Northwestern University

Resonance Medical, LLC

Vanderbilt University

Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago

Nurotone Medical Ltd.

Claus-Peter Richter

Petrina LaFaire

Chris Heddon

Xiaodong Tan

Donna S Whitlon

Brian Dougherty

Reagan Roberts

E Duco Jansen

Dan David Albeck

Bharat Bhushan

Agnella Izzo

Jonathan Ida

Steven Ho

Joseph I Walsh, Jr

Disclosed is a method of selecting stimulations for a cochlear implant or an auditory implant. The method may include: 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; selecting one or more types of stimulation to be applied to one or more locations in a cochlea or along an auditory nerve based on bandwidths of each frequency band. The one or more types of stimulation may be selected from: electrical stimulation, optical stimulation and opto-electrical stimulation, and the one or more locations in cochlea or along the auditory nerve may correspond to specific frequencies of the acoustical signal.

System and method for cochlear implant stimulation

Representative apparatus, method, and system embodiments are disclosed for non-invasive detection an ingested battery or magnet in a human or other animal subject. The various apparatus embodiments include one or more Hall effect sensors, arranged in a hand-held embodiment or arranged along a flexible strip having an adhesive. A calibration may be determined or reference or calibration field measurements may be generated. A flexible strip is arranged, or the hand-held embodiment is moved, over the esophagus of the subject to generate target magnetic field measurements. The presence of an ingested battery or magnet is detected when one or more target magnetic field measurements (or gradient) is or are greater than or equal to a first predetermined threshold, or when a sign reversal occurs for a difference between target and reference measurements. The various apparatus and system embodiments may also include a monitor for signal processing and display of results.

Apparatuses, systems and methods for detection of an ingested battery or magnet

A system for neuromodulation device coding for stimulation of a patient includes a neural code library comprising digital representations of neural responses of neural units of at least one normal functioning animal, each digital representation corresponding to one of digital representations of stimulus; a sensory device configured to detect a sensory signal; an analyzer configured to identify one of the digital representations of stimulus in the neural code library in response to receipt of the sensory signal; a processing device configured, for each identified sensory signal, to retrieve the digital representations of neural responses of neural units corresponding to the identified sensory signal from the neural code library, and select one or more neural units of a patient to be stimulated by a neuromodulation device associated with the patient; and a transmitting device configured to stimulate the selected one or more neural units of the patient.

Systems and methods for neuromodulation device coding with trans-species libraries

Aspects of the invention include systems and methods for neuromodulation device coding with a neural code library. The method includes identifying a pattern of a sensory signal, retrieving one or more digital representations of a neural response corresponding to the identified pattern from a neural code library, where the neural code library comprises a plurality of digital representations of neural responses of neural units corresponding to each pattern, selecting one or more neural units of a patient to be stimulated by a neuromodulation device associated with the patient based on the retrieved one or more digital representations of a neural response pattern, and stimulating the selected neural units of the patient.

A cochlear implant includes electrodes and a processor for generating frequency-modulated electrical pulse trains in one or more of the electrodes responsive to dividing data representing audio spanning frequency-bands into bins associated with each frequency-band, each bin representing an energy level of the data within the frequency-band within a time-period; associating each frequency-band with a phase probability that starts at an initial phase probability value (PPV), resets to a minimum PPV after generating a pulse, and increases from the minimum PPV to a maximum PPV over a time-period; for each bin, assigning a power probability as a normalized intensity being a number between a minimum power probability and a maximum power probability representing the energy level of the bin, and generating a pulse in an electrode associated with the frequency-band associated with the bin when a random number generated is less than the power probability divided by the phase probability.

Methods of frequency-modulated phase coding (FMPC) for cochlear implants and cochlear implants applying same

Aspects of the invention include system and method for transmitting neural data extracted from an electrical signal of a non-human mammal to a human. The system includes an electrode implantable into the animal auditory nerve, brainstem, or midbrain of the non-human mammal, configured to record the electrical signal of the non-human mammal, the electrical signal being in the form of sequences of pulses or pulse trains encoding frequency information of the non-human mammal, a processing device electrically coupled with the electrode, configured to process the electrical signal and convert the processed electrical signal into a digital signal, a transmitting device electrically coupled with the processing device, configured to transmit the digital signal, and a receiving device electrically coupled with the transmitting device, configured to receive the transmitted digital signal, convert the received digital signal into a sensory output perceptible to the human, and apply the sensory output to the human.

System and method for animal-human neural interface

A method of generating frequency-modulated pulse trains in a CI includes dividing data representing audio spanning frequency bands into a plurality of bins associated with each frequency band, each bin representing an energy level of the data within the frequency band within a period of time; associating each frequency band with a phase probability that starts at an initial phase probability value (PPV), resets to a minimum PPV after generating a pulse, and increases from the minimum PPV to a maximum PPV over a period of time; for each bin, assigning a power probability as a normalized intensity being a number between a minimum power probability and a maximum power probability representing the energy level of the bin, and generating a pulse in an electrode associated with the frequency band associated with the bin when a random number generated is less than the power probability divided by the phase probability.

Statin compositions are disclosed for stimulating neurite growth from spiral ganglion neurons in the inner ear, as well as methods and kits for preventing damage to or treating damage of auditory neurons and/or hair cells of the cochlea following acoustic or toxic insult. An exemplary statin for these methods and kits includes Pitavastatin having the compound formula (VIII): 

Local cochlear application of statins for stimulating neurite regrowth in the cochlea

Statin compositions are disclosed for stimulating neurite growth from spiral ganglion neurons in the inner ear and methods for preventing damage to or treating damage of auditory neurons and/or hair cells of the cochlea following acoustic or toxic insult.

A cochlear implant placed in a cochlea of a living subject for stimulating the auditory system of the living subject, where the auditory system comprises auditory neurons. In one embodiment, the cochlear implant includes a plurality of light sources, {L}, placeable distal to the cochlea, each light source, L, being operable independently and adapted for generating an optical energy, E, wherein i=1, . . . , N, and N is the number of the light sources, and delivering means placeable in the cochlea and optically coupled to the plurality of light sources, {L}, such that in operation, the optical energies {E} generated by the plurality of light sources {L} are delivered to target sites, {G}, of auditory neurons, respectively, wherein the target sites Gand Gof auditory neurons are substantially proximate to the apical end and the basal end of the cochlea, respectively.

Apparatus and methods for optical stimulation of the auditory nerve

A cochlear implant wherein the return path of the electrode array is located to increase current flow through the modiolus. The return electrode is placed at various locations outside the cochlea, and into the modiolus itself. In addition, the electrode array includes an inflatable membrane that is inflated to anchor the array in position in the cochlea with the electrode contacts pressed into contact with the modiolar wall and allowing the membrane to seal with the surrounding tissue of the cochlea, increasing the longitudinal resistance along the cochlear implant electrode, decreasing shunting of the injected current via scala tympani. In experiments that were conducted the current along the modiolus was determined to be, on average, 2.4 times larger with the return electrode in the modiolus than in an extracochlear location.

Growing community of inventors

Skokie, IL, United States of America

Claus-Peter Richter