Intrabody communication with ultrasound

• US 7,945,064 B2
• Filed: 04/09/2003
• Issued: 05/17/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/09/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Board of Trustees of The University of Illinois, Phonak AG (Sonova Holding AG)
• Original Assignee: Board of Trustees of The University of Illinois
• Inventors: Wheeler, Bruce C., Lansing, Charissa R., O'Brien, William D. Jr., Feng, Albert S., Bilger, Robert C., Bachler, Herbert
• Primary Examiner(s): Ni; Suhan
• Application Number:
  US10/409,970
• Publication Number:
  US 20040202339A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,960 Days
• Field of Search: 381/312, 381314-318, 381320-323, 455/93, 455/100, 455/556.1
• US Class Current: 381/312
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 11/00 Transmission systems employing sonic, ultrasonic or infrasonic waves
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 13/005 Transmission systems in which the medium consists of the human body
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/05 specially adapted for use on head, throat or breast
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/6066 including a wireless connection
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/02 including a Bluetooth interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/558 Remote control, e.g. of amplification, frequency
• 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

A hearing system has a first device and a second device. The first device acoustically couples to skin of a user of the hearing system and includes a sensor to detect acoustic signals. The second device includes a hearing stimulator arrangement to stimulate hearing of the user in response to the acoustic signals detected with the first device. The first device and second device are each operable to bidirectionally communicate through an ultrasonic communication link comprising at least a portion of the body of the user.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

providing a hearing system including a first device spaced apart form a second device;

coupling the first device and the second device to user'"'"'s body, at least one of the first device and the second device being acoustically coupled to skin of the user'"'"'s body; and

performing two-way communication between the first device and the second device through bidirectional transmission of ultrasound signals through at least a portion of the user'"'"'s body between the first device and the second device.

2. The method of claim 1, which includes acoustically coupling both the first device and the second device to the skin of the use'"'"'s body.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first device and the second device includes one or more microphones.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the hearing system includes a plurality of microphones and which includes performing adaptive beamforming with the hearing system.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said two-way communication includes transmitting and receiving the ultrasound signals with a modulated ultrasonic carrier frequency in a range between 100 kHz and 10 MHz.

6. The method of claim 1, which includes performing digital signal processing with a digital signal processor included in one or more of the first device and the second device.

7. The method of claim 1, which includes stimulating hearing with a stimulation apparatus including in at least one of the first device and the second device.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the stimulation apparatus includes at least one of a middle ear actuator, an electromechanical intracochlear actuator, a bone conduction cochlea stimulator, and an intracochlear electrode array.