Electric Field Density Distribution for Cochlear Implant ElectrodesN.S. Lawand, J. van Driel, P.J. French
Electronic Instrumentation Laboratory (EILab), Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science (EEMCS), Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands
Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands
Cochlear Implants are implantable devices which bypasses the non-functional inner ear and directly stimulates the hearing nerve with electric currents thus enabling deaf people to experience sound again. Implant electrode array design is limited in electrode count, due to their large size in accordance to scala tympani (ST) with restrictions for deeper insertion in ST thus depriving access to low frequency auditory neurons. Silicon semiconductor technology provides the fabrication of advanced high-density CI electrode arrays with more stimulation sites, integration of electronics, reduced size, multiplexing and specific site selection as per frequency. In this paper we present the simulation results for the three different electrode configuration of our proposed design. Electric filed density distribution near the stimulation site is studied by COMSOL Multiphysics 4.2a.