Split type full-implantation artificial cochlea systemTechnical Field
The invention belongs to the field of medical appliances, relates to a split type full-implantation cochlear implant system integrated with functions of a conventional speech processor and an implant and application thereof, and in particular relates to a split type full-implantation cochlear implant system.
Background
The first world hearing report issued by the world health organization 2021 indicates that more than 15 hundred million people in the world are hearing impaired, with 4.3 hundred million people being examined for moderate loss or more. Years of treatment experience shows that artificial cochlea implantation is the only effective rehabilitation method for patients with severe or extremely severe sensorineural deafness. Currently, over 70 ten thousand artificial cochlea implantation operations are carried out globally, wherein over 7 ten thousand artificial cochlea implantation operations are carried out in China, and more than 1 ten thousand deaf children conforming to the artificial cochlea operation indications are newly added each year.
The artificial cochlea is still the most effective treatment means for the patients with severe sensorineural hearing loss to reconstruct the hearing function. The conventional cochlear implant system includes an external sound processor, an internal receiver/stimulator, and a wireless signal transmission link across the skin. After the sound signals received by the microphone of the external sound processor are digitized, processed and encoded by the processor, the encoded sound signals are transmitted to the receiving coil in the body through the wireless percutaneous transmission link by the transmission coil, then the signals are decoded and converted into corresponding electric signals by the stimulation chip of the body implant, and the electric stimulation pulses are sent to the acoustic nerve to stimulate the acoustic nerve to send nerve impulse and are transmitted to the brain auditory center step by step to enable the patient to generate hearing. However, the visibility and prominence of external processors may not only cause a negative look to the hearing impairment by society, but also be unusable in certain activities (e.g., sleep, bathing, swimming) and be vulnerable to accidental impact. In addition, conventional cochlear implant microphones are located outside the ear or at the entrance to the external auditory canal, and the user cannot take advantage of the passive gain of the external auditory canal at speech-related frequencies, nor can they fully benefit from the shadow effect of the auricle, which can attenuate sound from behind and potentially provide directional cues. And external sound processors limit the use of standard headsets, such as headphones and helmets, which can be inconvenient for the patient's life. The fully implanted cochlear implant technology provides a more concealed, durable and all-weather hearing solution by eliminating external hardware and implanting the microphone, DSP and battery all into the body, which will increase the acceptance of cochlear implant. The existing design of the fully-implanted artificial cochlea integrates an implanted microphone and other systems, for example, patent application number CN202321749790.4 discloses a fully-implanted artificial cochlea, and a nerve stimulation device of the fully-implanted artificial cochlea is connected with a sound sensing device. Although it is convenient to use only one power supply system, the connection of the implanted microphone to the nerve stimulation results in the implanted microphone being limited in its implantation location to the vicinity of the stimulator, which may limit the sound pickup effect. When the conventional artificial cochlea implant is implanted, a skin flap is required to be cut and ground and placed, if the fully implanted artificial cochlea connects a fully implanted microphone with a stimulator, the area of the whole system, which is required to cut the skin flap, is enlarged in the same area, and the skin flap is ground at multiple positions, so that the operation difficulty and risk can be greatly increased. In addition, direct connection of the implanted microphone to the stimulator circuit increases the number of feedthroughs, increasing the difficulty of the process and inevitably increasing the risk of water leakage. There are no commercially available implantable microphones, and the stability of the microphone for long term implantation is not yet determined. If damage or performance change occurs after long-term implantation, the whole full-implantation artificial cochlea needs to be taken out for replacement, if the microphone is connected with other components, the fine structure of the user cochlea is damaged by the implantation and the taking out of the electrode, so that the residual hearing is damaged.
Disclosure of Invention
The invention aims to solve the technical problems that although the existing fully-implanted cochlear implant system can integrate the functions of a speech processor and an implant, the direct connection of a microphone with a stimulator can cause the increase of operation difficulty, the placement position of the microphone is limited, and the damage to an implantation position is large when the microphone needs to be replaced, so that the stability, the safety, the effectiveness and the convenience of long-term treatment are not sufficiently ensured, and the split type fully-implanted cochlear implant system is provided for solving the problems.
The object of the invention is achieved in the following way:
The split type full-implantation artificial cochlea system comprises an implanted microphone system 2, a stimulation system 3, an in-vitro charging system 1 for supplying power to the implanted microphone system 2and the stimulation system 3, and a mobile communication device 4, wherein the mobile communication device 4 is in communication connection with the implanted microphone system 2and the stimulation system 3 through Bluetooth, the implanted microphone system 2and the stimulation system 3 are not connected, battery units for supplying power to the system are arranged, and sound signals collected by the implanted microphone system 2 are converted into electric signals and then are transmitted to the stimulation system through near-field communication to decode and electrically stimulate cochlea.
Further, the implanted microphone system 2 comprises a microphone coil unit 21, a microphone battery unit 22 and a sound receiving unit 23, wherein the microphone coil unit 21 is respectively connected with the external charging system 1, the microphone battery unit 22, the sound receiving unit 23 and the stimulation system 3, the microphone coil unit 21 is in wireless charging connection with the external charging system 1, charges the microphone battery unit 22 through electromagnetic induction, receives an electric signal processed by the sound receiving unit 23, and transmits the electric signal to the stimulation system 3 through near-field communication.
Further, the microphone battery unit 22 includes a charging battery module 221, a charging and discharging management module 222, and a power management module 223, wherein the charging battery module 221 is connected with the charging and discharging management module 222, and can charge through the external charging system 1 via the microphone coil unit 21, the charging process is controlled by the charging and discharging management module 222, and when not charging, the charging and discharging management module 222 and the power management module 223 supply power to the implanted microphone system 2, the charging and discharging management module 222 is connected with the charging battery module 221, the microphone coil unit 21 and the power management module 223, rectifies the electric signal received by the microphone coil unit 21 and charges the charging battery module 221, and the power management module 223 is electrically connected with the sound receiving unit 23, and is responsible for regulating the discharging process of the charging battery module 221.
Further, the sound receiving unit 23 includes a sound sensor module 231, a sound preprocessing module 232, and a microphone bluetooth module 233, wherein;
Further, the sound sensor module 231 is connected with the power management module 223 and the sound preprocessing module 232, and is powered by the rechargeable battery module 221 and is responsible for collecting sound signals;
Further, the sound preprocessing module 232 is connected to the sound sensor module 231, the microphone coil unit 21 and the microphone bluetooth module 233, and is responsible for performing noise reduction preprocessing on the sound signal from the sound sensor module 231 and converting the preprocessed sound signal code into an electrical signal;
Further, the microphone bluetooth module 233 is connected to the sound preprocessing module 232 and the mobile device bluetooth module 41, and is responsible for transmitting information of the implanted microphone system 2 to the mobile communication device 4 and receiving information transmitted from the mobile communication device 4.
Further, the stimulation system 3 comprises a stimulator coil unit 31, a stimulator battery unit 32, a stimulation control unit 33 and a stimulation unit 34, wherein the stimulator coil unit 31 is connected with the external charging system 1, the stimulation control unit 33 and the implanted microphone system 2, is connected with the external charging system 1 in a wireless charging manner, charges the stimulator battery unit 32 through electromagnetic induction, and receives an electric signal from the implanted microphone system 2 and transmits the electric signal to the stimulation control unit 33.
Further, the stimulator battery unit 32 includes a rechargeable battery module 321, a charge/discharge management module 322, and a power management module 323, where the rechargeable battery module 321 is connected to the charge/discharge management module 322, and can be charged by the extracorporeal charging system 1 via the stimulator coil unit 31, the charging process is controlled by the charge/discharge management module 323, and when not charging, the stimulator battery unit 3 is powered by the charge/discharge management module 322 and the power management module 323, the charge/discharge management module 322 is connected to the rechargeable battery module 321, the stimulator coil unit 31, and the power management module 323, and rectifies the electric signal received by the stimulator coil unit 31 and charges the rechargeable battery module 321, and the power management module 323 is electrically connected to the stimulation control unit 33, and is responsible for regulating the discharging process of the rechargeable battery module 321.
Further, the stimulation control unit 33 includes a stimulation control module 331, a monitoring module 332 and a stimulator bluetooth module 333, wherein the stimulation control module 331 is connected with the monitoring module 332, the power management module 323, the stimulator coil unit 31 and the stimulation unit 34, the stimulation control module 331 demodulates and decodes the voice coding signal transmitted from the stimulator coil unit 31 and converts the voice coding signal into an electric signal to transmit to the stimulation unit 34, the monitoring module 332 is connected with the stimulation control module 331, the stimulation unit 34 and the stimulator bluetooth module 333, the monitoring module 332 monitors whether the stimulation unit 34 can work normally in real time, when the stimulation unit 34 has abnormal working state, the monitoring module 332 feeds back to the stimulation control module 331 in time to adjust the working state of the stimulation unit 34, the stimulator bluetooth module 333 is connected with the mobile device bluetooth module 41 and the monitoring module 332, and is responsible for receiving the stimulation information transmitted from the monitoring module 332 and transmitting to the mobile device bluetooth module 41, and receiving the information from the mobile communication device 4 and feeding back the device information transmitted from the monitoring module 332 to the mobile device bluetooth module 41.
Further, the stimulating unit 34 includes a stimulator module 341 and an electrode module 342, where the stimulator module 341 is connected with the stimulating control module 331, the monitoring module 332 and the electrode module 342, and is responsible for decoding the encoded signal transmitted by the stimulating control module 331, stimulating the corresponding frequency according to the encoded signal by the electrode module 342, and feeding back the monitoring module 332 in real time, and the electrode module 342 is connected with the stimulator module 341, and is responsible for stimulating the corresponding frequency of the cochlea according to the decoded signal, so that the patient generates an audible response.
Further, the mobile communication device 4 includes a mobile device bluetooth module 41, a central processing module 42, a touch control module 43, and a memory module 44, wherein one end of the mobile device bluetooth module 41 is connected with the central processing module 42 in a wired manner, the other end of the mobile device bluetooth module 41 is connected with the stimulation system 3 and the implanted microphone system 2 through a wireless bluetooth technology, the central processing module 42 is connected with the memory module 44 and the touch control module 43, data signals sent from the implanted microphone system 2 and the stimulation system 3 are stored in the memory module 44, a doctor or a provider mobile communication device 4 can control the central processing module 42 to send the stimulation system 3 through the mobile device bluetooth module 41 to modify the stimulation parameters or modify the microphone parameters through the touch control module 43 to the central processing module 42 after the patient agrees, the touch control module 43 is connected with the central processing module 42, the doctor, the provider or the user can control the central processing module 42, and the memory module 44 is connected with the central processing module 42, and the data are stored.
Further, the implantable microphone system 2 and the stimulation system 3 may be implanted on the same side of the patient's head or on different sides of the head.
Compared with the prior art, the implanted microphone system is not connected with the stimulation system, the placement position of the microphone can be selected at will, the placement position of the microphone is not limited by the placement position of the stimulator, and the position with better sound receiving can be selected. The microphone is separated from the stimulator, so that wiring of the circuit outside the sealed titanium shell is reduced, the number of sealed feed-throughs is reduced, the process difficulty is reduced, and meanwhile, the good air tightness is ensured more easily. When the microphone needs to be replaced, the whole system does not need to be replaced in an operation, so that the friction between the electrode and a cochlea is reduced, and the retention of residual hearing is better ensured. In cochlear implants, there is no concern that a larger incision needs to be made to place the microphone.
Drawings
Fig. 1 is a block diagram of a split type full-implant cochlear implant system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;
fig. 2 is a specific structural block diagram of each unit of a split type full-implanted cochlear implant system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Detailed Description
The invention will be described in further detail with reference to the drawings and the detailed description.
It should be noted that the following detailed description is exemplary and is intended to provide further explanation of the application. Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this application belongs.
The split type full-implantation artificial cochlea system comprises an external charging system 1, an implanted microphone system 2, a stimulation system 3 and mobile communication equipment 4, wherein the mobile communication equipment 4 is in communication connection with the implanted microphone system 2 and the stimulation system 3 through Bluetooth, the implanted microphone system 2 and the stimulation system 3 are not connected, battery units responsible for energy supply of the system are arranged, the external charging system can charge the battery units of the implanted microphone system and the stimulation system in a wireless charging mode, and sound signals collected by the implanted microphone system 2 are converted into electric signals and then are transmitted to the stimulation system through near field communication to decode and electrically stimulate the cochlea.
The implantable microphone system 2 includes a microphone coil unit 21, a microphone battery unit 22, and a sound receiving unit 23, wherein;
The microphone coil unit 21 is connected with the external charging system 1, the sound preprocessing module 232 and the stimulator coil unit 31, and is in wireless charging connection with the external charging system 1 to charge the rechargeable battery module 221 through electromagnetic induction, wherein the wireless charging adopts Qi standard;
the microphone battery unit 22 includes a rechargeable battery module 221, a charge and discharge management module 222, and a power management module 223, wherein;
The charging battery module 221 is connected with the charging and discharging management module 222, and can be charged by the external charging system 1 through the microphone coil unit 21, the charging process is controlled by the charging and discharging management module 222, and when the charging is not performed, the charging and discharging management module 222 and the power management module 223 supply power to the implanted microphone system 2;
the charge/discharge management module 222 is connected to the rechargeable battery module 221, the microphone coil unit 21, and the power management module 223, and rectifies the electric signal received by the microphone coil unit 21 to charge the rechargeable battery module 221;
The power management module 223 is electrically connected to the sound receiving unit 23, and is responsible for regulating and controlling the discharging process of the rechargeable battery module 221.
The sound receiving unit 23 includes a sound sensor module 231, a sound preprocessing module 232, and a microphone bluetooth module 233, wherein;
The sound sensor module 231 is connected with the power management module 223 and the sound preprocessing module 232, is powered by the rechargeable battery module 221 and is responsible for collecting sound signals;
The sound preprocessing module 232 is connected with the sound sensor module 231, the microphone coil unit 21 and the microphone Bluetooth module 233, and is responsible for carrying out noise reduction preprocessing on the sound signals from the sound sensor module 231 and converting the preprocessed sound signals into electric signals;
the microphone bluetooth module 233 is connected with the sound preprocessing module 232 and the mobile device bluetooth module 41, and is responsible for transmitting information of the implanted microphone system 2 to the mobile communication device 4 and receiving information transmitted by the mobile communication device 4;
the stimulation system 3 comprises a stimulator coil unit 31, a stimulator battery unit 32, a stimulation control unit 33, and a stimulation unit 34, wherein;
The stimulator coil unit 31 is connected with the external charging system 1, the stimulation control module 333 and the microphone coil unit 21, and is in wireless charging connection with the external charging system 1 to charge the rechargeable battery module 321 through electromagnetic induction, wherein the wireless charging adopts Qi standard;
The stimulator battery unit 32 includes a rechargeable battery module 321, a charge and discharge management module 322, a power management module 323, wherein,
The charging battery module 321 is connected with the charging and discharging management module 322, and can be charged through the stimulator coil unit 31 by the external charging system 1, the charging process is controlled by the charging and discharging management module 323, and when the charging is not performed, the power is supplied to the stimulation system 3 through the charging and discharging management module 322 and the power management module 323;
The charge and discharge management module 322 is connected with the rechargeable battery module 321, the stimulator coil unit 31 and the power management module 323, and rectifies the electric signal received by the stimulator coil unit 31 to charge the rechargeable battery module 321;
the power management module 323 is electrically connected to the stimulation control unit 33, and is responsible for regulating and controlling the discharging process of the rechargeable battery module 321.
The stimulation control unit 33 includes a stimulation control module 331, a monitoring module 332, and a stimulator bluetooth module 333, where;
The stimulation control module 331 is connected with the monitoring module 332, the power management module 323, the stimulator coil unit 31 and the stimulation unit 34, wherein the stimulation control module 331 demodulates and decodes the voice coding signal transmitted by the stimulator coil unit 31, converts the voice coding signal into an electric signal, transmits the electric signal to the stimulation unit 34, and the stimulation electrode module 342 outputs the electric signal;
The monitoring module 332 is connected with the stimulation control module 331, the stimulator module 341 and the stimulator Bluetooth module 333, and the monitoring module 332 monitors whether the stimulation unit 34 can work normally in real time, and feeds back to the stimulation control module 331 in time to adjust the working state of the stimulation unit 34 when the stimulation unit 34 is in an abnormal working state;
The stimulator bluetooth module 333 is connected with the mobile device bluetooth module 41 and the monitoring module 332, and is responsible for receiving the stimulation information transmitted by the monitoring module 332 and transmitting the stimulation information to the mobile device bluetooth module 41, and receiving the information from the mobile communication device 4 and feeding back the device information transmitted by the monitoring module 332 to the mobile communication device;
the stimulation unit 34 comprises a stimulator module 341 and an electrode module 342, wherein;
The stimulator module 341 is connected with the stimulation control module 331, the monitoring module 332 and the electrode module 342, and is responsible for decoding the coded signals transmitted by the stimulation control module 331, stimulating the corresponding frequencies according to the coded signals through the electrode module 342, feeding back the monitoring module 332 in real time, and ensuring the effectiveness and safety of electric stimulation;
The electrode module 342 is connected with the stimulator module 341 and is responsible for stimulating the corresponding frequency of the cochlea according to the decoding signal so as to lead the patient to produce an audible response;
The mobile communication device 4 comprises a mobile device bluetooth module 41, a central processing module 42, a touch control module 43 and a memory module 44, wherein;
One end of the mobile device Bluetooth module 41 is connected with the central processing module 42 in a wired way, and the other end of the mobile device Bluetooth module 41 is connected with the stimulator Bluetooth module 321 and the microphone Bluetooth module 223 through a wireless Bluetooth technology, so that sound signals can be transmitted to the stimulator Bluetooth module 321 and data of the monitoring module 324 transmitted by the stimulator Bluetooth module 321 can be received, and in addition, sound of a microphone can be monitored;
The central processing module 42 is connected with the memory module 44 and the touch control module 43, and stores the data signals sent from the microphone Bluetooth module 223 and the stimulator Bluetooth module 321 in the memory module 44. The mobile communication device 4 of the doctor or the supplier can control the central processing module 42 to send the stimulation parameters to the stimulation system 3 or modify the microphone parameters by the implanted microphone system 2 through the mobile device Bluetooth module 41 by the touch control module 43 after the agreement of the patient.
The touch control module 43 is connected with the central processing module 42, and can be used by doctors, suppliers or users to control the central processing module 42 so as to adjust the stimulation parameters;
The memory module 44 is connected to the central processing module 42 and is capable of storing data.
The implantable microphone system 2 and the stimulation system 3 of the present invention may be implanted on the same side of the patient's head or on different sides of the head.
The implanted microphone system 2 and the stimulation system 3 are provided with battery units responsible for energy supply of the system, and each battery unit comprises a rechargeable battery module, a charge and discharge management module and a power management module. The battery units of the implanted microphone system and the stimulation system can be wirelessly charged through the external charging system.
The sound signal collected by the implantable microphone system 2 may be subjected to noise reduction by the sound preprocessing module 232 and converted into an electrical signal.
The artificial cochlea system can monitor the stimulation condition and the mobile equipment through Bluetooth. The artificial cochlea system can monitor sound signals collected by the fully implanted artificial cochlea system through the mobile communication equipment, and parameters of a microphone can be adjusted through the mobile communication equipment.
The implanted microphone system is not connected with the stimulation system, the placement position of the microphone can be selected at will, the microphone is not limited by the placement position of the stimulator, and the position with better sound receiving can be selected. The microphone is separated from the stimulator, so that wiring of the circuit outside the sealed titanium shell is reduced, the number of sealed feed-throughs is reduced, the process difficulty is reduced, and meanwhile, the good air tightness is ensured more easily. When the microphone needs to be replaced, the whole system does not need to be replaced in an operation, so that the friction between the electrode and a cochlea is reduced, and the retention of residual hearing is better ensured. In cochlear implants, there is no concern that a larger incision needs to be made to place the microphone.
The foregoing is merely a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and it should be noted that it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that several changes and modifications can be made without departing from the general inventive concept, and these should also be regarded as the scope of the invention.