Patent ID: 8398563
Filing Date: 2013-03-19
Classification: A61B,A61F

Abstract:
1. A method for cochlear hair cell stimulation using acoustic stimulation, the method comprising: (a) determining with a hearing diagnosis section of a hair cell stimulation apparatus, a frequency band corresponding to a damaged hair cell region by outputting a cochlear model interface that includes hair cell region images divided with 1/k octave resolution, wherein the k is a positive integer of above 2, and when a user selects at least one of the hair cell region images, outputting a diagnostic acoustic signal with a frequency band corresponding to the selected hair cell region image and determining a hearing threshold using a user's response information from the output diagnostic acoustic signal; (b) determining with a stimulation region detecting section of the hair cell stimulation apparatus, a target frequency band corresponding to the damaged hair cell region; and (c) outputting with a stimulation treatment section of the hair cell stimulation apparatus, a stimulating acoustic signal to the target frequency band at a preset intensity to stimulate the damaged hair cell region, wherein the preset intensity is determined by the hearing threshold of the damaged hair cell region, wherein the stimulating acoustic signal is at least one of amplitude modulated tone, frequency modulated tone, pulse tone, continuous tone, and amplitude modulated narrowband noise, or combination of the tones and the noise.