Engineering contributions to the development of the cochlear implant

Abstract

The cochlear implant is a product of deliberate systems engineering, starting with a clear design goal by physicians to restore human hearing by means of electrical stimulation. The engineering development of the cochlear implant has been a dynamic interplay between a perfectionist's approach attempting to replicate the intricate sensing and processing in a normal biological system and a reductionist's approach building an artificial system with minimal components and complexity. The reductionist's approach won the initial battle as the first FDA-approved single-channel cochlear implant consisted of simply a microphone, an amplifier, and a pair of coils. Borrowing techniques and knowhow’s from diverse engineering areas in acoustics, aerospace, and electronics, modern multi-channel cochlear implants have shifted towards the perfectionist's approach. Acoustic researchers, particularly speech scientists, have played an important role in the engineering development of the cochlear implant. From an engineering perspective, I will highlight development milestones, evaluate their contributions to actual implant performance, and delineate the complicated relationships between artificial and natural hearing.