Sachse M, Hortschitz W, Stifter M, Steiner H, Sauter T. Design of an implantable seismic sensor placed on the ossicular chain.
Med Eng Phys 2013;
35:1399-405. [PMID:
23810385 DOI:
10.1016/j.medengphy.2013.03.012]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2011] [Revised: 03/02/2013] [Accepted: 03/13/2013] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
This paper presents a design guideline for matching a fully implantable middle ear microphone with the physiology of human hearing. The guideline defines the first natural frequency of a seismic sensor placed at the tip of the manubrium mallei with respect to the frequency-dependence hearing of the human ear as well as the deflection of the ossicular chain. A transducer designed in compliance with the guideline presented reduces the range of the output signal while preserving all information obtained by the ossicular chain. On top of a output signal compression, static deflections, which can mask the tiny motions of the ossicles, are reduced. For guideline verification, a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) based on silicon on insulator technology was produced and tested. This prototype is capable of resolving 0.4 pm/Hz with a custom made read-out circuit. For a bandwidth of 0.1 kHz, this deflection is comparable with the lower threshold of speech (≈ 40 phon).
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