| CPC A61N 1/0541 (2013.01) [A61N 1/36038 (2017.08); A61N 1/36171 (2013.01); A61N 1/36175 (2013.01); A61N 1/36164 (2013.01); A61N 5/0622 (2013.01)] | 7 Claims |
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1. A method of selecting stimulations for a cochlear implant, comprising:
capturing an acoustical signal;
dividing the acoustical signal into a plurality of frequency bands;
determining a mean acoustical energy for each frequency band;
for each frequency band:
comparing the mean acoustical energy with the mean acoustical energy determined for neighboring frequency bands;
merging neighboring frequency bands having a difference between the mean acoustical energies that is less than an acoustical energy threshold value and merging neighboring frequency bands if the merged frequency bands have a bandwidth lower or equal to a bandwidth limit value, wherein the bandwidth limit value is equal to a bandwidth of frequencies corresponding to neurons effected from the current spread of electrical stimulation;
selecting one or more types of stimulation to be applied to one or more locations in a cochlea based on bandwidths of each frequency band,
wherein the one or more types of stimulation are selected from electrical stimulation, optical stimulation and opto-electrical stimulation, and
selecting electrical stimulation for merged neighboring frequency bands having a combined frequency bandwidth higher than a bandwidth threshold value, and
selecting optical and/or opto-electrical stimulation for merged and unmerged bands, and
wherein a number of frequency bands and locations are determined by the light emitters and electrical contacts available for stimulation,
wherein the maximum width of the frequency band is determined by the maximum spread during optical stimulation, and
wherein the one or more locations in the cochlea correspond to specific frequencies of the acoustical signal.
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