A piezoelectric bone-conduction bending hearing actuator.
A prototype of a novel bone-conduction hearing actuator based on a piezoelectric bending actuator is presented. The device lies flat against the skull which would allow it to form the basis of a subcutaneous bone-anchored hearing aid. The actuator excites bending in bone through a local bending moment rather than the application of a point force as with conventional bone-anchored hearing aids. Through measurements of the cochlear velocity created by the actuator in embalmed human heads, the device is shown to exhibit high efficiency, making it a possible alternative to present-day electromagnetic bone-vibration actuators.
Department of Biomedical Engineering, SENSELab, Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre, Dalhousie University, Room 3189, Dickson Building, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H2Y9, Canada. rob.adamson@dal.ca
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RB
Adamson
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M
Bance
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JA
Brown
D000368:Aged; D001844:Bone Conduction; D002102:Cadaver; D004548:Elasticity; D004867:Equipment Design; D005260:Female; D006310:Hearing Aids; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008422:Materials Testing; D040542:Mechanotransduction, Cellular; D008875:Middle Aged; D012886:Skull / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D014732:Vibration