Fully implantable cochlear implant systems including optional external components and methods for using the same

摘要

An exemplary method includes 1) detecting, by an external module configured to be positioned external to and worn by a patient, an input audio signal presented to the patient, 2) acoustically transmitting, by the external module, an audio signal representative of the input audio signal, 3) detecting, by an implantable module configured to be implanted within the patient, the acoustically transmitted audio signal, 4) generating, by the implantable module, one or more stimulation parameters based on the acoustically transmitted audio signal, and 5) applying, by the implantable module, electrical stimulation representative of the input audio signal to one or more stimulation sites within the patient in accordance with the one or more stimulation parameters.

主权项

1. A method comprising:
detecting, by an external microphone included in an external module positioned external to and worn by a patient, an input audio signal presented to the patient; processing, by an external processing facility included in the external module, the input audio signal detected by the external microphone in accordance with one or more signal processing heuristics; transmitting, by the external processing facility included in the external module, an electric signal representative of the processed input audio signal; receiving, by an external speaker included in the external module, the processed input audio signal from the external processing facility; acoustically transmitting, by the external speaker included in the external module, an audio signal representative of the processed input audio signal; detecting, by an implantable module implanted within the patient, the acoustically transmitted audio signal representative of the processed input audio signal as transmitted by the external module; generating, by the implantable module, one or more stimulation parameters based on the acoustically transmitted audio signal; and applying, by the implantable module, electrical stimulation representative of the input audio signal to one or more stimulation sites within the patient in accordance with the one or more stimulation parameters.