Patent ID: 7167754

Claim:
A method for sequentially stimulating the cochlea of a subject comprising: inserting an electrode array into the cochlea, the electrode array having a multiplicity of spaced-apart electrode contacts that are positioned spatially along the length of the cochlea; stimulating a first electrode contact on the electrode array with a monophasic pulse having a first polarity; stimulating a second electrode contact on the electrode array following stimulation of the first electrode contact with a monophasic pulse having a second polarity, wherein the second polarity is the opposite polarity of the pulse applied to the first electrode contact whenever the second electrode contact is spatially near the first electrode contact, and wherein the second polarity is the same polarity or the opposite polarity of the pulse applied to the first electrode contact whenever the second electrode contact is spatially far from the first electrode contact; stimulating a third electrode contact on the electrode array following stimulation of the second electrode contact with a monophasic pulse having a third polarity, wherein the third polarity is the opposite polarity of the pulse applied to the second electrode contact whenever the third electrode contact is spatially near the second electrode contact, and wherein the third polarity is the same polarity or the opposite polarity of the pulse applied to the second electrode contact whenever the third electrode contact is spatially far from the second electrode contact; continuing to stimulate electrode contacts on the electrode array following the above pattern until a desired number of electrode contacts have been stimulated; repeating the above stimulation pattern for all of the electrode contacts on the electrode array that are stimulated by a first monophasic pulse of one polarity by stimulating that electrode contact with a second monophasic pulse of an opposite polarity, whereby a selected number of the electrode contacts on the electrode array are stimulated sequentially in accordance with an alterphasic inverting stimulation strategy; and modulating the alterphasic inverting stimulation with sound information.