Analysis of design parameters of round-window stimulating type electromagnetic transducer by a nonlinear lumped parameter model of implanted human ear

Abstract

Round-window stimulating transducer is a new solution to treat mixed hearing loss. To uncover the factors affecting the round-window stimulation's performance, we investigated the influence of four main design parameters of round-window stimulating type electromagnetic transducer. Firstly, we constructed a human ear nonlinear lumped parameter model and confirmed its validity by comparing the stapes responses predicted by the model with the experimental data. Following this, an electromagnetic transducer's mechanical model, which simulates the floating mass transducer, was built and coupled to the human ear model; thereby, we established a nonlinear lumped parameter model of implanted human ear under round-window stimulation and verified its reliability. Finally, based on this model, the influences of the four main design parameters, i.e., the excitation voltage, the electromechanical coupling coefficient, the support stiffness, and the preload force, were analyzed. The results show that the change of excitation voltage does not alter the system's natural frequency. Chaotic motion occurs when the electromechanical coupling coefficient is small. Meanwhile, the stapes displacement appears to increase firstly and then decrease with the increase of the electromechanical coupling coefficient. The increase of the support stiffness enlarges the resonance frequency of the stapes displacement and reduces the stapes displacement near the resonance frequency, deteriorating the transducer's hearing compensation at low frequency. The preload force can improve the transducer's hearing compensation performance in mid-high frequency region.

Keywords

• round-window stimulation
• electromagnetic transducer
• middle ear implants
• lumped parameter model
• numerical simulation