Hearing aid apparatus

• US 20040234091A1
• Filed: 07/13/2004
• Published: 11/25/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/21/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cochlear Bone Anchored Solutions AB (Cochlear Limited)
• Original Assignee: P&B Research AB
• Inventors: Westerkull, Patrick
• Granted Patent: US 7,043,040 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 381/328
• 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

The invention relates to a hearing aid apparatus of the type which is intended for sound transmission from one side of the head to the cochlea on the other side of the head for rehabilitation of patients with unilateral hearing loss, i.e. individuals with normal or a slightly impaired hearing on one ear and a profound hearing loss in the inner ear on the other side of the head. The hearing aid apparatus is based on the hone conducting principle for bone anchored hearing aids and comprises a vihrotary generating part which is mechanically anchored by means of osscointegration in the skull bone (2) at the deaf side of the patient and arranged to transmit vibrations through the skull bone from the deaf side to the inner ear on the other side of the patient. The frequency characteristics of the apparatus is preferably adapted in such a way that the amplification is higher for frequencies above 1 kHz than for lower frequencies which is in contrast to an ordinary bone anchored hearing aid.

Claims

1. A hearing aid apparatus of the type which is intended for sound transmission from one side of the head to the cochlea on the other side of the head for rehabilitation of patients with unilateral hearing loss, i.e. individuals with a normal or a slightly impaired hearing on one ear and a profound hearing loss in the inner ear on the other side of the head wherein it is based on the bone conducting principle for bone anchored hearing aids and comprises a vibratory generating part which is mechanically anchored by means of osseointegration in the skull bone at the deaf side of the patient and arranged to generate vibrations which are transmitted through the skull bone from the deaf side to the inner ear on the other side of the patient.

2. The hearing aid apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the frequency characteristics of the apparatus are specifically adapted to transmit vibrations in the skull bone from one side of the skull to the other side.

3. The hearing aid apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the frequency characteristics of the apparatus are adapted in such a way that the amplification is higher for frequencies above 1 kHz than for lower frequencies which is in contrast then to an ordinary bone anchored hearing aid.

4. The hearing aid apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an electronic circuitry in which the signal from the microphone of the hearing aid to the vibrator is converted from an analog to a digital signal.

5. The hearing aid apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the electronic circuitry comprises digital signal processing means, for instance for adapting the frequency characteristics to individual differences in the acoustic head shadow effect, the sound environment, the skull resonance, the hearing capacity of the well-functioning ear, etc.

6. The hearing aid apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the electronic circuitry comprises signal processing means for actively counteracting acoustic feed-back problems in the apparatus.

7. The hearing aid apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising directivity means in the form of one or more directivity dependent microphones and/or signal processing means in the electronic circuitry.

8. The hearing aid apparatus according to claim 1, wherein it comprises an implantable part with a vibrator arranged to be anchored in the skull bone and an external part provided with a microphone and a battery, and that the power to the implantable part is transmitted from the external part by means of induction.

9. The hearing aid apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the implantable part comprises a rechargeable battery arranged to be charged by means of induction from an external power supply.