Signal processor for and an auditory prosthesis utilizing channel

Abstract

A multichannel signal processor for and an auditory prostheses utilizing such a signal processor having a plurality of filters each passing a different center frequency providing a set of filtered signals representative of the auditory content of the electrical input signal relative to its respective center frequency. A plurality of gating mechanisms individually coupled to the filter signals pass an output signal at a level above the perceptual level of the person when the filtered signal is above a predetermined level. The predetermined level is individually determined such that the output is past above the perceptual level only when the level of the filtered signal to which the gating means is coupled is likely to be among the larges of the filtered signals of all of the plurality of filters. Thus the multichannel signal processor in auditory prosthesis can have a combined stimulated signal which contains some, but not all, channels, namely those channels whose amplitude of signal is likely to rank among the highest compared to the amplitude of the remaining channels. In a preferred embodiment, such a channel dominant signal processor will help preserve periodicities created by sharply tuned band pass filters.