On the design of a MEMS piezoelectric accelerometer coupled to the middle ear as an implantable sensor for hearing devices.

ABSTRACT: The presence of external elements is a major limitation of current hearing aids and cochlear implants, as they lead to discomfort and inconvenience. Totally implantable hearing devices have been proposed as a solution to mitigate these constraints, which has led to challenges in designing implantable sensors. This work presents a feasibility analysis of a MEMS piezoelectric accelerometer coupled to the ossicular chain as an alternative sensor. The main requirements of the sensor include small size, low internal noise, low power consumption, and large bandwidth. Different designs of MEMS piezoelectric accelerometers were modeled using Finite Element (FE) method, as well as optimized for high net charge sensitivity. The best design, a 2 × 2 mm2 annular configuration with a 500 nm thick Alumi

SUBMITTER: Gesing AL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5834511 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature