WO2007031814A1

WO2007031814A1 - Programmable electronic instrument known as a tinnitus suppressor

Info

Publication number: WO2007031814A1
Application number: PCT/IB2005/002808
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ramiro Vergara
Original assignee: Ramiro Vergara
Priority date: 2005-09-14
Filing date: 2005-09-14
Publication date: 2007-03-22

Abstract

The invention relates to a tinnitus suppressor (ST) comprising a programmable electronic instrument which is used to treat tinnitus by suppressing the sound signal of non-vibratory tinnitus. The aforementioned signal suppression is based on the application of the laws of acoustic physics, on mathematics and on verification that the tinnitus is a sound signal. The treatment, which is precisely directed such as to eradicate the phenomenon that causes discomfort, is completely harmless, risk free and comfortable for the patient. The tinnitus suppressor is used by the patient in the ear in the form of a hearing aid and is programmed individually.

Description

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION:

STATE OF THE TECHNIQUE AND CONTRIBUTION OF THE INVENTION

Tinnitus or ringing in the ears is a very common disease in the population and its study constitutes an enigmatic chapter of medical science.

In the medical literature it was already mentioned in the Egyptian papyri, about three thousand years A of C. They are defined as the perception of a noise in the ears or in the head, but which has no apparent sound source and can not be heard by anyone but the patient.

An important milestone in medical literature is the classification proposed by Wegel (1924), which is still in force for medical science and which divided them into two groups: vibratory and non-vibratory. The first are those that the examiner (Wegel) can hear with the ear or with instruments such as the Laenec stethoscope; The name of vibratory indicates that they are sound phenomena themselves and the sound source is identified. The second are those that only the patient says he hears, but that no one else can hear, neither the patient's relatives, nor the examiner by any known means; with the non-vibratory denomination it is denied that they are sound phenomena and to date they have not been heard by the examiner by any known means. By denying that they are sound phenomena, medical science has proposed as an explanation that these are bioelectric phenomena that take place inside the inner ear or brain.

Due to how widespread the disease is in the population, the American Tinnitus Association reports that there are fifty million people suffering from Tinnitus in the United States, of which twelve million require permanent medical care; in Colombia the Colombian Tinnitus Association estimates that there are 1,900,000 tinnitus patients if those of grade III and IV; On the Internet (Google) the information is found according to which in China there are one hundred and thirty million people with tinnitus.

In the medical literature there is an extensive series of therapeutic measures, in the belief that tinnitus originates from a deficient blood supply of the inner ear, the use of vasodilator substances and also vasoconstrictor substances has been proposed; Another widely used group is the so-called calcium antagonists, also neurotropic substances such as anxiolytics, antidepressants and sleeping pills; On a smaller scale, hypnosis has been used and currently TRT (Tinnitus Retraining Therapy) is widely used, which is a therapy based on the psychological aspects of tinnitus. Surgical procedures aimed at the cure of tinnitus have also been practiced, including the cocleosaculotomy, the translabyrinthine section of the cochlear nerve and the section of the eighth pair including the cochlear and vestibular nerves.

Among the physical measures used is the application of electric discharges by means of faradic current in the periauricular region, but also by the application of Direct Current (DC) with cochlear implants; the use of masking or masking that consists of an anthropomorphic design device, which adapts to the ear and generates a sound signal that most commonly can be a white noise or a signal! chosen by the patient, which is intended for the patient to hear the added signal and not listen to the tinnitus. More recently, the application of high-frequency and single-tone sound signals on the primary auditory cortex has been proposed.

-The subject has received attention from large groups of researchers and currently the most accepted proposal by the scientific community to explain the phenomenon of tinnitus, is the hypothesis called neurophysiological model of tinnitus, proposed by Jastreboff (1995), which postulates that tinnitus is generated somewhere in the auditory pathway, at the level of the brain stem, where nerve impulses appear that reach the auditory cortex and then communicate with the limbic system, the latter would make them especially intolerable. After 20 years of dedication to the applied clinical scientific research, advanced by the author with novel methodology, it could be demonstrated by clinical means and through the application of the principles of acoustic physics, that the tinnitus denominated by non-vibratory Wegel, are also True sounds, with known sound source. The previous discovery was the one that gave rise to the works tending to implement an instrument that, with the support of modern technology, allowed to correctly diagnose the sound signal corresponding to the so-called non-vibratory tinnitus.

Although a considerable volume of medical literature on the disease has been published, no hypothesis is found in these publications that postulates the character of a sound phenomenon for non-vibratory tinnitus.

So far the creation of an instrument to diagnose tinnitus disease has not been proposed. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the texts recommend listening with the Laenec stethoscope, the ear, the periauricular region, the head and the neck, so that the vibratory tinnitus could be heard but that it has been shown completely ineffective to capture any sound signal in the case of the so-called non-vibratory.

In addition to auscultation, the medical profession has among the diagnostic tests for non-vibratory tinnitus, the so-called Subjective Acuphenometry (AS), which is carried out by means of the clinical audiometer, which is a single frequency sound generating instrument, which they are known as pure tones, separated by octave bands in which it is mute. The AS consists in presenting these pure tones to the patient, which compares them with the sound he says he has in his ear, until he finds the one he considers most similar to the sound of his ear. It hardly finds an identical sound, since the clinical audiometer does not generate a continuous sound spectrum, if not as stated, some pure tones separated by octave bands in which it is mute. Patient impressions are recorded or recorded manually by the examiner in the chart for audiometry, since there is no special chart for Aeufenometry and this is the result of the test.

To overcome the previous situation, the Objective Acufenometer (AO) appeared in 1995, an analogous electronic instrument that nevertheless had a sensor of sufficient sensitivity, which allowed it to capture the sound signal corresponding to the tinnitus, visualize its image on the oscilloscope screen, print it and still record it on tape. However its efficiency only reached a

45%, that is, 55% of patients remained unable to diagnose the sound signal corresponding to tinnitus and also the image was mixed with other signals, which prevented it from being clearly visualized. Nor could it be filtered or magnified.

To date, it has been possible to demonstrate by clinical means that non-vibratory tinnitus is a true sound signal, through the Tinnitus Analyzer

(AT) (Spectral Acufenometer) has been able to capture, that is, diagnose the tinnitus sound signal and analyze it in its intensity and frequency dimensions. At this point an electronic solution for tinnitus is now proposed, that is, an electronic treatment, by means of a programmable electronic instrument called Tinnitus Suppressor, (ST) which suppresses the sound signal of tinnitus.

The permanent scientific and technological activity has allowed us to continue applying superior and much more efficient technology to the uptake and analysis of the Tinnitus sound signal, so that in this document it is proposed to apply for the invention patent of the Tinnitus Analyzer (AT ) (Spectral Acufenometer), a computerized electronic instrument, which introduces digital technology to solve the task of diagnosing tinnitus.

Here we propose the use of a programmable electronic instrument, the Tinnitus Suppressor that, applying the laws of acoustic physics, suppresses the sound signal corresponding to tinnitus. Advantages of the invention

The Object of the present invention patent application has numerous advantages in relation to the prior art. First, it is based on the recent verification that the sound character of tinnitus has been made, that is, Tinnitus is a sound signal. When addressing to suppress said signal, it attacks the problem where it should be, moving towards the phenomenon for which the patient is consulting and that is causing the discomfort, so far none of the proposed therapeutic measures have the sound signal as the target of their action.

When adapting et ST to a patient, it is programmed according to its own sound signal and acts immediately, achieving the suppression of the signal in a period of minutes. Being programmable, the ST can adapt to the changes that the tinnitus signal of each patient may suffer. The ST is aimed at suppressing a vibratory phenomenon that is generated in the human body, without adding any other phenomenon that may bring risks to the patient. By suppressing the sound signal, the ST gives the patient a gratifying sense of relief. The adaptation and use of the ST are safe, risk-free and comfortable processes for the patient.

The ST has been designed and built based on certain pathophysiological principles, therefore it has a guaranteed efficacy, the current devices are based on roasting. The ST has been designed and built by applying the most recent electronic technology, which allows the digitalization of an analog signal, thus achieving high precision in the handling of said signal. The ST has been designed and constructed based on the principles of acoustic physics and mathematics, which gives it a security in its action, which does not have any of the devices proposed to date. EXPLANATION OF THE INVENTION

The present application refers to a programmable electronic instrument, hereinafter referred to as TINNΪTUS SUPPRESSOR (ST), which is used for the treatment of tinnitus or tinnitus disease, which is present in human pathology. The ST intervenes in the treatment of Tinnitus by means of the elimination of the corresponding sound signal applying the laws of acoustic physics.

The Tinnitus Suppressor consists of a sound sensor, a signal selector and buffer in, a programmable signal filter, an amplifier, a programmable inverter microcontroller, output buffer, an output or speaker instrument, the connections between them and a source of energy, all of them embedded in a plastic furniture of anthropomorphic design and the size of the atrial shell.

The ST is powered by software specially designed for it, which allows the sound signal of the tinnitus to be processed, and to give it the required mathematical treatment, so that the action of the ST reaches a high precision when generating a signal with the exact offset, so that at confront it with that of tinnitus, both signals suppress each other, thus restoring silence in the patient's ear.

1. Sound sensor consisting of a WM 62A electret microphone, sound control, miniature, unidirectional, high sensitivity to capture low intensity sound signals.

2. Signal selector and buffer in, which is constituted by a ceramic and tantalum filter, which selects within the signal captured by the sensor, a signal that has been programmed according to the one detected in the examination of the patient. 3. A signal filter, digital, to the MP10, of low consumption, that conditions the selected signal, eliminating strange signals, including electronic noise.

4. Programmable amplifier, which is an optional amplifier TI084, which responds in a sufficient bandwidth for the proposed purpose, amplifies (a signal that has been selected and conditioned; and achieves a high rejection of electronic noise.

5. Programmable microcontroller 16F877, which is a good capacity microcontroller, with ports A, B, and C, includes an A / D inverter. It gives the signal the mathematical treatment required to convert it from analog to digital; The software allows you to output an outdated and accurately located signal, so that both signals are conveniently faced.

6. An output for the sound signal that is a single-lobe speaker with an impedance of 8 ohms, miniature size, which delivers the definitive signal in the space of the external auditory canal, which is where both signals are eliminated.

7. An output buffer to modulate the signal that is delivered by the speaker.

8. A power source consisting of a disposable miniature battery 13 to power the entire system.

9. A piece of furniture made of aerobic plastic material, with a perfect, anthropomorphic finish that is the size of the ear shell. As it has a variable size from one individual to another, it is required to build it on measure. 10. Supresoft software that is the program specially designed for the ST and that is used for the processing of high complexity sound signals. Convert the analog signal to digital, calculate the offset and location. HOW TO CARRY OUT THE INVENTION

To make a Tinnitus Suppressor, a miniature microphone (fig, 1, No. 1) is taken, of great sensitivity and fidelity, with an electrical impedance of 8 ohms, which is connected to the selector (fig. 1, No. 2) and to the filters (fig. 1, No. 3), to the ceramic first and then to the digital MP10, this in turn is connected to the operational amplifier TI084 (fig. 1 No. 4), of appropriate bandwidth, then Connects to the 16P877 programfote inverter microcontroller, at its ports A, B and C, this in turn is connected to the signal player or speaker (fig. 1, No. 6). A power source, disposable battery 13 is conveniently arranged and everything is embedded in a plastic furniture of anthropomorphic design and whose size must be adjusted to the size of the ear shell of each patient.

In the industrial machinery, in the automotive and in other circumstances, the sound signal has been successfully managed, for the therapeutic application at hand, some additional tasks are required, but modern electronic technology allows us sufficient knowledge of the signal to be treated, which confers a guaranteed efficiency to the ST. The electronic parts currently available are almost 100 percent accurate and the sound signal is a physical phenomenon whose mathematical properties are well known, which has made it possible to design and build the ST with high efficiency in its operation.

WAY TO OPERATE THE ST.-

Once the ST is assembled, it is placed in the atrial shell of the patient with tinnitus, so that the sensor is oriented towards the tympanic membrane, from where it picks up the sound signal of the tinnitus and converts the mechanical signal into an electrical signal, it passes through filters in the form of an electrical signal which condition it eliminating foreign signals and electronic noise; it is amplified and is now delivered to the microcontroller, which through a process Mathematical passes it from analog to digital, it analyzes in its characteristics of intensity, frequency and in its phase, once this is achieved, it emits a signal that is the same that it has received, but in inverted phase, it introduces a 180 ° inversion and the delivery to the speaker, which converts the electrical signal into a sound signal and releases it into the external auditory canal, where it competes, according to the laws of acoustic physics, with the corresponding tinnitus signal, in such a way that it will face nodes with bellies of both signals, the vibration is suppressed, so that silence is restored in the patient's ear.

The sound signal has been treated extensively in industry, in automobiles and in weapons, for example. Here it is about doing the same handling of the sound signal, but in the case at hand, some additional tasks are required such as the conditioning of the captured signal and the very precise location of the two signals. At the present time, we have the possibility of knowing the tϊnnitus signal quite faithfully, thanks to the objective examination of said pathology with the Objective Acufenometer, which is a step gained when programming the ST, which facilitates the accuracy and precision of its therapeutic task . When doing the diagnostic test, we acquire precise information about the frequency, the intensity and the phase of the signal, from which the wavelength and the duration of the period are calculated, data that give total safety to the ST.

DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIGURE No. 1 - TINNITUS SUPPRESSOR DIAGRAM

It consists of:

- 1 Microphone

- 2 Signal selector and buffer in - 3 Filter Programmable signal selector Amplifier

- 4 Instrumenta! investor

- 5 output buffer

- 6 Audio signal player FIGURE No. 2 - TINNlTUS SUPPRESSOR DIAGRAM and basic components

It consists of:

- 7 Electret microphone

- 8 AP 947 capacitors and resistors

- 9 MF-10 Filter with accessories

- 10 AD 620 or AD 6233 inverter microcontroller - 11 AP 947 and gain control

- 12 Electret speaker

FIGURE No. 3 - ST FRONT VISION

7- Battery

9- Power Switch

10- Plastic furniture

FIGURE No. 4- SAGITAL CUTTING VISION ST

1- Microphone 2- Filter

3- Amplifier

4- Microcontroller

5- Buffer Conditioner

6- Speaker 7- PiIa

10- Plastic furniture

Claims

REIVINDICATIONS A programmable electronic instrument called a tinnit suppressor

1. A programmable electronic instrument called a tinnitus suppressor Characterized as an electronic programmable instrument for the treatment of tinnitus

2. A programming electronic instrument called a tinnitus suppressor Characterized by emitting a sound signal of its own that neutralizes ear tinnitus.

3. A programmable electronic instrument called tinnitus suppressor Characterized because it is already directed to the elimination of the sound signal of tinnitus itself, without adding another noise to the patient's ear

4. A programmable electronic instrument called tinnitus suppressor Characterized because it manages to establish silence in the patient's ear

5. A programmable electronic instrument called a tinnitus suppressor Characterized because it manages to establish silence in the patient's ear quickly without the delays of drug treatments.

6. A programmable electronic instrument called a tinnitus suppressor Characterized because it has no risks for hearing, nor for the patient's health.

7. A programmable electronic instrument called a tinnitus suppressor Characterized because it is aesthetic in appearance and comfortable to use.

8. A programmable electronic instrument called a tinnitus suppressant Characterized because its permanent use is not required, but that if it is used for about two or three hours, it restores silence in the patient's ear for a longer period of time, in which the patient You can rest from using the ST.

9. A programmable electronic instrument called tinnitus suppressor Characterized because it is based on the use of the human body's own noises for therapeutic purposes.

10. A programmable electronic instrument called tinnitus suppressor Characterized by conditioning the signal through filters to eliminate all foreign noise including electronic noise.

11. A programmable electronic instrument called tinnitus suppressor Characterized because it converts the sound signal from analog to digital, for greater accuracy in handling said signal

12. A programmable electronic instrument called a tinnitus suppressor Characterized by offsetting the tinnitus wave by 180 degrees to suppress the tinnitus sound signal.

13. A programmable electronic instrument called tinnitus suppressor Characterized by facing nodes with bellies of two sound signals to suppress vibration.

14. A programmable electronic instrument called a tinnitus suppressor Characterized by having a receiver and an emitter of sound signals embedded in an anthropomorphic piece of furniture that fits into the shell of the ear pavilion.

15. A programmable electronic instrument called a tinnitus suppressor Characterized by having a sound spectrum consistent with that of Tinnitus disease.

16. A programmable electronic instrument called tinnitus suppressor Characterized by being based on principles of acoustic physics that have already been demonstrated beyond any doubt.

17. A programmable electronic instrument called a tinnitus suppressor Characterized by being based on certain pathophysiological principles, which gives it guaranteed efficacy.