1979046563: Electrode for Human Cochlea (1979 - 1995)

Summary

The patent for the invention Electrode for Human Cochlea (application number 1979046563) was granted on 1 December 1983. This was an important milestone in the development of the bionic ear (cochlear implant). The patent was awarded by the Australian Patent Office in respect of the application (on 3 May 1978) by the University of Melbourne for an invention entitled "improved electrode array", with the inventors named as Graeme Clark, James Patrick and Quentin Bailey. The effective date of the patent was recorded as 27 April 1979. A further application was made on 7 March 1983 by Raymond David Marginson, Vice-Principal, on behalf of the university. The patent expired on 27 April 1995.

Details

In the original application for the patent, the Electrode for Human Cochlea was described as "electrode array comprising a flexible biologically inert tube, a number of electrodes being conducting bands located at predetermined spaced distances along a portion of the length of the tube, the electrodes lying, generally, within the diameter of the tube and a conducting wire associated with each electrode passing to the interior of the tube through a slot, aperture or the like in the tube at a position beneath the associated electrode to which the wire is connected and along the length of the tube to one end thereof."
Tatlock and Associates, Patent and Trademark Attorneys, acted for the university in respect of the initial patent application. Sandercock, Smith and Beadle, patent attorneys, acted for the university in respect of the further application made by Raymond Marginson on 7 March 1983.

Related entries

Timeline

 1979 - 1995 1979046563: Electrode for Human Cochlea
       1980 - 1998 1980059812: Speech Processor
             1981 - 1997 1981078481: Speech Processor
                   1983 - 1997 1983018194: Hearing Prosthesis
                         1985 - 2002 1985041500: Electrotactile Vocoder
                               1986 - 1997 1986061140: Prosthetic Electrode Array
                                     1994 - 2012 1994070647: Cochlear Implant Devices
                                           1995 - 2012 1995036460: Multiple Pulse Stimulation
                                                 2000 - 2012 2000068111: Improved Sound Processor for Cochlear Implants
                                                       2000 - 2020 2001011164: Emphasis of Short-Duration Transient Speech Features
                                                             2001 - 2015 2001265692: Sound Processor for a Cochlear Implant
                                                                   2003 - 2015 2003229378: Generation of Electrical Stimuli for Application to a Cochlea