FITTING METHOD USING CHANNELS

• US 20150343217A1
• Filed: 06/03/2014
• Published: 12/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/03/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cochlear Limited
• Original Assignee: Zachary Mark Smith
• Inventors: SMITH, Zachary Mark
• Granted Patent: US 11,179,566 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/025 Digital circuitry features of electrotherapy devices, e.g. memory, clocks, processors
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/0541 Cochlear electrodes
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/08 Arrangements or circuits for monitoring, protecting, controlling or indicating for external stimulators A61N1/3603; for implantable neurostimulators A61N1/36128; for heart stimulators A61N1/37; for defibrillators A61N1/3925
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/36038 Cochlear stimulation
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/36039 fitting procedures
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/36142 for improving safety
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/36146 specified by the stimulation parameters

Abstract

A method, comprising, fitting an electrical stimulating device to the recipient, the electrical stimulating device including electrodes implanted in the recipient, the electrical stimulating device being a multipolar electrical stimulating device, wherein the fitting includes simultaneously applying multipolar stimulation to the recipient via the electrodes based on at least two different stimulation channels of the electrical stimulating device.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

fitting an electrical stimulating device to the recipient, the electrical stimulating device including electrodes implanted in the recipient, the electrical stimulating device being a multipolar electrical stimulating device, wherein the fitting includes;

simultaneously applying multipolar stimulation to the recipient via the electrodes based on at least two different multipolar stimulation channels of the electrical stimulating device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the action of fitting the stimulating device includes:

determining a threshold level specific to the recipient based on the simultaneously applied multipolar stimulation channels.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the action of fitting the stimulating device includes:

determining a comfort level specific to the recipient based on the simultaneously applied multipolar stimulation channels.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

developing a first stimulation channel;

developing a second stimulation channel, wherein the at least two different stimulation channels include at least the first stimulation channel and the second stimulation channel;

identifying one of the first or second stimulation channels as the target channel; and

combining the first and second stimulation channels to make up a merged channel, wherein

the applied simultaneous multipolar stimulation corresponds to the merged channel.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

developing a first stimulation channel;

developing a second stimulation channel;

developing a third stimulation channel, wherein the at least two different stimulation channels include at least the first stimulation channel, the second stimulation channel and the third stimulation channel;

identifying one of the first, second or third stimulation channels as the target channel; and

combining the first, second and third stimulation channels to make up a merged channel, wherein

the applied simultaneous multipolar stimulation corresponds to the merged channel.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein:

the first stimulation channel is the target channel; and

the second and third stimulation channels are channels that interact with the target channel.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein:

the merged channel does not include any other channels other than the first, second and third channels.

9. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

developing a fourth simulation channel, wherein

the merged channel does not include the fourth channel.

5. The method of claim 5, wherein:

the first stimulation channel is the target channel; and

the second stimulation channel is a channel that interacts with the target channel.

11. A method, comprising:

obtaining access to a recipient having a plurality of electrodes of an electrical stimulating device implanted in the recipient, wherein the electrical stimulating device is configured to apply electrical stimulation to the recipient via the plurality of electrodes by activating a plurality of stimulation channels;

identifying at least one interacting stimulation channel of the plurality of stimulation channels that interacts with a target stimulation channel of the plurality of stimulation channels during autonomous operation of the stimulating device;

creating a fitting channel based on the identified at least one interacting stimulation channel and the target stimulation channel;

activating the fitting channel to evoke a stimulation induced percept; and

setting at least one of a threshold level or a comfort level for the target stimulation channel based on activation of the fitting channel.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein:

the action of creating the fitting channel includes merging the identified at least one interacting stimulation channel with the target stimulation channel.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein:

the stimulation channels have respective weights for respective electrodes of the plurality of electrodes; and

the action of creating the fitting channel includes summing respective electrode weights for the at least one interacting stimulation channel and respective electrode weights for the target stimulation channel.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein:

the action of identifying at least one interacting stimulation channel includes identifying all interacting stimulation channels that at least substantially interact with the target stimulation channel during autonomous operation of the stimulating device.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein:

the target channel is a first target channel and the at least one interacting stimulation channel is an at least one first interacting stimulation channel that includes one or more channels and the fitting channel is a first fitting channel; and

the method further comprises;

identifying at least one second interacting stimulation channel of the plurality of stimulation channels that interacts with a second target stimulation channel of the plurality of stimulation channels;

creating a second fitting channel based on the identified at least one second interacting stimulation channel and the second target stimulation channel;

activating the second fitting channel to evoke a stimulation induced percept; and

setting at least one of a threshold level or a comfort level for the second target stimulation channel based on activation of the second fitting channel.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein:

one of the at least one first interacting stimulation channels is the second target channel; and

one of the at least one second interacting stimulation channels is the first target channel.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein:

the first and second target channels are channels for base electrodes that are immediately adjacent to one another relative to other electrodes of the stimulating device.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein:

identifying at least one third interacting stimulation channel of the plurality of stimulation channels that interacts with a third target stimulation channel of the plurality of stimulation channels;

creating a third fitting channel based on the identified at least one third interacting stimulation channel and the third target stimulation channel;

activating the third fitting channel to evoke a stimulation induced percept; and

setting at least one of a threshold level or a comfort level for the third target stimulation channel based on activation of the third fitting channel, wherein

none of the third interacting stimulation channel(s) substantially interact with the first target stimulation channel during autonomous operation of the stimulating device.

19. A non-transitory computer readable medium having recorded thereon, a computer program for executing at least a portion of a method of fitting an electrical stimulating device including electrodes implanted in a recipient, wherein the electrical stimulating device is configured to apply electrical stimulation to the recipient via the plurality of electrodes, the computer program including:

code for identifying a recipient specific parameter related to a current level of the stimulating device for a first stimulation channel of a plurality of electrode stimulation channels of the electrical stimulating device by instructing the electrical stimulating device to apply multichannel electrical stimulation to the recipient.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 19, wherein:

the multichannel stimulation is based on the first simulation channel and a second stimulation channel;

the first stimulation channel corresponds to activation of a plurality of electrodes of the stimulation device at respective first weights;

the second stimulation channel corresponds to activation of the plurality of electrodes of the stimulation device at respective second weights; and

at least one of the weights of the first weights is different from a respective weight of the second weights.

21. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 20, wherein:

the multichannel stimulation entails activating the plurality of electrodes at respective third weights, wherein at least one of the weights of the third weights is different from the respective weights of the first and second weights.

22. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 20, wherein:

the multichannel stimulation entails activating the plurality of electrodes at respective third weights, wherein at least one of the weights of the third weights is respectively the summation of the respective first weights and respective second weights.

23. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 19, further comprising:

code for identifying a second recipient specific parameter related to a second current level of the stimulating device for the first stimulation channel by instructing the stimulating device to apply the multichannel stimulation to the recipient.

24. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 20, further comprising:

code for identifying a second recipient specific parameter related to a second current level of the stimulating device for the first stimulation channel by instructing the stimulating device to apply the multichannel electrical stimulation to the recipient.

25. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 20, wherein:

the stimulating device is a cochlear implant, and the electrodes are part of an electrode array of the cochlear implant;

the multichannel stimulation is based on at least three different stimulation channels respectively corresponding to different base electrodes of the stimulating device;

one of the three different stimulation channels is the first stimulation channel, and the first stimulation channel corresponds to a first base electrode; and

at least two of the stimulation channels other than the first stimulation channel correspond to base electrodes immediately adjacent the first electrode on respective different sides of the first electrode relative to position along the electrode array.

26. A device, comprising:

a cochlear implant fitted to a recipient, the cochlear implant including a plurality of electrodes configured for implantation into a recipient and configured to apply electrical stimulation to the recipient by simultaneously activating a plurality of electrode channels of the device to evoke a hearing percept, wherein the device is configured to;

control the device to apply electrical stimulation to the recipient by activating a first electrode channel of the plurality of electrode channels to evoke a hearing percept at current levels within a range bounded by at least one of a threshold level or a comfort level, wherein

at least one of the respective threshold level current level or comfort level current level is based on empirical data that is based on at least one of a recipient specific respective threshold level or comfort level obtained by simultaneously activating the first electrode channel and a second electrode channel of the plurality of electrode channels.

27. The device of claim 26, wherein the device is configured to:

control the device to apply electrical stimulation to the recipient by activating the first electrode channel to evoke a hearing percept at current levels within a range bounded respectively by the threshold level and the comfort level, wherein the threshold level current level and comfort level current level are based on empirical data that is based on, respectively, recipient specific threshold level and comfort level obtained by simultaneously activating the first electrode channel and the second electrode channel.

28. The device of claim 26, wherein:

at least one of the threshold or comfort levels is based on empirical data that is based on at least one of a recipient specific respective threshold level or comfort level obtained by simultaneously activating the first electrode channel, the second electrode channel and a third electrode channel of the plurality of electrode channels.

29. The device of claim 26, wherein:

the second electrode channel is an electrode channel that interacts with the first electrode channel when the first and second electrode channels are simultaneously activated during operation of the cochlear implant to evoke a hearing percept.

30. The device of claim 28, wherein:

the second electrode channel and the third electrode channel are electrode channels that simultaneously interact with the first electrode channel when the first, second and third electrode channels are activated during operation of the cochlear implant to evoke a hearing percept.

31. The device of claim 26, wherein the device is configured to:

control the device to apply electrical stimulation to the recipient by activating the first electrode channel to evoke a hearing percept at current levels within a range bounded by the threshold level and the comfort level, wherein the threshold level and the comfort level are based on empirical data that is based on, respectively, recipient specific threshold and comfort levels obtained by simultaneously activating the first electrode channel and all electrode channels that interact with the first electrode channel during operation of the cochlear implant to evoke a hearing percept.