title: Design study of a miniaturized displacement transducer (MDT) for an active middle ear implant system.
abstract: People suffering from moderate to severe hearing loss can be treated with active middle ear implants. A new approach in this field is to implant an electromechanical transducer onto the round window membrane in order to improve coupling and be able to treat patients with middle-ear problems. In this paper the design study for a miniaturized displacement transducer (MDT) for the round window is presented. Based on a requirement analysis, the basic principle and analytical modeling of the actuator is shown. A parameter variation study results in an optimized actuator configuration that is able to generate an amplification of 110 dB SPL theoretically. As a next step this actuator has to be manufactured and tested.
authors.affiliation: Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA, Nobelstr. 12, 70569, Stuttgart, Germany, dominik.kaltenbacher@ipa.fraunhofer.de.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kaltenbacher
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schächtele
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Goll
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Burkhardt
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Arnold
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Dalhoff
authors.forename: H-P
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Zenner
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009998:Ossicular Prosthesis; D011474:Prosthesis Design