Author/Authors :
Goll، نويسنده , , Erich and Dalhoff، نويسنده , , Ernst and Gummer، نويسنده , , Anthony W. and Heyd، نويسنده , , Andreas and Wildenstein، نويسنده , , Daniela and Arnold، نويسنده , , Heinz and Schraven، نويسنده , , Sebastian P. and Kaltenbacher، نويسنده , , Dominik and Schنchtele، نويسنده , , Jonathan and Schنfer، نويسنده , , Armin and Burkhardt، نويسنده , , Claus and Tavakoli، نويسنده , , Kia and Brenk، نويسنده , , Uwe and Pojtinger، نويسنده , , Andreas and Remer، نويسنده , , Uwe and Wesendahl، نويسنده , , Theo and Winter، نويسنده , , Mark and Zenner، نويسنده , , Hans-Peter، نويسنده ,
Abstract :
A concept for a partially implantable hearing device, for which the power supply and signal transmission are provided by an optical transmission path, is evaluated. The actuator is designed to fit into the round-window niche and to couple directly to the round-window membrane. Implantable hearing aids can be a suitable solution in the case of severe hearing loss, where conventional hearing aids often fail. However, the surgical effort for an implantation is comparatively high. Therefore, the objective of our work was to provide a hearing system which combines reliable coupling to the auditory system with an easy implantation technique. The actuator was designed as a piezoelectric thin-film cantilever. The optical transmission path was realised using an infrared light-emitting diode combined with an active receiver circuit. For a voltage of 1 V, the unloaded actuator presents displacement amplitudes of 1 μm up to a stimulus frequency of 25 kHz and forces up to 0.2 mN. Proportionally larger forces can be achieved by stacking single actuators. The overall transmission loss from the electrical input of the light-emitting diode driver to the mechanical output of the unloaded actuator was less than 25 dB at 1 kHz and maximum output.
Keywords :
Hearing loss , Active middle-ear implant , Direct round-window stimulation , Optical transmission path
