Abstract: A programmable neurostimulator and methods, characterized by its modular design is provided, comprising: an internal part based on a mixed-signal ASIC giving access to a complete control on the injected charges, and new channel concept allows performing any stimulation strategy and permit to use any stimulation mode (monopolar, bipolar, quadripolar . . . ); and an external part, built around a DSP and having a digital architecture, which allows to program any signal-processing algorithm, and to store different algorithms and stimulation strategies to be used and selected by the patient himself. An algorithm enables the use of as many filters as needed and the selection of their characteristics and of their associated channels. A vector quantization based stimulation method uses a finite set of element sounds defining all speech characteristics, in such a way that the patient is exposed to a limited number of stimulation sequences allowing the complete identification of the speech phonemes.