US-20260124457-A1 - HEADPIECES, IMPLANTABLE COCHLEAR STIMULATION SYSTEMS INCLUDING THE SAME AND ASSOCOATED APPARATUS AND METHODS

US20260124457A1US 20260124457 A1US20260124457 A1US 20260124457A1US-20260124457-A1

Abstract

A cochlear implant headpiece in accordance with one of the present inventions includes a housing including a top wall, a bottom wall and a receptacle that extends from the top wall to the bottom wall, that defines an open top end, an open bottom end and a central axis, and that includes a receptacle lock member, a magnet apparatus defining a bottom and including a magnet and a magnet apparatus lock member, and a headpiece antenna on or within the housing. The respective configurations of the receptacle and the magnet apparatus are such that the magnet apparatus can be inserted into the receptacle and, when fully inserted into the receptacle, the magnet apparatus bottom is located within or downwardly beyond the open bottom end of the receptacle. The respective configurations of the receptacle lock member and the magnet apparatus lock member are such that the fully inserted magnet apparatus will be fixed in one of a plurality of rotational orientations around the central axis. The present inventions also include cochlear stimulation systems with a sound processor and/or a cochlear implant in combination with such a headpiece.

Inventors

James George Elcoate Smith
Markus Michael Heerlein

Assignees

ADVANCED BIONICS AG

Dates

Publication Date: 20260507
Application Date: 20251225

Claims (20)

18 - 44 . (canceled)
45 . A cochlear implant headpiece for use with a cochlear implant, the cochlear implant headpiece comprising: a housing that includes an exterior, a top wall, a bottom wall configured to face the cochlear implant and a receptacle that extends from the top wall to the bottom wall, and that defines an open top end that extends to the housing exterior and an open bottom end that extends to the housing exterior; a magnet apparatus defining a bottom portion, a bottom end, a top portion, and a top end; and a headpiece antenna on or within the housing; wherein the bottom portion of the magnet apparatus extends through the open bottom end of the receptacle and the magnet apparatus bottom end is located downwardly beyond the open bottom end of the receptacle and at least a portion of the magnet is located within the receptacle.
46 . A cochlear implant headpiece as claimed in claim 45 , wherein the magnet apparatus can be inserted into the receptacle through the open top end of the receptacle and removed from the receptacle through the open top end of the receptacle.
47 . A cochlear implant headpiece as claimed in claim 46 , further comprising: a removable cap configured to be mounted on the housing top wall and to cover the open top end of the magnet receptacle and the top end of the magnet apparatus when mounted on the housing.
48 . A cochlear implant headpiece as claimed in claim 46 , wherein the housing top wall defines a housing top surface; the magnet apparatus defines a magnet apparatus top surface; and the respective configurations of the receptacle and the magnet apparatus are such that the magnet apparatus top surface is flush with an adjacent portion of the housing top surface when the magnet apparatus is fully inserted into the receptacle.
49 . A cochlear implant headpiece as claimed in claim 46 , wherein the housing top wall defines a housing top surface; the magnet apparatus defines a magnet apparatus top surface; and the respective configurations of the receptacle and the magnet apparatus are such that the magnet apparatus top surface is located outwardly beyond an adjacent portion of the housing top surface when the magnet apparatus is fully inserted into the receptacle.
50 . A cochlear implant headpiece as claimed in claim 45 , wherein the housing defines a central axis and includes a receptacle lock member; the magnet apparatus includes a magnet and a magnet apparatus lock member; and when fully inserted into the receptacle, the magnet apparatus will be fixed in one of a plurality of rotational orientations around the central axis.
51 . A cochlear implant headpiece as claimed in claim 50 , wherein the magnet apparatus includes a radially extending flange; the receptacle lock member defines a top surface; and the respective configurations of the receptacle and the magnet apparatus are such that the radially extending flange abuts the top surface of the receptacle lock member when the magnet apparatus is fully inserted into the receptacle.
52 . A cochlear implant headpiece as claimed in claim 50 , further comprising: a removable cap configured to be mounted on the housing top wall and to cover the open top end of the magnet receptacle and the top end of the magnet apparatus when mounted on the housing.
53 . A cochlear implant headpiece as claimed in claim 50 , wherein the magnet apparatus is not rotatable relative to the magnet receptacle when fully inserted into the receptacle.
54 . A cochlear implant headpiece as claimed in claim 50 , wherein the receptacle lock member includes a plurality of slots; and the magnet apparatus lock member comprises a projection.
55 . A cochlear implant headpiece as claimed in claim 45 , wherein the magnet apparatus includes a case and a cover and the magnet is located within the case.
56 . A cochlear implant headpiece as claimed in claim 45 , wherein the housing defines a ring-like portion and includes a circuitry within the ring-like portion.
57 . A cochlear implant headpiece as claimed in claim 45 , wherein the headpiece antenna is located within the substantially ring-like portion.
58 . A cochlear implant headpiece as claimed in claim 45 , wherein the headpiece magnet comprises a diametrically magnetized magnet.
59 . A cochlear implant headpiece as claimed in claim 45 , wherein the headpiece magnet comprises an axially magnetized magnet.
60 . A cochlear implant headpiece as claimed in claim 45 , further comprising: a cap configured to be mounted on the housing and to cover the magnet receptacle when mounted on the housing.
61 . A cochlear implant headpiece as claimed in claim 45 , further comprising: a sound processor within the housing.
62 . A cochlear stimulation system, comprising: a cochlear implant headpiece as claimed in claim 45 ; and a cochlear implant including a cochlear implant magnet and a cochlear implant antenna.
63 . A cochlear stimulation system, comprising: a cochlear implant headpiece as claimed in claim 45 ; and a sound processor including a housing, and sound processor circuitry carried within the housing and operably connected to the headpiece antenna.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 17/346,343, filed Jun. 14, 2021, which is a continuation-in-part of, and claims priority to, International Application No. PCT/US2020/025985, filed Mar. 31, 2020, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. BACKGROUND 1. Field The present disclosure relates generally to implantable cochlear stimulation (or “ICS”) systems. 2. Description of the Related Art ICS systems are used to help the profoundly deaf perceive a sensation of sound by directly exciting the intact auditory nerve with controlled impulses of electrical current. Ambient sound pressure waves are picked up by an externally worn microphone and converted to electrical signals. The electrical signals, in turn, are processed by a sound processor, converted to a pulse sequence having varying pulse widths, rates, and/or amplitudes, and transmitted to an implanted receiver circuit of the ICS system. The implanted receiver circuit is connected to an implantable electrode array that has been inserted into the cochlea of the inner ear, and electrical stimulation current is applied to varying electrode combinations to create a perception of sound. The electrode array may, alternatively, be directly inserted into the cochlear nerve without residing in the cochlea. A representative ICS system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,824,022, which is entitled “Cochlear Stimulation System Employing Behind-The-Ear Sound processor With Remote Control” and incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Examples of commercially available ICS sound processors include, but are not limited to, the Harmony™ BTE sound processor, the Naida™ CI Q Series sound processor and the Neptune™ body worn sound processor, which are available from Advanced Bionics. As alluded to above, some ICS systems include an implantable cochlear stimulator (or “cochlear implant”), a sound processor unit, a battery, and a microphone that is part of, or is in communication with, the sound processor unit. The cochlear implant communicates with the sound processor unit, and some ICS systems include a headpiece that is in communication with both the sound processor unit (e.g., a body worn processor or behind-the-ear processor) and the cochlear implant. The headpiece communicates with the cochlear implant by way of a transmitter (e.g., an antenna) on the headpiece and a receiver (e.g., an antenna) on the implant. The headpiece and the cochlear implant may include respective magnets (or respective pluralities of magnets) that are attracted to one another, thereby retaining the headpiece on the head and maintaining the position of the headpiece transmitter on the head over the implant receiver. The skin and subcutaneous tissue that separates the headpiece magnet and implant magnet is sometimes referred to as the “skin flap.” In other instances, all of the external components (e.g., the battery, microphone, sound processor, antenna coil and magnet) are carried within a single headpiece. Examples of such systems are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,811,643, which is entitled “Integrated Cochlear Implant Headpiece,” and U.S. Pat. No. 8,515,112, which is entitled “Modular Speech Processor Headpiece,” which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties. One issue associated with cochlear implants is compatibility with magnetic resonance imaging (“MRI”) systems. For example, the magnets in many conventional cochlear implants are disk-shaped and have north and south magnetic dipoles that are aligned in the axial direction of the disk. Such magnets produce a magnetic field that is perpendicular to the patient's skin and parallel to the axial direction, and this magnetic field direction is not aligned with, and may be perpendicular to, the direction of the MRI magnetic field (typically 1.5 Tesla or more). The misalignment of the interacting magnetic fields may result in demagnetization of the implant magnet or generate a significant amount of torque on the implant magnet that can dislodge the implant magnet and induce tissue damage. One proposed method of accommodating an MRI magnetic field involves the use of a diametrically magnetized disk-shaped magnet that is rotatable relative to the remainder of the implant about an axis, and that has a N-S orientation which is perpendicular to the axis. U.S. Pat. No. 8,634,909 (“the '909 patent”), for example, discloses a cochlear implant system with a diametrically magnetized and rotatable disk-shaped implant magnet and a diametrically magnetized disk-shaped headpiece magnet. This type of cochlear implant is generally represented by reference numeral 10 in FIGS. 1-3. The cochlear implant 10 includes a flexible housing 12 formed from a silicone elastomer or other suitable material, a stimulation processor 14, a cochlear lead 16 with an electrode array 18, and an antenna 20 that may be used to receive data and power by way of an external antenna. A dia