Auditory Front End Customization

• US 20110069853A1
• Filed: 11/23/2010
• Published: 03/24/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/25/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Advanced Bionics AG (Sonova Holding AG)
• Original Assignee: Advanced Bionics LLC (Sonova Holding AG)
• Inventors: Kulkarni, Abhijit, Mishra, Lakshimi Narayan, Faltys, Michael A.
• Granted Patent: US 8,503,685 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 381/317
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/36038 Cochlear stimulation
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/406 microphones
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2225/021 Behind the ear [BTE] hearing aids
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2225/67 Implantable hearing aids or parts thereof not covered by H04R25/606
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2430/20 Processing of the output signals of the acoustic transducers of an array for obtaining a desired directivity characteristic H04R2203/12 takes precedence
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/70 Adaptation of deaf aid to hearing loss, e.g. initial electronic fitting

Abstract

A method and system for implementing an acoustical front end customization are disclosed. The customization is implemented to optimize the sound level for each individual cochlear implant user. A known audio signal is generated using a sound source and captured by a microphone system. The captured sound signal is sampled at one or more locations along the signal processing pathway, and a spectrum is determined for the sampled signal and the known signal. A ratio of the two spectrums is related to the undesired transformation of the sampled signal, and a digital filter is designed based on the ratio to filter out the undesired transformation.

Claims

1. A method of optimizing audio signals received by a cochlear implant system, comprising:

receiving a known audio signal at a non-implanted portion of the cochlear implant system;

sampling the known audio signal at a location along a signal path to generate a sampled audio signal;

comparing the sampled audio signal to the known audio signal to determine undesired transformation data; and

using the undesired transformation data to modify a filter in the signal path.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the known audio signal is converted to a digital signal by an analog-to-digital circuit in the signal path before it is sampled.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the undesired transformation data comprises computing a ratio between the known audio signal and the sampled audio signal.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the known audio signal comprises a spectrum, the sampled audio signal comprises a spectrum, and the undesired transformation data comprises a ratio of the sampled audio signal spectrum and the known audio signal spectrum.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the known audio signal is represented by a Fourier transform, the sampled audio signal is represented by a Fourier transform, and the undesired transformation data comprises a ratio of the sampled audio signal Fourier transform and the known audio signal Fourier transform.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the filter comprises a digital filter.

7. The method claim 1, wherein the signal path comprises an acoustic front end and an automatic gain control circuitry.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the known audio signal is received by at least one microphone.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the filter is modified to match a first response of a first microphone with a second response of a second microphone.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein an output signal of the filter is configured for transmission to a cochlear implant.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the transmission is wireless.

12. A system for optimizing audio signals received by a cochlear implant system, comprising:

an external portion of a cochlear implant system configured to receive a known audio signal and to produce a captured audio signal;

filtering circuitry in the external portion configured to produce a filtered output of the captured audio signal; and

processing circuitry configured to compare the captured audio signal and the known audio signal and to produce undesired transformation data, the processing circuitry further configured to modify the filtering circuitry in accordance with the undesired transformation data.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the external portion comprises a behind the ear headpiece.

14. The system of claim 12, further comprising a fitting system, wherein the processing circuitry comprises a portion of the fitting system.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the fitting system issues the known audio signal.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the fitting system issues the known audio signal from a speaker.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the filtered output is configured for transmission to a cochlear implant.

18. The system of claim 17, further comprising gain control circuitry for processing the filtered output prior to transmission to the cochlear implant.

19. The system of claim 12, further comprising analog-to-digital converter circuitry for digitizing the known audio signal and for providing the digitized known audio signal to the filtering circuitry.

20. The system of claim 12, wherein the known audio signal is received by at least one microphone.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the filtering circuitry is modified to match a first response of a first microphone with a second response of a second microphone.

22. The system of claim 12, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to produce the undesired transformation data by comparing a spectrum of the captured audio signal with a spectrum of the known audio signal.

23. The system of claim 12, wherein the undesired transformation data comprises a ratio of a Fourier transform of the captured audio signal and a Fourier transform of the known audio signal.