Interaural Coherence Based Cochlear Stimulation Using Adapted Fine Structure Processing

摘要

A signal processing arrangement is described for signal processing in a bilateral hearing implant system having left side and right side hearing implants. An interaural coherence analysis module analyzes system input signals to produce an interaural coherence signal output characterizing reverberation-related similarity of the input signals. And a stimulation timing and coding module for each hearing implant processes band pass signals to develop stimulation timing signals based on selecting as a function of the interaural coherence signal a stimulation coding strategy from a plurality of different stimulation coding strategies including an envelope-based stimulation coding strategy based on the band pass envelope, and an event-based stimulation coding strategy based on the temporal fine structure features, producing the stimulation timing signals using the selected stimulation coding strategy, and switching between different selected stimulation coding strategies as a function of changes in the interaural coherence signal.

主权项

1. A signal processing arrangement for signal processing in a bilateral hearing implant system having left side and right side hearing implants, the arrangement comprising:
at least one sensing microphone for each hearing implant configured for sensing a sound environment for that hearing implant to develop a corresponding microphone signal output; a filter bank for each hearing implant configured for processing the microphone signal to generate a plurality of band pass signals for that hearing implant, wherein each band pass signal represents an associated band of audio frequencies, and wherein each band pass signal has characteristic temporal fine structure features and a characteristic band pass envelope reflecting time varying amplitude of the band pass signal; at least one interaural coherence analysis module configured to receive input signals from each hearing implant including the microphone signals and the band pass signals and configured to analyze the input signals to produce an interaural coherence signal output characterizing reverberation-related similarity of the input signals; a stimulation timing and coding module for each hearing implant configured for processing the band pass signals to develop stimulation timing signals, wherein for one or more selected band pass signals, the processing includes:
i. selecting as a function of the interaural coherence signal a stimulation coding strategy from a plurality of different stimulation coding strategies including an envelope-based stimulation coding strategy based on the band pass envelope, and an event-based stimulation coding strategy based on the temporal fine structure features,ii. producing the stimulation timing signals using the selected stimulation coding strategy, andiii. switching between different selected stimulation coding strategies as a function of changes in the interaural coherence signal; and a pulse generation module for each hearing implant configured for processing the stimulation timing signals to develop electrode stimulation signals for the hearing implant for perception as sound.