Appeal No. 1998-0659
Application No. 08/264,527
the patient's body where it is sensed by the tinnitus
suppression and drowsiness it engenders.
Finally, claim 13 recites "applying said sensory signal
to a selected body part of said patient to alleviate said
symptoms of tinnitus." These means are the electrodes of
Matsushima which are implanted in the patient’s ear as
discussed in the second paragraph above.
Appellants' arguments that Matsushima fails to disclose
the application of audiometric signals to a patient is
unavailing as this claims fails to recite such limitation.
As regards to claim 14, we find that Matsushima
discloses using stimulation waveforms modulated by 100 Hz or31
1000 Hz (both clearly in the audio frequency range), and a
carrier frequency of near 30 kHz, in the ultrasonic frequency 32
range. While Matsushima teaches that 1000 Hz was least
effective for the suppression and 10 Hz was most effective for
the suppression, the use of the audio range signals is none-
the-less clearly disclosed. We also note Matsushima's
disclosure of using a carrier frequency which is modulated by
31Sections 6.1 and 7.1.
32Section 8.
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