An illustrative electrode locating system directs a first electrode on an electrode lead to generate an electrical pulse after being inserted into a cochlea of a patient during an insertion procedure to insert the electrode lead into the cochlea. The electrode locating system then directs a voltage to be detected between a second electrode of the electrode lead that has not yet been inserted into the cochlea and a ground contact that is to remain external to the cochlea after the insertion procedure. Based on the voltage detected between the second electrode and the ground contact, the electrode locating system determines that the second electrode has not yet been inserted into the cochlea. Corresponding systems and methods are also disclosed.

An illustrative cochlear implant system is disclosed herein. The cochlear implant system comprises a microphone assembly including a microphone and a retention device configured to hold the microphone near an entrance to an ear canal of an ear of a recipient. The cochlear implant system further comprises an off-the-ear (OTE) sound processor that includes a housing configured to be worn off the ear of the recipient and further configured to physically attach to the microphone assembly so as to allow the microphone assembly to be worn off the ear when the microphone assembly is not being worn at the ear using the retention device. Corresponding systems and methods are also disclosed.

An illustrative radio frequency (RF) power control system includes an RF transmitter configured to operate external to a recipient, a cochlear implant configured to operate internal to the recipient based on RF power received from the RF transmitter, and a processor that, while operating in a power adaptation mode during which the cochlear implant applies stimulation to the recipient: 1) receives an audio signal, 2) directs the RF transmitter to provide the RF power to the cochlear implant at a power level determined based on the audio signal and based on a power level mapping function, 3) determines an error value representing a difference between a target metric and a measured metric associated with receipt of the RF power at the cochlear implant, and 4) updates the power level mapping function based on the error value. Corresponding systems and methods are also disclosed.

Cochlear implant systems can include a signal processor, an implantable battery and/or communication module, and a plurality of conductors coupling the implantable battery and/or communication module and the signal processor. The implantable battery and/or communication module can communicate data and deliver electrical power to the signal processor via the plurality of conductors. The implantable battery and/or communication module can be configured to perform characterization process to determine one or more characteristics of one or more such conductors. Characterization processes can include determining an impedance between two conductors as a function of frequency, determining whether a conductor is intact, and determining an impedance of a given conductor. Some characterization processes include grounding one or more conductors.

An illustrative stiffening member includes a body configured to integrate with a portion of an electrode lead so as to maintain the portion of the electrode lead in a substantially linear configuration in an absence of a flexure force. The stiffening member includes a plurality of slots distributed along the body and configured to bias the body, in a presence of the flexure force, to flex inwardly on a first side of the body that is closer to electrodes of the electrode lead than is a second side opposite the first side. The stiffening member also includes an orientation retainer coupled to the body and configured to interface with the electrode lead to maintain, while the body is integrated with the portion of the electrode lead, the first side of the body closer to the electrodes than the second side of the body.

An exemplary sound processor is configured to maintain data representative of a frequency allocation table that maps frequencies in an upper region of an audible frequency range of a recipient to a plurality of electrodes located within a cochlea of the first ear, direct a cochlear implant to apply standard electrical stimulation representative of frequencies in an audio signal that are within the upper region to the cochlea of the first ear by way of the plurality of electrodes in accordance with the frequency allocation table, and direct the cochlear implant to apply phantom electrical stimulation representative of frequencies in the audio signal that are within a lower region of the audible frequency range to the cochlea of the first ear by way of a most apical electrode and one or more compensating electrodes included in the plurality of electrodes in accordance with a phantom electrode stimulation configuration.

A cochlear implant sound processor including processor apparatus that, in response to being paired with a cochlear implant, converts audio signals from a microphone into stimulation data and transfer the stimulation data to cochlear implant, and in response to a failure to detect the cochlear implant, transfers the audio signals to a contralateral sound processor. Systems and methods are also disclosed.

Presented herein are techniques for time interleaving the sampling of input signals with the delivery of stimulation signals to a recipient of an implantable electrically-stimulating hearing prosthesis. The input signals, which are received via one or more input channels and sampled by a sound processing unit, are susceptible to electrical feedback from the stimulation signals. As such, in accordance with embodiments presented herein, the sampling of the input signals by the sound processing unit, and the delivery of the stimulation signals to the recipient, are synchronized with one another so as to avoid stimulation-evoked electrical feedback within the input signals.

A system for stimulation of a patient's ipsilateral cochlea, having at least two spaced apart patient-worn microphones for providing first and second audio signals from ambient sound; a sound processor for generating an ipsilateral auditory nerve stimulation signal in a plurality of output channels from at least one of the input audio signals; and a stimulation assembly for being implanted within the ipsilateral cochlea and having a plurality of stimulation channels for ipsilateral stimulation of the patient's hearing according to the ipsilateral auditory nerve stimulation signal. The sound processor comprising a DOA unit for determining periodically a main direction of incidence of ambient sound from a sound source by analyzing the first and second audio signals, and a directional information coding unit for coding information concerning the determined main direction of incidence in the ipsilateral auditory nerve stimulation signal in manner to enable the patient to localize the sound source.

The disclosure relates to a cochlear implant system, and more particularly, the disclosure relates to a processor unit which includes a switching mean configured to switch between using a fixed stimulation frame onset or a variable stimulation frame onset for frame coding a plurality of stimulation pulses into a one or more stimulation frames.