Theoretical and Experimental Study of a Human Inner Ear Implant with an Ultrasonic Communication Line

Authors N.S. Naida , S.A. Naida , P.V. Popovych
Affiliations

1National Technical University of Ukraine "Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute", 03056 Kyiv, Ukraine
Е-mail nsa185921-ames@lll.kpi.ua
Issue Volume 17, Year 2025, Number 3
Dates Received 05 April 2025; revised manuscript received 18 June 2025; published online 27 June 2025
Citation N.S. Naida, S.A. Naida[footnoteRef:], P.V. Popovych, J. Nano- Electron. Phys. 17 No 3, 03030 (2025)
DOI https://doi.org/10.21272/jnep.17(3).03030
PACS Number(s) 43.38. + n
Keywords Acoustics, Electronics (7) , Implant (9) , Electroacoustic transducer, Human inner ear.
Annotation The study examines the principles of constructing a cochlear implantation system with a new acoustic communication line between its external and internal components. This system is used to restore human auditory function, which may be impaired due to illness or external factors (such as mine-blast injury). To restore hearing, the system directly stimulates nerve fibers with electrical impulses that generate auditory sensations. The developed system with implanted electrodes consists of three main components: a microphone, a sound processing device, and a series of electrodes. It utilizes the place principle, where a specific sound frequency corresponds to a particular location in the cochlea of the human inner ear. The study defines the requirements for the individual components of the cochlear implant, including the microphone, compressor, bandpass filters, amplifiers, volume regulator, modulator, ultrasonic communication line, and demodulator. The chosen sound signal encoding strategy represents speech signals in digital form, modifying both pulse width and amplitude to achieve the most energy-efficient stimulation. A critical issue discussed is the placement of electrodes in the cochlea, ensuring full coverage of the speech frequency range. The use of a ground electrode placed in the temporal muscle reduced the nerve fiber excitation threshold by half. A prototype of the human inner ear implant with an acoustic information transmission channel has been developed, and its use has confirmed the possibility of generating impulses with the required duration and current amplitude. Additionally, an important advantage of the system is the ability to implant only passive elements, significantly enhancing its reliability and safety.

List of References

Full text download
English version of article