Evaluation of sound quality and speech intelligibility from neurograms

US9351088B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignees

• MED-EL Elektromedizinische Geraete GmbH · AT
• TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITÄT MÜNCHEN · DE

Inventors

• Stefano Rini · San Fermo, IT
• Michael David Drews · Layton, US
• Michele Nicoletti · Birkenfeld, DE
• Werner Hemmert · Moosburg an der Isar, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: Jun 16, 2014
• Grant date: May 24, 2016
• Expiry date: Sep 26, 2034

Classification

• Technology area (CPC A): Human Necessities
• CPC primary: A61N1/0541
• WIPO field: Medical technology
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

An approach is described for evaluating a selected hearing stimulation strategy in a hearing impaired patient. A healthy neurogram represents a normal auditory neural response to a selected sound input by a healthy auditory system. An impaired neurogram represents an impaired auditory neural response to the selected sound input by a hearing impaired patient auditory system using the hearing stimulation strategy. The impaired neurogram is compared to the healthy neurogram based on: i. partitioning the neurograms into corresponding temporal and frequency domain tiles, ii. determining local variability between corresponding individual tiles by comparison of selected tile features, iii. determining global variability between the neurograms by weighted averaging of the individual tile comparisons, and iv. developing from the local and global variabilities a perception estimate representing effectiveness of the selected hearing stimulation strategy in approaching normal healthy hearing for the implanted patient.