Hearing aid and method of implanting a hearing aid

摘要

A hearing aid including a permanent magnet to be fixed at a patient's incus (26), an audio signal source (14), an audio signal processing unit (16) for processing audio signals from the audio signal source, a driver unit (18) including a coil (22) for generating a magnetic field (25) that vibrates the permanent magnet according to the processed audio signals in order to stimulate the patient's hearing, and a measurement arrangement (56, 58, 60) for measuring the magnetic coupling between the coil and the permanent magnet in order to adjust the position of the coil or the input signals to the coil provided by the driver unit.

主权项

1. A hearing aid comprising:
a permanent magnet adapted to be fixed at a patient's incus; an audio signal source; an audio signal processing unit for processing audio signals from the audio signal source; a driver unit including a coil for generating a magnetic field for vibrating the permanent magnet according to the processed audio signals in order to stimulate the patient's hearing; and a measurement arrangement configured for measuring a magnetic coupling between the coil and the permanent magnet in order to adjust the position of the coil or processed audio signals to the coil provided by the driver unit, wherein the driver unit forms part of an implantable unit which includes a fixation system for fixing the coil of the driver unit to a patient's skull at a first position relative to the permanent magnet; the implantable unit includes means for manual adjustment of the coil from the first position to a final position; and the measurement arrangement is configured to act as a distance measurement arrangement for measuring a distance between the coil and the permanent magnet in order to select the final position of the coil, wherein the distance measurement arrangement comprises a signal generator configured for supplying a test signal to the driver unit and means for measuring a response signal of the coil to the test signal.