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Flexible Electronic Technologies for Implantable Applications
Published in Muhammad Mustafa Hussain, Nazek El-Atab, Handbook of Flexible and Stretchable Electronics, 2019
Loss of any sensory organ of the body leads to several challenges in one’s life. Hearing loss is one such example where it can be either conductive, sensorineural, or a combination of both. The mechanism of hearing is through conduction of bones that transfer sound waves to the inner diaphragm and nerves translate these signals to the brain. Hearing loss can be due to age (presbycusis) which is a conductive loss as sound signals are not able to pass to the inner ear from the outer ear. The sound diminishing factors can be stiffening of the eardrum, thereby losing its elasticity, loss of mobility of conducting bones becoming rigid in their action. Whereas the damage of inner ear sensory hair cells or auditory nerve damage causes sensorineural deafness. For all such cases, cochlear implants are used externally for external applications. Preliminary work on a cochlear implant had begun in the 1960s, the first neural interface designed to revive the hearing for clinically deaf representing the first successful integration of stimulation electrodes within the peripheral nervous system (PNS) (Macherey and Carlyon 2014; Jalili et al. 2017). Cochlear implants are essentially used to bypass the sound signals from hair cells by inserting electrodes into the inner ear and directly stimulating the auditory nerve in response to the incoming audio signal from a microphone placed in the external ear area.
Inside, Outside: Nanobionics and Human Bodily Experience
Published in Kamilla Lein Kjølberg, Fern Wickson, Nano Meets Macro, 2019
The cochlear implant - commonly known as the bionic ear - is perhaps the most successful bionic device. The multiple channel cochlear implant (Clark et al. 1978) was developed to assist deaf people to understand speech and participate in conversation. Used by thousands of people around the world who are profoundly deaf or severely hearing impaired, the cochlear implant circumvents deafness by bypassing damaged portions of the inner ear and directly stimulating auditory nerves. The cochlear implant uses an external microphone, speech processor and a transmitter to send signals to the device implanted in the cochlea, which then stimulates the auditory nerves, sending a signal to the brain which is interpreted as meaningful sound. The implant does not allow a deaf person to actually hear, but it does provide them with a simulated sensation of speech. The cochlear implant is neither a wholly internal nor wholly external bionic device: while the receiver/stimulator is implanted beneath the person’s skull, in the cochlea, there are also external components (microphone, speech processor etc). Currently, some developments are underway to implant all components beneath the skin (Zenner & Leysieffer 1998; Miller & Sammeth 2008, p. 331).
Implantable Electronics
Published in Aboul Ella Hassanien, Nilanjan Dey, Surekha Borra, Medical Big Data and Internet of Medical Things, 2018
Vinay Chowdary, Vivek Kaundal, Paawan Sharma, Amit Kumar Mondal
Glucose monitoring is popularly used as a tool to monitor diabetes. A lot of development has taken place in glucose biosensors considering the remarkable demand for glucose monitoring. Cochlear implants involve inserting electrodes in ears. Pacemakers are used for stimulating normal heart function by transmitting a train of cardiovascular pulses synchronized with the R wave. Electrical stimulation therapies are also present for treating Parkinson's disease, wherein an electrical stimulus is provided to the brain area responsible for motor function. Similar devices are available for treating epilepsy. Many systems have been designed to store and deliver fixed doses of relief medicines into specific areas of the body, thereby removing the need for daily injection of drugs. Wireless endoscopy systems are available, such as capsule endoscopy, which can be used to visualize the internals of the body. Patients ingest a wireless endoscopy capsule similar to a pill. This capsule contains a miniature camera to capture internal images as it moves through the inner tract.
3D printing technology and applied materials in eardrum regeneration
Published in Journal of Biomaterials Science, Polymer Edition, 2023
Haolei Hu, Jianwei Chen, Shuo Li, Tao Xu, Yi Li
The ear is divided into three parts: the outer ear, the middle ear, and the inner ear. The TM is an oval and translucent membranous structure between the tympanic chamber of the middle ear and external auditory canal (Figure 1) [4]. The eardrum has three layers (Figure 2): the outermost layer is a flat epithelium containing keratinocytes; the intermediate layer is composed of fibroblasts, type II collagen, and type III collagen (lamina propria) to maintain the mechanical strength, density, and elasticity of the eardrum; the inner layer is a mucosal layer without keratinocytes. The tympanum consists of two regions: relaxation and tension. The tension region is where most tympanic perforations occur. The difference between the tension and relaxation regions lies in the composition of the lamina propria, which has different functions. The middle layer of the lamina propria in the tension region of the TM is composed of type III collagen, as well as type I and type II collagen, while the outer layer is composed of type II collagen, loose connective tissue, and a small amount of elastic fibers in the lamina propria of the tension region. Eardrum function depends largely on its special structure; hence, changes in the eardrum structure (such as perforation of the eardrum) can lead to conductive hearing loss.
Simplified cerebellum-like spiking neural network as short-range timing function for the talking robot
Published in Connection Science, 2018
We created three 8000 Hz sound signals of 0.6 seconds, 1.2 seconds and 2.5 seconds respectively as short, medium, and long sound inputs for the cerebellum neural network. The signals were transformed to Poisson spike signals of 30 Hz with 1000 times stretching for each sample using the pipelining technique. The natural activity level of neurons in rats is 5 Hz (Freeman & Muckler, 2003). The neural signal consists of two components which are the transient signal and sustained signal (Aitkin & Boyd, 1978; Freeman & Muckler, 2003). The firing rate of the sustained component is approximately 30 Hz (Freeman & Muckler, 2003). Therefore, we used a 30 Hz signal to represent the neural activity in the audio cortex of the brain, which is transmitted to the cerebellum as a learning signal. Co-simulation with FPGA hardware was then performed to generate an output pattern, which is the neuron activity. Supervised learning behaviour of the cerebellum was reported by Knudsen (1994). A baby learns to speak through multiple listen and repeat trials. The learning includes vocalic sound as well as sound rhythm. The sound signal is transformed to a neuron signal in the ear and is sent to the brain for processing. In the simulation, the supervised learning signal is coming from the sound input, which is the sound that we hear.
A computational framework to simulate the endolymph flow due to vestibular rehabilitation maneuvers assessed from accelerometer data
Published in Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering, 2018
Carla F. Santos, Jorge Belinha, Fernanda Gentil, Marco Parente, Bruno Areias, Renato Natal Jorge
Vertigo is a type of dizziness that normally occurs due to a dysfunction in the vestibular system, which is located in the inner ear. The patient has the perception of a spinning motion, a feeling of displacement of the environment relative to the individual or an intensive sensation of rotation inside the head (Taylor and Goodkin 2011). In these situations, it is important to avoid falls. Such symptoms are often associated with nausea and vomiting, and it can cause difficulties in standing or walking if it is related with central lesions (Karatas 2008). Other debilitating symptoms such as blurred vision and hearing loss may also occur (Strupp et al. 2011). Vertigo can be classified as either peripheral or central, depending on the location of the dysfunction in the vestibular pathway, and its most common cause is benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) (Karatas 2008), although it can be caused by other factors (Wippold and Turski 2009).