Optical pulse-width modulation used in an optical-stimulation cochlear implant

摘要

Method and apparatus for optically stimulating neurons of a plurality of auditory nerve pathways of a person to provide auditory sensations for the person including generating a plurality of pulsed light signals having one or more successive pulses; delivering the plurality of pulsed light signals to one or more auditory nerve pathways of the cochlea of the person; selectively controlling the plurality of light signals to optically stimulate and trigger nerve action potentials (NAPs) in the one or more auditory nerve pathways. In some embodiments of the present invention, pulse-repetition rate and peak pulse power are held constant, while pulse width is modulated to evoke a sufficient dynamic range of NAPs (i.e., different NAP strengths), thus encoding sound-loudness information for the listener.

主权项

1. An apparatus for optically stimulating neurons of a cochlea of a person to provide sound-perception auditory sensations for the person, the apparatus comprising:
means for sensing an audio signal in real time; means for extracting real time audio signal strength from the audio signal; means for generating a plurality of pulsed light signals having a pulse repetition rate, a peak power, and a pulse width, the plurality of pulsed light signals further having a plurality of one or more successive pulses, each capable of stimulating a nerve action potential (NAP) in the neuron of the person; means for delivering the plurality of light signals to a plurality of locations in the cochlea of the person; and means for selectively controlling the plurality of light signals output by the means for generating to optically stimulate one or more neurons in the cochlea in order to trigger NAPs in the one or more neurons of the cochlea, wherein the means for selectively controlling the plurality of pulsed light signals is configured to hold constant the pulse repetition rate and the peak power of the plurality of pulsed light signals and, concurrently, to modulate the pulse width of the plurality of pulsed light signals in response to the real time audio signal strength so as to encode a dynamic range of sound loudness for the person in real time.