title: A New Trans-Tympanic Microphone Approach for Fully Implantable Hearing Devices.
abstract: Fully implantable hearing devices (FIHDs) have been developed as a new technology to overcome the disadvantages of conventional acoustic hearing aids. The implantable microphones currently used in FIHDs, however, have difficulty achieving high sensitivity to environmental sounds, low sensitivity to body noise, and ease of implantation. In general, implantable microphones may be placed under the skin in the temporal bone region of the skull. In this situation, body noise picked up during mastication and touching can be significant, and the layer of skin and hair can both attenuate and distort sounds. The new approach presently proposed is a microphone implanted at the tympanic membrane. This method increases the microphone's sensitivity by utilizing the pinna's directionally dependent sound collection capabilities and the natural resonances of the ear canal. The sensitivity and insertion loss of this microphone were measured in human cadaveric specimens in the 0.1 to 16 kHz frequency range. In addition, the maximum stable gain due to feedback between the trans-tympanic microphone and a round-window-drive transducer, was measured. The results confirmed in situ high-performance capabilities of the proposed trans-tympanic microphone.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Electronic Engineering, Kyungpook National University, 80 Daehak-ro, Buk-gu, 41566 Daegu, Korea. biotak@knu.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Seong Tak
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Woo
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Electronic Engineering, Kyungpook National University, 80 Daehak-ro, Buk-gu, 41566 Daegu, Korea. swap9552@naver.com.
authors.forename: Dong Ho
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Electronic Engineering, Kyungpook National University, 80 Daehak-ro, Buk-gu, 41566 Daegu, Korea. baksan@ee.knu.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Hyung-Gyu
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Kyungpook National University Hospital, 130 Dongdeok-ro, Jung-gu, 41944 Daegu, Korea. seongkw@ee.knu.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Ki-Woong
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Seong
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, 496 Lomita Mall, 94305 CA, USA. pkg1@stanford.edu.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gottlieb
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, 496 Lomita Mall, 94305 CA, USA. puria@stanford.edu.
authors.forename: Sunil
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Puria
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, School of Medicine, Kyungpook National University, 680 Gukchaebosang-ro, Jung-gu, 41944 Daegu, Korea. kylee@knu.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Kyu-Yup
authors.initials: KY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Electronic Engineering, Kyungpook National University, 80 Daehak-ro, Buk-gu, 41566 Daegu, Korea. jhcho@ee.knu.ac.kr.|School of Electronics Engineering, College of IT Engineering, Kyungpook National University, 80 Daehakro, Buk-gu, 41566 Daegu, Korea. jhcho@ee.knu.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Jin-Ho
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Cho
mesh_terms: D003054:Cochlear Implants; D006310:Hearing Aids; D006801:Humans; D011474:Prosthesis Design; D013701:Temporal Bone / Q000601:surgery; D014432:Tympanic Membrane / Q000601:surgery*
keywords: cadaveric experiments; cochlear implants; fully implantable hearing devices; implantable microphone; trans-tympanic; ventilation tube