ELECTROMYOGRAPHY RESPONSE DETECTION SYSTEMS AND METHODS

• US 20150088025A1
• Filed: 05/01/2012
• Published: 03/26/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/01/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Advanced Bionics AG (Sonova Holding AG)
• Original Assignee: Advanced Bionics AG (Sonova Holding AG)
• Inventors: Litvak, Leonid M., Johnson, William L.
• Granted Patent: US 9,693,698 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/546
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/121 evaluating hearing capacity
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/316 Modalities, i.e. specific diagnostic methods
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/389 Electromyography [EMG]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6817 Ear canal
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7264 Classification of physiological signals or data, e.g. using neural networks, statistical classifiers, expert systems or fuzzy systems neural networks per se G06N3/00; expert systems per se G06N5/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/36039 fitting procedures

Abstract

An exemplary EMG response detection system may be configured to 1) direct an implantable stimulator to sequentially present a plurality of substantially identical stimulation events to a patient, 2) record a plurality of EMG signals generated by a muscle in the patient and each corresponding to a presentation of a particular stimulation event included in the plurality of substantially identical stimulation events, 3) determine an asynchronous component of each of the recorded EMG signals, and 4) utilize the asynchronous components of the recorded EMG signals to determine whether an EMG response is evoked by the stimulation events.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a stimulation management facility configured to direct an implantable stimulator to sequentially present a plurality of substantially identical stimulation events to a patient;

a recording facility communicatively coupled to the stimulation management facility and configured to record a plurality of electromyography (“

EMG”

) signals generated by a muscle in the patient and each corresponding to a presentation of a particular stimulation event included in the plurality of substantially identical stimulation events; and

an EMG signal processing facility communicatively coupled to the recording facility and configured to

determine an asynchronous component of each of the recorded EMG signals, the asynchronous components of the recorded EMG signals each being unsynchronized with the presentation of the stimulation events, and

utilize the asynchronous components of the recorded EMG signals to determine whether an EMG response is evoked by the stimulation events.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the EMG signal processing facility is configured to determine the asynchronous component of each of the recorded EMG signals by:

determining a synchronous component of each of the recorded EMG signals, the synchronous components of the recorded EMG signals being synchronized with the presentation of the stimulation events; and

removing the synchronous components from the recorded EMG signals.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the EMG signal processing facility is configured to:

determine the synchronous components of the recorded EMG signals by averaging each of the recorded EMG signals together, the averaging resulting in an averaged EMG signal representative of each of the synchronous components of the recorded EMG signals; and

remove the synchronous components from the recorded EMG signals by subtracting the averaged EMG signal from each of the recorded EMG signals.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the stimulation management facility is configured to direct the implantable stimulator to sequentially present the plurality of substantially identical stimulation events to the patient by directing the implantable stimulator to sequentially present a plurality of substantially identical electrical stimulation pulse trains temporally spaced one from another by a predetermined time period.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the stimulation management facility is configured to direct the implantable stimulator to sequentially present the plurality of substantially identical stimulation events to the patient by directing a cochlear implant to sequentially apply the substantially identical stimulation events to one or more stimulation sites within a cochlea of the patient by way of one or more electrodes disposed within the cochlea.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the muscle is a stapedius muscle within the patient and wherein the EMG response is a stapedius reflex.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the recording facility is configured to record the plurality of EMG signals using an electrode that is in physical communication with the muscle.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the asynchronous components of the EMG signals each comprise a baseline phase corresponding to a time period during which an occurrence of the EMG response in response to the stimulation events is not possible and a response phase corresponding to a time period during which an occurrence of the EMG response in response to the stimulation events is possible.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the time period corresponding to the baseline phase of an asynchronous component of a particular EMG signal that corresponds to a presentation of a stimulation event included in the plurality of substantially identical stimulation events comprises at least one of a time period prior to the presentation of the stimulation event and a time period that begins a predetermined amount of time subsequent to the presentation of the stimulation event.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the time period corresponding to the response phase of an asynchronous component of a particular EMG signal that corresponds to a presentation of a stimulation event included in the plurality of substantially identical stimulation events comprises a time period during which the stimulation event is presented.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the EMG signal processing facility is configured to utilize the asynchronous components of the recorded EMG signals to determine whether the EMG response is evoked by the stimulation events by:

determining an amount of energy contained within the response phase of the asynchronous component of each EMG signal included in the plurality of EMG signals;

determining an amount of energy contained within the baseline phase of the asynchronous component of each EMG signal included in the plurality of EMG signals; and

comparing the amount of energy contained within the response phases to the amount of energy contained within the baseline phases.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein, if the comparison determines that the amount of energy contained within the response phases is greater than the amount of energy contained within the baseline phases by more than a predetermined threshold amount, the EMG signal processing facility is configured to determine that the EMG response is evoked by the stimulation events.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein, if the comparison determines that the amount of energy contained within the response phases is not greater than the amount of energy contained within the baseline phases by more than a predetermined threshold amount, the EMG signal processing facility is configured to determine that the EMG response is not evoked by the stimulation events.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the EMG signal processing facility is configured to utilize the asynchronous components of the recorded EMG signals to determine whether the EMG response is evoked by the stimulation events by:

determining an amount of energy contained in each of a plurality of discrete time-based phases of each of the asynchronous components;

identifying a time-based trend with respect to the amount of energy contained within each of the discrete phases; and

determining, based on the time-based trend, whether the EMG response is evoked by the stimulation events.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the EMG signal processing facility is further configured to filter out noise contained in each of the recorded EMG signals prior to determining the asynchronous components of each of the recorded EMG signals.

16. A system comprising:

a stimulation management facility configured to direct an implantable stimulator to sequentially present a plurality of substantially identical stimulation events to a patient;

a recording facility communicatively coupled to the stimulation management facility and configured to record a plurality of electromyography (“

EMG”

) signals generated by a muscle in the patient and each corresponding to a presentation of a particular stimulation event included in the plurality of substantially identical stimulation events; and

an EMG signal processing facility communicatively coupled to the recording facility and configured to

determine an averaged EMG signal by averaging each of the recorded EMG signals together,

determine whether one or more peaks within the averaged EMG signal are above a predetermined threshold level, and

determine, based on the determination of whether one or more peaks within the averaged EMG are above the predetermined threshold level, whether an EMG response is evoked by the stimulation events.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein, if the EMG signal processing facility determines that one or more peaks within the averaged EMG signal are above the predetermined threshold, the EMG signal processing facility determines that the EMG response is evoked by the stimulation events.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein, if the EMG signal processing facility determines that one or more peaks within the averaged EMG signal are not above the predetermined threshold, the EMG signal processing facility determines that the EMG response is not evoked by the stimulation events.

19. A method comprising:

directing, by an electromyography (“

EMG”

) response detection system, an implantable stimulator to sequentially present a plurality of substantially identical stimulation events to a patient;

recording, by the EMG response detection system, a plurality of EMG signals generated by a muscle in the patient and each corresponding to a distinct stimulation event included in the plurality of substantially identical stimulation events;

determining, by the EMG response detection system, an asynchronous component of each of the recorded EMG signals, the asynchronous components of the recorded EMG signals each being unsynchronized with the presentation of the stimulation events; and

utilizing, by the EMG response detection system, the asynchronous components of the recorded EMG signals to determine whether an EMG response is evoked by the stimulation events.

20. A method comprising:

directing, by an electromyography (“

EMG”

) response detection system, an implantable stimulator to sequentially present a plurality of substantially identical stimulation events to a patient;

recording, by the EMG response detection system, a plurality of EMG signals generated by a muscle in the patient and each corresponding to a distinct stimulation event included in the plurality of substantially identical stimulation events;

determining, by the EMG response detection system, an averaged EMG signal by averaging each of the recorded EMG signals together;

determining, by the EMG response detection system, whether one or more peaks within the averaged EMG signal are above a predetermined threshold level; and

determining, by the EMG response detection system based on the determination of whether one or more peaks within the averaged EMG are above the predetermined threshold level, whether an EMG response is evoked by the stimulation events.