Medical

Middle ear microphone aims to improve cochlear implants

Middle ear microphone aims to improve cochlear implants
The prototype middle-ear microphone attached to a cadaver’s umbo (Photo: Case Western Reserve University, University of Utah)
The prototype middle-ear microphone attached to a cadaver’s umbo (Photo: Case Western Reserve University, University of Utah)
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University of Utah electrical engineer Darrin Young developed the tiny prototype microphone (Photo: Lee J. Siegel, University of Utah)
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University of Utah electrical engineer Darrin Young developed the tiny prototype microphone (Photo: Lee J. Siegel, University of Utah)
The proposed cochlear implant system (Photo: Case Western Reserve University, University of Utah)
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The proposed cochlear implant system (Photo: Case Western Reserve University, University of Utah)
The prototype middle-ear microphone attached to a cadaver’s umbo (Photo: Case Western Reserve University, University of Utah)
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The prototype middle-ear microphone attached to a cadaver’s umbo (Photo: Case Western Reserve University, University of Utah)
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U.S researchers are developing a tiny middle ear "microphone" that could remove the need for any external components on cochlear implants. Led by University of Utah engineer Darrin J. Young, the research team has produced and tested a prototype of the device which uses an accelerometer attached to the tiny bones of the middle ear to detect sound vibration.

Conventional cochlear implants use an externally worn microphone, speech processor and electromagnetic transmitter, along with an implanted receiver and stimulator that's wired to the auditory nerves. When sounds are picked up by the microphone and transmitted to the nerves via the internal stimulator, the patient hears.

While it has given hearing to hundreds of thousands of people around the world, this approach still has its drawbacks in terms of practicality, reliability and social perception.

“It’s a disadvantage having all these things attached to the outside” of the head, Young says. “Imagine a child wearing a microphone behind the ear. It causes problems for a lot of activities. Swimming is the main issue. And it’s not convenient to wear these things if they have to wear a helmet.”

While the conventional design doesn't make use of the ear canal and eardrum, Young's device does. It consists of a speech processor and transmitter implanted under the skin of the skull along with an accelerometer and a low-power silicon chip attached to the umbo (the point at which the eardrum connects to the three tiny ear bones). This enables it to detect vibration of the eardrum (as occurs in normal hearing). From there the system acts like a conventional cochlear implant, transmitting vibrations as electrical signals to electrodes in the cochlea.

The use of an accelerometer rather is a key to the design. Unlike standard microphones that use a diaphragm to detect sound vibrations, the accelerometer won't become clogged by growing tissue when implanted.

There is also a caveat - users would still have to wear a charger behind the ear while asleep to recharge the battery.

The proposed cochlear implant system (Photo: Case Western Reserve University, University of Utah)
The proposed cochlear implant system (Photo: Case Western Reserve University, University of Utah)

At this stage the researchers have tested the device in cadavers with success, but further work on miniaturization (the prototype is a "hefty" one-tenth by one-quarter inch in size and weighs 25 milligrams) and its ability to pick-up low-pitched sounds is required.

It was also found that the implant works best if the incus (anvil bone) is first removed surgically.

Young says tests in people are about three years away and has created this recording (with output going to a speaker rather than implanted electrodes) to demonstrate the device. Recognize the tune?

The study is a collaboration between Young and Case Western Reserve University electrical engineers Mark Zurcher and Wen Ko, along with ear-nose-throat physicians Maroun Semaan and Cliff Megerian of University Hospitals Case Medical Center.

The research is published online in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers journal Transactions on Biomedical Engineering.

Source: University of Utah

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5 comments
5 comments
Joel Detrow
Amazing, just amazing. With this, I consider the technology good enough to be worth getting for my right ear. Maybe someday when 10 grand drops into my lap...
mhenriday
Just as long as the device can be adjusted to provide for «selective hearing». But I have to admit that the Beethoven 5th sounded great under the circumstances - which orchestra was playing and who was conducting ?...
Henri
Janet Coons
Could this be used on someone who already has cochlear implants?
Jeronimo
How are they going to get over the issue of accelerations of the head/skull as a whole? Acoustic sound vibrates the eardrum but not the ear canal or the cochlea. It's the differential that we hear. Head movements will move the cochlea AND the ear drum, and presumably the accelerometer would pick this up resulting in an electrical stimulus to the cochlea.... I wouldn't want to hear my teeth, blood, footsteps, head-turning etc.... all that much.....
Iván Imhof
@Daniel:
Digital signal processing and filtering could solve more complex problems, I suppose.