Methods and systems of automatically detecting an impedance of one or more electrodes in a cochlear implant system

US8527058B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• Advance Bionics, LLC · US

Inventors

• Abhijit Kulkarni · Secunderabad, IN
• Lakshmi N. Mishra · Valencia, US
• Leonid M. Litvak · Los Angeles, US
• Mark B. Downing · Valencia, US
• Aniket Saoji · Ann Arbor, US
• Patrick Wong · Schilde, BE

Key dates

• Filing date: Aug 10, 2012
• Grant date: Sep 3, 2013
• Expiry date: Aug 10, 2032

Classification

• Technology area (CPC A): Human Necessities
• CPC primary: A61N2001/083
• WIPO field: Medical technology
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

An exemplary method includes a sound processing unit 1) directing an implantable cochlear stimulator coupled to a plurality of electrodes to generate an electrical stimulation current in accordance with one or more stimulation parameters, 2) automatically detecting an impedance of at least one of the electrodes, and 3) directing, in accordance with the detected impedance, the implantable cochlear stimulator to adjust a pulse width of the electrical stimulation current to maintain constant a total electric charge level of the electrical stimulation current.