Abstract: An implantable sound pickup system. The system comprises an intracochlear acoustic sensor implantable in a recipient's cochlea comprising: piezoelectric element configured to detect pressure waves in the perilymph of the cochlea when the acoustic sensor is at least partially implanted in the cochlea, and to produce electrical signals corresponding to the detected pressure waves.

Abstract: An implantable sound pickup system. The system comprises an intracochlear acoustic sensor implantable in a recipient's cochlea comprising: piezoelectric element configured to detect pressure waves in the perilymph of the cochlea when the acoustic sensor is at least partially implanted in the cochlea, and to produce electrical signals corresponding to the detected pressure waves.

Abstract: The invention provides an amplifier for providing adaptive operation ofan auditory prosthesis. The amplifier receives an input signal and produces an output signal, and comprises a gain control. Estimates of the current noise floor value of the input signal are obtained, and in response to a change in the current estimated noise floor value, the gain control alters the amount of gain applied to the input signal. Further, in response to the change in the current estimated noise floor value, the gain control alters a gain compression ratio of the amplifier across the dynamic range of the amplifier. The present invention allows for adaptive operation of the amplifier responsive to varying noise floor levels, while maintaining desired gain characteristics of the amplifier across a range of input signal levels.

Abstract: An improved pulsatile system for a cochlear prosthesis is disclosed. The system employs a multi-spectral peak coding strategy to extract a number, for example five, of spectral peaks from an incoming acoustic signal received by a microphone. It encodes this information into sequential pulses that are sent to selected electrodes of a cochlear implant. The first formant (F1) spectral peak (280-1000 Hz) and the second formant (F2) spectral peak (800-4000 Hz) are encoded and presented to apical and basal electrodes, respectively. F1 and F2 electrode selection follows the tonotopic organization of the cochlea. High-frequency spectral information is sent to more basal electrodes and low-frequency spectral information is sent to more apical electrodes. Spectral energy in the regions of 2000-2800 Hz, 2800-4000 Hz, and above 4000 Hz is encoded and presented to three fixed electrodes.

Abstract: An improved pulsatile system for a cochlear prosthesis is disclosed. The system employs a multi-spectral peak coding strategy to extract a number, for example five, of spectral peaks from an incoming acoustic signal received by a microphone. It encodes this information into sequential pulses that are sent to selected electrodes of a cochlear implant. The first formant (F1) spectral peak (280-1000 Hz) and the second formant (F2) spectral peak (800-4000 Hz) are encoded and presented to apical and basal electrodes, respectively. F1 and F2 electrode selection follows the tonotopic organization of the cochlea. High-frequency spectral information is sent to more basal electrodes and low-frequency spectral information is sent to more apical electrodes. Spectral energy in the regions of 2000-2800 Hz, 2800-4000 Hz, and above 4000 Hz is encoded and presented to three fixed electrodes.

Abstract: Apparatus is provided for improving the coupling between an external inductive transmitting coil and an internal inductive receiving coil to transmit power and/or data to the receiving coil from the transmitting coil. The structure includes a coupling coil inductively coupled to the transmitting coil to increase the Q factor and hence the energy transfer between the transmitting coil and the receiving coil.

Abstract: A cochlear implant system includes an electrode array (1) comprising multiple platinum ring electrodes in a silastic carrier to be implanted in the cochlea of the ear. A receiver-stimulator (3) containing a semiconductor integrated circuit and other components is implanted in the patient adjacent the ear to receive data information and power through tuned coil (5) using an inductive link (6) from a patient-wearable external speech processor (7) including an integrated circuit and various components which is configured or mapped to emit data signals from an EPROM programmed to suit each patient electrical stimulation perceptions through testing of the patient and his implanted stimulator/electrode using a diagnostic and programming unit (12) connected to the processor by an interface unit (10).

Abstract: A system for converting a speech signal into a data signal for controlling an implantable stimulation electrode array hearing prosthesis. An input speech signal is passed through three circuit arms, comprising filter circuits, zero crossing counter circuits and RMS measuring circuits (3-13), for producing signals representing amplitude and frequency of the fundamental voicing component and the first three formants of the speech signal. Computer (14) is programmed with a patient's psychophysical data, and determines the manner of stimulation of the electrodes by ranking the sharpness of the electrodes and assigning sub-bands of the second formant frequency range to particular electrodes. Also, the voiced or unvoiced nature of the signal is determined by comparing the fundamental and second formant components. The output signal passed through a data formatter (15) and transmitter (16) has both formant and prosodic information whereby the production of confusing percepts is avoided.