Eventos Anais de eventos
COBEM 2023
27th International Congress of Mechanical Engineering
Numerical vibration analysis of the human middle ear implanted with a vibration sensor and a flat flexible cable for electrical connection
Submission Author:
Vinicius Paegle , SC
Co-Authors:
Vinicius Paegle, Stephan Paul
doi://10.26678/ABCM.COBEM2023.COB2023-1084
Abstract
Totally implantable cochlear implants would solve several problems nowadays related to the external sound capturing and processing unit of traditional cochlear implants, but require implantable solutions for sound pick-up and signal processing. The present work aims to numerically analyze the effect of a flexible cable, suggested to operate with the vibration sensor of a future totally implantable cochlear implant, on the vibration of the ossicular chain. Numerical models of three different implantable cables were constructed. The most appropriate model of such a cable was then coupled to a human middle ear FEM model to analyze the behavior of the middle ear when both sensor and cable were attached. The analysis showed that the proposed cable increased the middle ear stiffness and raised its two first natural frequencies by around 7 and 11 % respectively. Also, it was found that stapes and incus FRFs of the implanted ear with the cable attached to the implanted sensor are reduced below 1 kHz. However, this variation does not exceed the limits of the standard deviation response of healthy ears.
Keywords
Cochlear Implant, Middle Ear, Flat Flexíble Cable, Finite Element Method
