Abstract
This paper presents a possibility of quasi-periodic and chaotic vibrations in the human middle ear stimulated by an implant, which is fixed to the incus by means of a nonlinear coupler. The coupler represents a classical element made of titanium and shape memory alloy. A five-degrees-of-freedom model of lumped masses is used to represent the implanted middle ear for both normal and pathological ears. The model is engaged to numerically find the influence of the nonlinear coupler on stapes and implant dynamics. As a result, regions of parameters regarding the quasi-periodic, polyharmonic and irregular motion are identified as new contributions in ear bio-mechanics. The nonlinear coupler causes irregular motion, which is undesired for the middle ear. However, the use of the stiff coupler also ensures regular vibrations of the stapes for higher frequencies. As a consequence, the utility of the nonlinear coupler is proven.
Highlights
Hearing loss is a very serious problem these days as reported in [1]
There are several middle ear implant systems, which differ in terms of construction and mode of operation, including a fully implantable hearing prosthesis—the Otologics Middle Ear Transducer CarinaTM (Boulder, CO, USA), a semi-implantable device—the Vibrant Soundbridge (Med-El Corporation, Insbruk, Austria) [3], the Otologics Middle Ear Transducer (Boulder, CO, USA) [4]) and the Ototronix MAXUM system (Ototronix, Houston, TX, USA) [5,6]
This paper is organized as follows: Section 2 presents a five-degrees-of-freedom (5dof) model of the human middle ear with an implant affixed to the incus by means of a nonlinear titanium long process coupler
Summary
Hearing loss is a very serious problem these days as reported in [1]. In the United States alone, approximately 30 million people are affected by hearing loss. There are several middle ear implant systems, which differ in terms of construction and mode of operation, including a fully implantable hearing prosthesis—the Otologics Middle Ear Transducer CarinaTM (Boulder, CO, USA), a semi-implantable device—the Vibrant Soundbridge (Med-El Corporation, Insbruk, Austria) [3], the Otologics Middle Ear Transducer (Boulder, CO, USA) [4]) and the Ototronix MAXUM system (Ototronix, Houston, TX, USA) [5,6] Apart from their functionality (improved gain, sound quality, hearing and noise as well as acoustic feedback elimination), another important feature of these active prostheses is that they are made of a biocompatible material, i.e., titanium [7]. This paper is organized as follows: Section 2 presents a five-degrees-of-freedom (5dof) model of the human middle ear with an implant affixed to the incus by means of a nonlinear titanium long process coupler.
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