two or more electrodes, the system further comprising:

means for electrically coupling the electrodes comprising the first group of electrodes; and

wherein the means for delivering of the first set of stimulation signals comprises means for simultaneously delivering to the group of electrically-coupled electrodes a stimulation signal from the first set of stimulations signals.

19. A system for delivering a stimulating signal by a stimulating medical device having a plurality of electrodes, comprising:

means for electrically coupling a first set of at least two of the plurality of electrodes; and

means for simultaneously delivering to the first set of electrically-coupled electrodes a stimulation signal suitable for application to a target tissue of a recipient.