SYSTEM COMPRISING A COCHLEAR STIMULATION DEVICE AND A SECOND HEARING STIMULATION DEVICE AND A METHOD FOR ADJUSTMENT ACCORDING TO A RESPONSE TO COMBINED STIMULATION

• US 20160175591A1
• Filed: 08/09/2013
• Published: 06/23/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/09/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Advanced Bionics AG (Sonova Holding AG)
• Original Assignee: Advanced Bionics AG (Sonova Holding AG)
• Inventors: Chalupper, Josef
• Granted Patent: US 9,775,999 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/123 subjective methods
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/16 Devices for psychotechnics using teaching or educational appliances G09B1/00 - G09B7/00; Testing reaction times ; Devices for evaluating the psychological state
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/36039 fitting procedures
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2225/43 Signal processing in hearing aids to enhance the speech intelligibility
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2225/81 Aspects of electrical fitting of hearing aids related to problems arising from the emotional state of a hearing aid user, e.g. nervousness or unwillingness during fitting
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/353 Frequency, e.g. frequency shift or compression
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/70 Adaptation of deaf aid to hearing loss, e.g. initial electronic fitting

Abstract

There is provided a system comprising a first device for neural stimulation of a cochlea of a patient'"'"'s ipsilateral ear; a second hearing stimulation device selected from the group consisting of a device for neural stimulation of the cochlea of the patient'"'"'s contralateral ear, a device for acoustic stimulation of the patient'"'"'s ipsilateral ear and a device for acoustic stimulation of the patient'"'"'s contralateral ear and comprising means for stimulation of the respective ear; and a fitting device for adjusting at least one of the first stimulation device and the second stimulation device according to a response of the patient to combined stimulation by the first stimulation device and the second stimulation device

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a first device for neural stimulation of a cochlea of a patient'"'"'s ipsilateral ear;

a second hearing stimulation device selected from the group consisting of a device for neural stimulation of the cochlea of the patient'"'"'s contralateral ear, a device for acoustic stimulation of the patient'"'"'s ipsilateral ear, and a device for acoustic stimulation of the patient'"'"'s contralateral ear, and comprising means for stimulation of the respective ear; and

a fitting device for adjusting at least one of the first stimulation device and the second stimulation device according to a response of the patient to combined stimulation by the first stimulation device and the second stimulation device;

the first stimulation device comprising

a sound processor for generating a neural stimulation signal from an input audio signal; and

a cochlear implant stimulation arrangement comprising a plurality of stimulation channels for stimulating the ipsilateral cochlea at various stimulation sites according to a neural stimulation signal, with each stimulation channel being attributed to a certain one of the stimulation sites;

the fitting device comprising

a unit cooperating with the first stimulation device and with the second stimulation device in order to generate, in a synchronized manner, a probe neural stimulation signal to be supplied to the cochlear implant stimulation arrangement and a second probe stimulation signal be supplied to the stimulation means of the second stimulation device, with the probe neural stimulation signal and the second stimulation signal being adapted to be recognized by the patient as carrying a target speech information in case that the patient is able to correctly fuse the stimuli resulting from the probe neural stimulation signal and the second stimulation signal in the auditory cortex, with the target speech information being divided onto the probe neural stimulation signal and the second stimulation signal, and with the probe neural stimulation signal and the second stimulation signal not carrying said target speech information when perceived separately by the patient,

a unit for recording the perceptual behavioral response of the patient to the synchronized neural stimulation of the user'"'"'s hearing with the probe neural stimulation signal and the second stimulation signal, and

a unit for programming the first stimulation device and/or the second stimulation device according to the recorded perceptual response.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the target speech information is a CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant).

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the target speech information is a word or a phoneme.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the word or phoneme is synthesized.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the target speech information is divided onto the probe neural stimulation signal and the second stimulation signal by allocation a first spectral region to the second stimulation signal only and a second spectral region to the probe neural stimulation signal only.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the first spectral region corresponds to a first formant of a vowel and the second spectral region corresponds to a second formant of the vowel.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein a noise signal is added to one of the probe neural stimulation signal and the second stimulation signal in order to equalize perception capability of the probe neural stimulation signal and the second stimulation signal according to the individual hearing loss.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the probe neural stimulation signal and the second stimulation signal comprise dynamic dichotic stimuli.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the probe neural stimulation signal and the second stimulation signal comprise formant transitions.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the fitting device is adapted to cause the cochlear implant stimulation arrangement to apply the probe neural stimulation signal via multipolar electrode coupling.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the second stimulation device is a device for acoustic stimulation of the patient'"'"'s ipsilateral ear or a device for acoustic stimulation of the patient'"'"'s contralateral ear.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the first spectral region is at lower frequencies than the second spectral region.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the fitting device is adapted to change the frequency allocation of the stimulation channels of the first stimulation device according to the recorded perceptual response.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the fitting device is adapted to change the type of multipolar stimulation by the first stimulation device according to the recorded perceptual response.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the fitting device is adapted to change a stimulation delay or at least one parameter of an automatic gain control unit of the first stimulation device according to the recorded perceptual response.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the fitting device is adapted to change a setting of a frequency compression applied by the second stimulation device according to the recorded perceptual response.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the fitting device is adapted to change a stimulation delay or at least one parameter of an automatic gain control unit of the second stimulation device according to the recorded perceptual response.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the response recording comprises a display for displaying words or phonemes to the patient and means for allowing the user to select a word or phoneme matching best with the word or phoneme perceived by the patient.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the fitting device is adapted to change the signal processing setting of the first stimulation device and/or the second stimulation device according to the deviation of the word or phoneme selected by the patient from the target word or phoneme.

20. The system of claim 11, wherein the second stimulation device is a hearing aid to be worn at the contralateral side of the patient'"'"'s head.

21. The system of claim 11, wherein the neural stimulation device and the second stimulation device are integrated within a hybrid device to be worn at the ispsilateral ear.

22. The system of claim 1, wherein the cochlear implant stimulation arrangement comprises a plurality of electrodes for electrical stimulation of the cochlea, with each electrode forming one of the stimulation sites.

23. The system of claim 1, wherein the fitting device is implemented by a computer device communicating with the neural stimulation device and with the acoustic stimulation device via a programming interface.

24. A method of individually adjusting a first device for neural stimulation of a patient'"'"'s cochlea of the ipsilateral ear and a second hearing stimulation device selected from the group consisting of a device for neural stimulation of the cochlea of the patient'"'"'s contralateral ear, a device for acoustic stimulation of the patient'"'"'s ipsilateral ear and a device for acoustic stimulation of the patient'"'"'s contralateral ear and comprising means for stimulation of the respective ear, the first stimulation device comprising a sound processor for generating a neural stimulation signal from an input audio signal and a cochlear implant stimulation arrangement comprising a plurality of stimulation channels for stimulating the cochlea at various stimulation sites according to a neural stimulation signal, with each stimulation channel being attributed to a certain one of the stimulation sites, the method comprising:

(a) generating, by a fitting device cooperating with the first stimulation device and with the second stimulation device, in a synchronized manner, a probe neural stimulation signal to be supplied to the cochlear implant stimulation arrangement and a second probe stimulation signal be supplied to the stimulation means of the second stimulation device, with the probe neural stimulation signal and the second stimulation signal being adapted to be recognized by the patient as carrying a target speech information in case that the patient is able to correctly fuse the stimuli resulting from the probe neural stimulation signal and the second stimulation signal in the auditory cortex, with the target speech information being divided onto the probe neural stimulation signal and the second stimulation signal, and with the probe neural stimulation signal and the second stimulation signal not carrying said target speech information when perceived separately by the patient;

(b) recording the perceptual behavioral response of the patient to the synchronized neural stimulation of the user'"'"'s hearing with the probe neural stimulation signal and the second stimulation signal;

(c) programming the first stimulation device and/or the second stimulation device according to the recorded perceptual response.

25. The method of claim 24, comprising, prior to step (a), monaural separate fitting of each of the first and second stimulation device via the fitting device in order to ensure audibility of the probe neural stimulation signal and the second stimulation signal, when applied separately.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the monaural separate fitting of each of the first and second stimulation device is carried out at relatively soft sound levels and at relatively loud sound levels.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the loudness is balanced across frequencies via the fitting device.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein steps (a) to (c) are carried out at intermediate sound levels between at relatively soft sound levels and the relatively loud sound levels.