Patent ID: 8545383

Claim:
A process for improving hearing perception in a human with an at least partially functional cochlea comprising: the steps of producing pulsed irradiation in a pulsed light source, receiving an acoustic signal and generating a signal representing an acoustic signal, controlling and modulating the intensity and frequency of the pulsed irradiation in response to the signal representing an acoustic signal, conducting the pulsed irradiation by at least one optical fibre optically coupled to the pulsed light source to an output surface of the optical fibre opposite the pulsed light source and emitting the irradiation from the output surface onto and directly in front of is functional element of the natural vibration transduction pathway, directly stimulating the functional element by the pulses generated within the pulsed light source, which functional element is functionally coupled for transduction of vibration to the cochlea and is selected from the group comprising the skull, the tympanic membrane, the hammer, the incus, the stapes, the outside of the cochlea, the otic capsule, the round window membrane, and the oval window membrane.