Cochlear Implant Transient Noise Reduction via Channel-Specific Gain
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cochlear implant systems face challenges in effectively reducing transient background noise, which weakens speech intelligibility and listening comfort due to inadequate transient noise reduction algorithms.
Innovation Solution
A method and system for generating electrode stimulation signals that process audio signals to produce transient reduced envelopes by determining channel-specific and combined transient indicators, applying channel-specific gains to suppress noise transients, and using these reduced envelopes to stimulate electrodes, while preserving speech features.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If traditional cochlear implant signal processing is used, then speech information is transmitted to the electrode, but transient background noise weakens speech intelligibility and listening comfort
Solution Approach 1:
The audio signal is divided into multiple frequency channels through a filter bank, allowing transient noise reduction to be applied independently to each channel based on its specific transient indicator, thereby preserving speech information while reducing transient noise in each frequency band
Solution Approach 2:
Transient noise reduction is applied selectively to specific frequency channels where transient indicators exceed a threshold, rather than uniformly across all channels. This localized approach preserves speech features in channels where transient noise is not present while effectively reducing transient noise in affected channels
2Object-affected harmful factors
If transient noise reduction is applied to all channels, then transient sounds are reduced, but speech features may be affected
Solution Approach 1:
The transient noise reduction gain for each channel is dynamically adjusted based on the channel-specific transient indicator and the combined transient indicator. When transient noise is detected in a channel, reduction is applied; when speech features dominate, reduction is minimized or eliminated, creating a dynamic adaptive system
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously monitors transient indicators in each channel and uses this feedback to adjust the transient noise reduction gain in real-time. The combined transient indicator from all channels further modulates the reduction applied to individual channels, creating a feedback-based adaptive control mechanism
3Measurement precision
If channel-specific transient indicators are calculated for each envelope, then transient noise detection precision is improved, but processing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The transient detection is segmented into independent channel-specific calculations, where each channel computes its own transient indicator based on local signal characteristics. This segmentation allows parallel processing and reduces the computational burden compared to analyzing the entire audio signal globally
Data Source
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AI summary
A method is described for generating electrode stimulation signals for electrode contacts in a cochlear implant electrode array. An input audio signal is processed to generate band pass channel signals that each represent an associated band of audio frequencies. A channel envelope is extracted from each channel signal. The input audio signal and the channel envelopes are processed to produce transient reduced envelopes based on: i. determining for each channel envelope a normalized channel-specific transient indicator characterizing transient noise present in the channel signal, ii. determining a combined transient indicator as a function of the channel-specific transient indicators, and iii. applying a channel-specific gain to the channel envelopes as a function of the combined transient indicator to produce the transient reduced envelopes. The transient reduced envelopes are then used to generate electrode stimulation signals to the electrode contacts.