	US 12,017,070 B2
	Method for deriving information for fitting a cochlear implant
Andrzej Zarowski, Wilrijk (BE); Erwin Offeciers, Antwerp (BE); Joost Van Dinther, Wilrijk (BE); Marc Leblans, Kontich (BE); and Fergio Sismono, Berchem (BE)
Assigned to ENTIC RESEARCH AND TRAINING CENTER BV, Wilrijk (BE)
Appl. No. 17/058,467
Filed by ENTIC RESEARCH AND TRAINING CENTER BV, Wilrijk (BE)
PCT Filed May 29, 2019, PCT No. PCT/EP2019/064041 § 371(c)(1), (2) Date Nov. 24, 2020, PCT Pub. No. WO2019/229162, PCT Pub. Date Dec. 5, 2019.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/678,375, filed on May 31, 2018.
Prior Publication US 2021/0196954 A1, Jul. 1, 2021
Int. Cl. A61N 1/36 (2006.01); A61N 1/05 (2006.01)

CPC A61N 1/36039 (2017.08) [A61N 1/0541 (2013.01)]

16 Claims

1. A method for deriving information for setting a fitting parameter of a cochlear implant, said cochlear implant comprising an electrode array having a plurality of stimulating electrode contacts, the method comprising:

generating a model of an interface between an electrode contact of said electrode array and a cochlear tissue by modelling the interface as a corresponding electrical circuit comprising a resistive component representative of Faradaic resistance at said interface,

applying an electrical pulse to one of said stimulating electrode contacts of said electrode array and measuring a voltage response to said pulse,

determining a value of an impedance corresponding to said resistive component from said measured voltage response,

determining the Faradaic resistance component from the impedance,

obtaining an indication of a value of the fitting parameter for said electrode contact to which the electrical pulse was applied using the Faradaic resistance component, and by mapping said determined impedance value to a mathematical model relating said fitting parameter to said impedance,

wherein the Faradaic resistance corresponds to an amplitude of an exponentially decaying/growing part of the voltage response at said stimulating electrode.