Hearing devices based on the plasticity of the brain

Abstract

The invention describes a hearing improvement device including components for training the brain to connect and stimulate the auditory and visual corteces and strengthen pathways between them, in order to overcome the shortcomings of the damaged auditory channel.

Description

REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims the benefit of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13 / 495,648 titled “Audio Communication networks” filed on 13 Jun. 2012, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13 / 682352 titled “Social network with enhanced audio communications for the Hearing impaired” filed on 20 Nov. 2012 incorporated herein in their entirety by reference.BACKGROUND[0002]Current hearing aid technology deals with correcting the detrimental effects caused by the damaged inner and middle ear and the cochlea in particular. The main tool used in the various inventions is the non-linear amplification of the impaired sound frequencies. However it is by now clear that the benefits of the multi-channel non-linear amplifications are limited in attaining the goal of speech “understanding”.[0003]Lately, in many healthcare fields, it has been shown that taking advantage of the plasticity of the brain, many physical impairments may be alleviated, if not resolved.[0004...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The patent describes a system that uses eyeglasses with special technology to improve the hearing capabilities of people with hearing difficulties. The system includes a processor that translates sound frequencies to "substitute frequencies" that can be transmitted to the cochlea through bone conduction. The system also includes color light sources that can be controlled by the brain to interpret the sound frequencies in relation to colors. The training system can be controlled and managed by a smartphone, and the eyeglasses and cap with a long visor worn by the trainee can incorporate microphones and bone conducting transducers for improved speech understanding. The system also uses a time resolution of 1-2 milliseconds to locate the natural pauses between phonemes and improve speech understanding by reducing noise. The system also analyzes the speaker's "voice signature" to adapt the incoming phonemes to the hearing characteristics of the recipient.

Problems solved by technology

However it is by now clear that the benefits of the multi-channel non-linear amplifications are limited in attaining the goal of speech “understanding”.

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