title: Concept and evaluation of an endaurally insertable middle-ear implant.
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 1V, the unloaded actuator presents displacement amplitudes of 1μm up to a stimulus frequency of 25kHz and forces up to 0.2mN. 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 25dB at 1kHz and maximum output.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Section of Physiological Acoustics and Communication, Eberhard-Karls-Universität, Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Erich
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Goll
authors.forename: Ernst
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Dalhoff
authors.forename: Anthony W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Gummer
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Heyd
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wildenstein
authors.forename: Heinz
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Arnold
authors.forename: Sebastian P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Schraven
authors.forename: Dominik
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kaltenbacher
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schächtele
authors.forename: Armin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schäfer
authors.forename: Claus
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Burkhardt
authors.forename: Kia
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tavakoli
authors.forename: Uwe
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Brenk
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pojtinger
authors.forename: Uwe
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Remer
authors.forename: Theo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wesendahl
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Winter
authors.forename: Hans-Peter
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Zenner
mesh_terms: D004424:Ear Canal; D007259:Infrared Rays; D009998:Ossicular Prosthesis; D011474:Prosthesis Design