Patent ID: 7627377

Claim:
A method of stimulating a cochlea using a hearing prosthetic implant having a plurality of individually addressable electrodes including electrodes of a first group defining a first current distribution geometry and electrodes of a second group defining a second current distribution geometry, and a stimulator device adapted to provide to said first and second electrode groups stimuli corresponding to sound signals, the method comprising: generating a first stimuli using the stimulator device in response to a first sound having a first pitch; selecting automatically by the stimulator device, based on the first stimuli and the electrodes in the first group of electrodes, a first stimulation mode from a mixture of stimulation modes; applying said generated first stimuli, using said first selected stimulation mode, to the first group of individually addressable electrodes to stimulate the cochlea; generating a second stimuli using the stimulator device in response to a second sound having a second pitch; selecting automatically by the stimulator device, based on the second stimuli and the electrodes in the second group of electrodes, a second stimulation mode from a mixture of stimulation modes; applying said generated second stimuli, using said second selected stimulation mode, to the second group of individually addressable electrodes to stimulate the cochlea.