Electrotactile vocoder

US4982432A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• The University of Melbourne · AU

Inventors

• Graeme Clark · Melbourne, AU
• Peter John Blamey · Sydney, AU

Key dates

• Filing date: Nov 29, 1989
• Grant date: Jan 1, 1991
• Expiry date: Nov 29, 2009

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G09B21/009
• WIPO field: Control
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

An electrotactile vocoder for persons having impaired hearing in which electrical stimulation is applied to a multiplicity of electrodes in contact with either side of each finger so as to electrically stimulate the digital nerves of the user under the control of stimulator circuitry which is in turn controlled by processing circuitry for a speech signal received by a directional microphone worn on the ear of the user. The speech processor is suitably of the type described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,441,202 Tong et al. modified to cause stimulation of the digital nerves via the eight finger electrodes and a common electrode held in contact with the wrist of the user.