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:
Apr. 07, 2015
Filed:
Jul. 21, 2012
Ryan C. Stafford, Monroe, WA (US);
Jonathon D. Wells, Seattle, WA (US);
James W. Stafford, Redmond, WA (US);
Bryan J. Norton, Seattle, WA (US);
Ryan C. Stafford, Monroe, WA (US);
Jonathon D. Wells, Seattle, WA (US);
James W. Stafford, Redmond, WA (US);
Bryan J. Norton, Seattle, WA (US);
Lockheed Martin Corporation, Bethesda, MD (US);
Abstract
Method and apparatus for optically stimulating neurons of a plurality of auditory nerve pathways of a person to provide auditory sensations for the person including generating a plurality of pulsed light signals having one or more successive pulses; delivering the plurality of pulsed light signals to one or more auditory nerve pathways of the cochlea of the person; selectively controlling the plurality of light signals to optically stimulate and trigger nerve action potentials (NAPs) in the one or more auditory nerve pathways. In some embodiments, the stimulation rate (i.e., pulse-repetition rate) is optimized for the patient based on comfort levels, speech-recognition scores, and temperature feedback from monitors in the cochlea. In some embodiments, the methods of the present invention find practical lower and upper limits to the rate of stimulation to increase the speech-recognition scores while implementing safety limits to preventing overheating.