Systems and methods for alerting auditory prosthesis recipient

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10543371-B2
Application number	US-201615199029-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 30, 2016
Priority date	Jun 30, 2015
Publication date	Jan 28, 2020
Grant date	Jan 28, 2020

Abstract

An alert system detects when an auditory prosthesis recipient is wearing her sound processor. When the processor is not worn, the alert system signals a secondary device, such as an accessory, to provide some other form of tactile stimulation to allow the recipient to be made aware of certain auditory stimuli she is not receiving via the auditory prosthesis. Thus, the alert system can effectively “hear” for the recipient. Since many auditory prosthesis recipients are, for all practical purposes, completely deaf without their external sound processors attached and operational, such an alert system increases the recipient's safety, convenience, and quality of life.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving an environmental signal;
determining whether the environmental signal meets a threshold criteria;
detecting a prosthesis status signal of an auditory prosthesis; and
sending a stimulus signal based at least in part on the threshold determination operation, wherein the stimulus signal is sent to one or both of the auditory prosthesis and an accessory based at least in part on the prosthesis status signal,
wherein sending the stimulus signal comprises sending a first stimulus signal to the auditory prosthesis and sending a second stimulus signal to the accessory.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the threshold criteria comprises a volume, a frequency, or a trigger.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising detecting an accessory status of the accessory.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein detecting the prosthesis status signal comprises detecting an absence of a prosthesis status signal.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the method further comprises, upon detecting the absence of the prosthesis status signal, sending the stimulus signal to the accessory.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining whether the environmental signal meets a critical criteria; and
sending an escalated stimulus signal to a recipient of the auditory prosthesis based at least in part on the critical criteria determination.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein sending the escalated stimulus signal comprises:
sending the stimulus signal to both of the auditory prosthesis and the accessory;
increasing a characteristic of the stimulus signal;
altering the stimulus signal; or
sending a notification action.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the threshold criteria and the critical criteria are recipient-definable.

9. A system comprising:
an accessory device comprising:
a receiver for receiving a first stimulus signal from a detection device; and
a stimulator for delivering a tactile stimulus to a skin surface of a recipient based at least in part on the first stimulus signal; and

an auditory prosthesis comprising:
a receiver for receiving a second stimulus signal from the detection device;
a stimulator for delivering an auditory stimulus to an internal ear of the recipient; and
a transmitter for sending a status signal to the detection device.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the accessory device further comprises:
at least one processor; and
memory encoding computer executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, perform a method comprising:
receiving an environmental signal;
determining whether the environmental signal meets a threshold criteria;
detecting a prosthesis status signal of the auditory prosthesis; and
sending a stimulus signal based at least in part on the threshold determination operation, wherein the stimulus signal is sent to one or both of the auditory prosthesis and the accessory device based at least in part on the prosthesis status signal.

11. A method comprising:
receiving an environmental signal;
determining whether the environmental signal meets a threshold criteria; and
sending a stimulus signal to one or both of:
an auditory prosthesis so as to trigger a first stimulus to be delivered to a recipient of the auditory prosthesis; and
an accessory so as to trigger a second stimulus to be delivered to the recipient,

wherein the method is performed by a detection device discrete from both the auditory prosthesis and the accessory.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising sending the stimulus signal when the threshold criteria is met.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
receiving a prosthesis status indication from the auditory prosthesis; and
receiving an accessory status indication from the accessory.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein receiving the prosthesis status indication comprises receiving an absence of the prosthesis status indication.

15. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
determining whether the environmental signal meets a critical criteria; and
sending the stimulus signal to both of the auditory prosthesis and the accessory if the critical criteria is met.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the threshold criteria and the critical criteria are recipient-definable.

17. The method of claim 11 , wherein the method is performed by the accessory.

18. A method comprising:
receiving an environmental signal;
receiving a prosthesis status indication from an auditory prosthesis;
receiving an accessory status indication from an accessory;
determining whether the environmental signal meets a threshold criteria; and
responsive to the threshold criteria being met, sending a stimulus signal to one or both of:
the auditory prosthesis so as to trigger a first stimulus to be delivered to a recipient of the auditory prosthesis; and
the accessory so as to trigger a second stimulus to be delivered to the recipient.

19. A method comprising:
receiving an environmental signal;
determining whether the environmental signal meets a threshold criteria;
detecting a prosthesis status signal of an auditory prosthesis;
sending a stimulus signal based at least in part on the threshold determination operation, wherein the stimulus signal is sent to one or both of the auditory prosthesis and an accessory based at least in part on the prosthesis status signal; and
determining whether the environmental signal meets a critical criteria; and sending an escalated stimulus signal to a recipient of the auditory prosthesis based at least in part on the critical criteria determination,
wherein sending the escalated stimulus signal comprises:
sending the stimulus signal to both of the auditory prosthesis and the accessory;
increasing a characteristic of the stimulus signal;
altering the stimulus signal; or
sending a notification action.

Assignees

• Cochlear Ltd

Inventors

• Hunt Andrew
• Harte David
• Yoo Hans
• Smith Roger Alan

Classifications

• A61N1/0541

  Cochlear electrodes · CPC title

• A61N1/36038

  Cochlear stimulation · CPC title

• A61N1/37258 Primary

  Alerting the patient · CPC title

• A61N1/36036

  of the outer, middle or inner ear · CPC title