Auditory Prosthesis Tonal Deafness Compensation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Cochlear implant recipients experience tonal deafness due to the limited ability of current implants to precisely replicate the operation of thousands of hair cells, leading to reduced speech understanding and difficulty in perceiving emotional and intonation cues, especially in voice calls without visual cues.
Innovation Solution
An auditory prosthesis system that includes an external device capable of analyzing speech signals to generate animated visual cues, such as facial expressions and lip movements, to compensate for tonal deafness, by correlating vocal articulator movements and emotion detection with graphical representations displayed on a mobile device.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If cochlear implant delivers stimulation signals to recipient, then speech signals can be transmitted to recipient, but tonal perception is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent adds a visual dimension to compensate for the auditory deficit. By displaying graphical representations of tonal contours and vocal articulator movements on an external device screen, the system transforms auditory information into visual form, allowing recipients to perceive tonal information that would otherwise be lost through electrical stimulation alone.
Solution Approach 2:
The external device serves as an intermediary between the cochlear implant and the recipient's perception system. It receives speech signals, analyzes tonal characteristics, generates graphical representations, and presents them to the recipient, thereby bridging the gap between the implant's limited tonal representation and the recipient's need for complete speech understanding.
2Device complexity
If cochlear implant uses limited stimulating contacts, then device complexity is reduced, but manufacturing precision of hair cell replication is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of attempting to physically replicate thousands of hair cells with limited stimulating contacts, the system creates a simplified graphical copy of tonal information. The external device generates visual representations that mirror the tonal contours and articulator movements, providing the necessary information without requiring complex implant hardware.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the essential tonal information from the speech signal and separates it from the complex task of hair cell replication. By analyzing speech signals externally and extracting tonal characteristics, the system removes the burden of precise tonal replication from the implant's stimulating contacts, allowing them to focus on basic speech transmission.
3Ease of operation
If speech signals are delivered without visual cues, then communication simplicity is maintained, but emotional and intonation cues are lost
Solution Approach 1:
The system compensates for the loss of emotional and intonation cues by transitioning to the visual dimension. Graphical representations of tonal contours and articulator movements provide visual cues that convey emotional and intonational information, enriching communication without adding physical complexity to the implant itself.
Data Source
AI summary
Embodiments presented herein are generally directed to techniques for compensating for tonal deafness experienced by a recipient of an auditory prosthesis. More specifically, an auditory prosthesis system includes an external device configured to generate a graphical representation that enables the recipient to compensate for reduced tonal perception associated with delivery of the stimulation signals representative of speech signals. The external device is configured to analyze received speech signals to determine vocal articulator movement of the speaker of the speech signals and/or emotion of the speaker. The external device is further configured to display one or more animated visual cues representative of the detected vocal articulator movement and/or emotion.