Patent Document ID: 8914125
Application ID: 13700387
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A method of minimizing an effect of channel interaction among a plurality of channels in a multi-channel cochlear implant system, the method comprising: empirically generating, by a computing device, an electrical spread matrix that is specific to a patient and representative of a channel interaction among a plurality of channels defined by a plurality of electrodes of a multi-channel cochlear implant system associated with the patient; generating, by the computing device, a model electrical spread matrix that approximates the empirically generated electrical spread matrix and that has a tridiagonal inverse matrix, the model electrical spread matrix based on values of a plurality of longitudinal and transversal resistors representative of current spread through tissue of a cochlea and included in a ladder network model of the cochlea; and using the tridiagonal inverse matrix to determine a set of stimulation current levels to be applied by way of a corresponding set of electrodes included in the plurality of electrodes in order to produce desired stimulation current levels at a plurality of stimulation sites within the cochlea in the presence of the channel interaction; wherein the using of the tridiagonal inverse matrix to determine the set of stimulation current levels is performed according to the equation I r =Z m −1 *(D*I d ), wherein I r represents a matrix of the set of stimulation current levels, Z m −1 represents the tridiagonal inverse matrix, I d represents a matrix of the desired stimulation current levels, and D represents a diagonal matrix with diagonal values of the empirically generated electrical spread matrix.