Implantable tinnitus therapy

Presented herein are techniques for providing tinnitus relief to recipients via an implantable arrangement. In accordance with embodiments presented herein, an implantable medical device, such as implantable tinnitus therapy device, auditory/hearing prosthesis, etc., comprises one or more implantable sensors configured to be implanted in a recipient. The one or more implantable sensors are configured to detect body noises of the recipient. The implantable medical device is configured to classify/categorize the one or more body noises and set, select, or otherwise determine a tinnitus therapy for the recipient based on the classification of the one or more body noises.

The abstract as published by the patent office, from US2023110745A1. It describes the invention; it is not a statement of what is protected.

• Interface and electrodes

  Electrodes and arrays

• Implant electronics

  Implant electronics

• Stimulation

  Stimulation

What the filing appears to be about, read by published rules from its title, abstract and classification codes (A61B5/12, A61B5/165, A61N1/025, A61N1/0531, A61N1/0541). The claims define what a patent protects, and they are not read here.

Interface and electrodes

Everything downstream works with what the contacts pick up. Their number, size and distance from the neurons set the ceiling on the signal. The problem behind it: more contacts, closer to neurons, that still record after years in tissue that reacts to them.

Implant electronics

An implant has room for very little, so functions that fill a rack in the laboratory have to fit on a chip. The problem behind it: fitting channel count, computing and safety functions into a volume and a heat budget the body accepts.

Stimulation

Restoring sensation, sight or movement needs information going in, and a therapy that adapts needs to sense and stimulate at once. The problem behind it: evoking a precise, stable effect without damaging tissue or electrodes, and without blinding the recording.

Why the layer matters to the field, not a judgement of this filing. A patent family shows that protection was sought. It does not show that the technology was built, is used in a product, or works in people. The whole stack

One invention, published 3 times in 2 offices. Each publication opens in Espacenet.

• International (PCT)a route to several countries, not a countryWO2021165759A126 Aug 2021
• United StatesUS2023110745A113 Apr 2023US12335692B217 Jun 2025 · grant

1. 21 Feb 2020First filingEarliest priority, at United States. The family is counted in this year.
2. 20 Jan 2021ApplicationsFiled at International (PCT), United States.
3. 26 Aug 2021First publicationWO2021165759A1, International (PCT).
4. 11 Aug 2022Owner recordedUnited States, on US2023110745A1: assignment; owner named: COCHLEAR LIMITED, AUSTRALIA.
5. 1 Mar 2023Office recordInternational (PCT), on WO2021165759A1: ep: pct application non-entry in european phase.
6. 17 Jun 2025Grant publishedUS12335692B2, United States.

Dates as the offices published them. Office records are in the offices' own words and are a selection: refusals, lapses and withdrawals, and records that name an owner. Each concerns one member of the family, not the family as a whole, and another member in the same office may stand. Whether a patent is in force today is not assessed.

Organisation

Cochlear · 13 families identified

• Bibliographic data, family members and office records: European Patent Office, Open Patent Services (the DOCDB and INPADOC databases), read 7 Oct 2026.
• The record itself, with its claims and description: US2023110745A1 in Espacenet
• Counted as a BCI patent family: classified A61N1/0531 (brain cortex electrodes); filed by Cochlear Limited, an organisation already in the graph. How families are found and judged