PatentDOI
Method and apparatus for sound responsive tactile stimulation of deaf individuals
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TLDR
In this paper, a tactile aid for deaf individuals includes a conveniently wearable array of vibration transducers mounted on a flexible carrier strip so as to be positionally biased toward the individuals's skin, each transducers includes an enclosed magnetically vibratable cantilevered beam, an angled mounting slot to effect the positional bias mounting on the strip, and contact pads rather than conventional pin connectors to both reduce mass and facilitate electrical connection to contact pads on carrier strips in the form of printed circuit boards.Abstract:
A tactile aid for deaf individuals includes a conveniently wearable array of vibration transducers mounted on a flexible carrier strip so as to be positionally biased toward the individuals's skin. Each transducer includes an enclosed magnetically vibratable cantilevered beam, an angled mounting slot to effect the positional bias mounting on the strip, and contact pads rather than conventional pin connectors to both reduce mass and facilitate electrical connection to contact pads on carrier strips in the form of printed circuit boards. Received acoustic signals are processed in at least first and second formant circuits each sub-divided into plural sub-bands corresponding to the number of transducers. In each formant circuit the corresponding formant frequency and amplitude are measured, averaged over a predetermined number of cycles, and a voltage corresponding to the measured amplitude is provided on a corresponding sub-hand channel to pulse width modulate a pulse train employed to excite the transducers. Spectral resolution can be increased by averaging the amplitude/frequency measurements over fewer cycles. Glottal pulses in the speech signal are monitored to provide a glottal rate signal at a stepped down frequency related to the actual glottal rate. The channel amplitude is modulated by the glottal signal to cause alternation of transducer excitation at the related glottal rate. Additional formants may be detected to derive additional information in the excitation signal.read more
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References
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PatentDOI
Wearable tactile sensory aid providing information on voice pitch and intonation patterns
TL;DR: In this paper, a wearable tactile sensory aid which presents a vibratory signal representative of voice pitch and intonation patterns to the skin is described, which is applied as a tactile stimulus, and is displaced along a linear array of transducers in contact with the skin in proportion to the logarithm of the fundamental frequency.
PatentDOI
Apparatus for multichannel cochlear implant hearing aid system
TL;DR: A hearing aid system using a pre-aligned, multichannel, intra-cochlear electrode array for electrically stimulating predetermined locations of the auditory nerve within the cochlea of the ear with selected frequency components of an external sound signal having magnitudes adjusted according to the requirements of the particular user.
PatentDOI
Signal processor and an auditory prosthesis utilizing channel dominance
Sigfrid D.C,O Minnesota Mining And Soli,Van Den Honert Christopher C O,O Minnesota Mining Van +3 more
TL;DR: In this article, a multichannel signal processor (10) for and an auditory prosthesis (68) utilizing such a signal processor having a plurality of filters (88) each passing a different center frequency providing a set of filtered signals representative of the auditory content of the electrical input signal relative to its respective center frequency.
PatentDOI
Method and apparatus for communicating information representative of sound waves to the deaf
TL;DR: In this paper, a method and apparatus for communicating audio signals to the deaf is described, in which electrical impulses characteristic of sound waves are applied either directly to the tactile sensory nerves by means of an implant or are applied simultaneously with vibrations representative of the sound waves to the nerve endings located at the skin surface.
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Audiotactile stimulation and communications system
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe a system in which random or controlled electronically synthesized signals are converted to sound waves that are directly coupled to the skin of a life form, such as a human body, to stimulate the skin or internal portions of the life form and to communicate the intelligence, sense or feeling of the sound to the brain.