Low power consumption structure design of an incus-stimulating middle ear implant based on piezoelectric stack / 医用生物力学

ABSTRACT

Objective To improve the design plan and get a piezoelectric actuator with displacement magnification structure,so as to reduce power consumption of the existing incus-stimulating piezoelectric actuator for middle ear implant.Methods Based on anatomical structure of human ear,the piezoelectric actuator with displacement magnification structure,and the one only composed of piezoelectric stack were designed,respectively,then the corresponding coupled mechanical models of the middle ear with the piezoelectric actuator were established.By comparing the calculation results from the two types of coupled mechanical models,the hearing compensation property and power consumption of the actuator before and after the implantation with the displacement magnification structure were analyzed.Results After adding the displacement magnification structure,the sound pressure level (SPL) at 1 kHz frequency was increased from 100 dB to 113 dB when the piezoelectric actuator was stimulated by 10.5 V effective voltages.In addition,for the piezoelectric stack,its power consumption at the frequency of 1,2 and 4 kHz were 6.42,1.56 and 0.28 mW,respectively;after introducing the displacement magnification structure,the power consumption at the above-mentioned 3 frequencies decreased to 0.39,0.09 and 0.01 mW,respectively.Conclusions Piezoelectric actuator with displacement magnification structure in this study can improve hearing compensation ability of the incus-stimulating middle ear implant,and effectively reduce the power consumption.The research findings will help to further improve the structure design of middle ear implant,thus achieving better hearing compensation effect.