Patent ID: 11872408
Assignee: OTICON MEDICAL A/S
Field: Medical technology (Instruments)
Classification: CPC A | IPC A

Claim 11:
12. A cochlear implant hearing aid system, comprising
an external part including a sound pickup unit configured to pick up sound from the environment and a sound processing unit configured to process said sound,
an implant part including an implant processing unit and a plurality of cochlea stimulation electrodes for stimulation of a cochlea of a user, wherein the implant processing unit is disposed within a component configured to be arranged between a skin and a skull of the user, the component including electromagnetic circuitry configured to establish a power and/or data communication link with the external part, the cochlea stimulation electrodes being disposed on a carrier extending out of the component,
a near-infrared transmitter configured to transmit near-infrared waves of a wavelength within a range of 700-900 nm, wherein said near-infrared transmitter is configured to transmit said near-infrared wave through tissue towards a cortex of said user, and
a near-infrared sensor configured to detect near-infrared waves of a wavelength within the range of 700-900 nm, wherein said near-infrared sensor is configured to detect said near-infrared waves scattered by the near-infrared wave interacting with said cortex of said user,
wherein the external part comprises the near-infrared transmitter and the implant part comprises the near-infrared sensor, or wherein the implant part comprises the near-infrared transmitter and the external part comprises the near-infrared sensor, and
wherein said implant processing unit is a digital signal processor configured to process said detected near-infrared waves scattered by said cortex according to Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) or functional NIRS (fNIRS) image processing to provide cortical responses to sounds picked up by the sound pickup unit.