The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 18, 2003
Filed:
Jun. 15, 2001
Applicant:
Inventors:
Yitzhak Zilberman, Santa Clarita, CA (US);
Joseph H. Schulman, Santa Clarita, CA (US);
Assignee:
Alfred E. Mann Foundation for Scientific Research, Valencia, CA (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
H04R 2/500 ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
H04R 2/500 ;
Abstract
A system for enhancing a patient's hearing using electrically driven sound transducer, i.e., a speaker, implanted in the patient's middle ear cavity. More particularly, the speaker is implanted in the middle ear cavity inward of the tympanic membrane and oriented to direct sound energy toward the ossicles or the round window. In a first arrangement, the speaker functions to vibrate the ossicles and thus, via the oval window, actuate the perilymph in the cochlea. In an alternative arrangement, the speaker functions to actuate the cochlea via sound injected into the round window.