Patent · US Expired

Signal processor for and an auditory prosthesis utilizing channel dominance

US4813417A · kind A · utility

22Cited by
6References
12Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateMar 13, 1987
Grant dateMar 21, 1989
Priority date
Expiry dateMar 13, 2007

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04R2430/03
  • WIPO fieldMedical technology
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

A multichannel signal processor for and an auditory prostheses utilizing such a signal processor having a plurality of filters each passing a different center frequency providing a set of filtered signals representative of the auditory content of the electrical input signal relative to its respective center frequency. A plurality of gating mechanisms individually coupled to the filter signals pass an output signal at a level above the perceptual level of the person when the filtered signal is above a predetermined level. The predetermined level is individually determined such that the output is past above the perceptual level only when the level of the filtered signal to which the gating means is coupled is likely to be among the larges of the filtered signals of all of the plurality of filters. Thus the multichannel signal processor in auditory prosthesis can have a combined stimulated signal which contains some, but not all, channels, namely those channels whose amplitude of signal is likely to rank among the highest compared to the amplitude of the remaining channels. In a preferred embodiment, such a channel dominant signal processor will help preserve periodicities created by …

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.