This U.S. non-provisional patent application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 of Korean Patent Application Nos. 10-2013-0017827, filed on Feb. 20, 2013, and 10-2014-0013228, filed on Feb. 5, 2014, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grants funded by the Korea government (No. 2013R1A2A1A09015677) and this work was supported by a grant from the Korea Healthcare Technology R&D Project, Ministry of Health and Welfare (A092106).
The present invention disclosed herein relates to a microphone, and more particularly, to an easily installable microphone for an implantable hearing aid.
According to statistics, there are more than seven billion people living around the globe. Among these, about 10% of persons suffer from hard of hearing. Here, a person who can be solved by conventional hearing aids is estimated to reach about 80% of persons that suffer from hard of hearing. Thus, the rest has a difficulty in compensation of hearing by using general air conduction hearing aids. This is done because, if the hearing is terribly deteriorated due to genetic problems, hearing loss by aging, and noise environments by construction or explosion in industrial settings, the persons who have difficulty in hearing does not understand sounds even though the sounds are amplified by using existing hearing aids. In two hearing aids that are used for the persons who cannot be satisfied by general hearing aids, one is a cochlear implant which converts sounds into electrical signals to stimulate acoustic nerves of a cochlea, and the other is a middle ear implant which amplify sound signal and then converts the amplified electrical signal into the mechanical vibration, thereby applying the amplified vibration to the auditory ossicles or a round window of the inner ear.
The cochlear implant that is commercialized in the current years to make up the largest market may be a semi-implantable hearing aid. Thus, a microphone, an amplifier, and a power source may require an external device that is attached or detached to the outside of a skin. One of widely known middle ear implant has been commercialized by MED-EL GmbH is currently available in the market. However, the commercialized middle ear implant is also the semi-implantable hearing aid up to now. Since all of the implantable hearing aids are the semi-implantable hearing aids and thus exposed to the outside, all and sundry may notice a person as a person who have difficulty in hearing in the state where the person wears the hearing aid. Thus, since the hearing aid is worn while one is out, and is separated when returning home, it is inconvenient to the user. As a result, the users that use the implantable hearing aid have been longing for completely implantable hearing aid instead of the semi-implantable hearing aid.
The most difficult technology in manufacturing of the completely implantable hearing aid may be an implantable microphone technology up to now. Major companies that manufacture the implantable hearing aids, such as Cochlear Co., Ltd., MED-EL GmbH, and Advanced Bionics Co., Ltd., have been constantly attempted to develop the completely implantable hearing aids for commercial scale. However, the commercialization of the completely implantable hearing aids has failed always due to deterioration in performance of the implantable microphone. Hereinafter, the typical implantable microphone and its limitations will be described.
(1) A completely middle ear implant has been developed by US Otologics Co., Ltd., are practically finished under way on a clinical demonstration. The implantable microphone that is used for this hearing aid may require an additional surgical operation due to the large size of microphone (a length of about 5 cm, a width of about 2.5 cm, and a depth of about 3 mm) for installing in addition to the implantation of a system body and vibrational transducer. If the above-described type microphone is used, following limitations may occur. When fingers, clothes, and pillow contact the surroundings of a skin that covers the microphone instated under a skin of ostemporale, or masticatory movement for eating foods is executed, noises may be directly applied to the microphone. Thus, it may be difficult to allow a user to hear speech sounds properly. Also, since the microphone is implanted under the skin, the microphone may be deteriorated in high frequency sensitivity.
(2) According to a TICA hearing aid (Germany) that is developed by Leysieffer, an implantable microphone is installed under a skin of an external auditory meatus. Thus, when sounds pass through a skin layer, attenuation may occur to reduce sensitivity. If the microphone is implanted at a shallow depth under the skin of the external auditory meatus to solve the above-described limitation, the microphone may not adhere to the tissues under the skin to protrude to the outside of the skin in long-term point of view. Thus, the TICA hearing aid does not put to practical use and thus is not studied any more.
(3) An implantable microphone that is proposed by Wen H. Ko may be classified into a MEMS microphone attached to a malleus behind a tympanum, a MEMS mass microphone, and a capacitive microphone. According to the method in which the MEMS microphone itself is attached to malleus which is behind the tympanum, sounds introduced through the external auditory meatus may be attenuated while passing through the tympanum to reduce the sensitivity. The MEMS mass microphone may respond acceleration velocity when the malleus itself is vibrated to generate electrical signals. However, this may be much deteriorated in a gain of low-frequency and high-frequency. Also, since the anchor has to be fixed to the wall of the middle ear cavity, a method for detecting capacitance's changes by the displacement of ossiculum that is vibrated according to the sounds by fixing an anchor to a wall of a middle ear cavity may have a difficulty in operation of implant.
(4) An Envoy system utilizes a tympanum as a vibrator of the microphone. According to this method, an anchor is formed on an end of a piezoelectric element to fix the anchor to a middle ear cavity wall to achieve displacement in which auditory ossicles such as a malleus or an incus are vibrated according to sounds as piezoelectric signals, thereby obtaining electrical signals. Also, it is necessary for a fixing process of the piezoelectric microphone by forming a hole in the middle ear cavity. Also, since feedback between an input and an output of the hearing aid occurs if the auditory ossicles are not removed, the auditory ossicles have to be physically separated. Thus, this method may be a very invasive method.
The present invention provides an implantable microphone which has a less influence on external motion noises, is easily operated, and has high sensitivity in an implantable hearing aid.
The technical objective of the present invention is not limited to the aforementioned technical problem, and technical problems not mentioned above can be clearly understood by a person skilled in the art by the disclosure below.
Embodiments of the present invention provide microphones for an implantable hearing aid, the microphones including: a body part including a cylindrical housing installed to pass through a tympanum and a microphone controller installed within the cylindrical housing to convert an acoustic signal into an electrical signal; an acoustic collection part that provides a passage for transmitting external sounds into the body part, the acoustic collection part being disposed on one end of the body part in a direction of an external auditory meatus; and a wire connection part connecting the microphone controller to the hearing aid, the wire connection part being disposed on the other end of the body part in a direction of a middle ear cavity.
In other embodiments of the present invention, microphones for an implantable hearing aid include: a body part including a first cylindrical housing installed to pass through a tympanum, a microphone controller installed within the cylindrical housing to convert an acoustic signal into an electrical signal, a wire connection part disposed on one end of the first cylindrical housing to connect the microphone controller to the hearing aid; and an acoustic collection part screw-coupled to the other end of the first cylindrical housing to collect external sounds, thereby transmitting the sounds into the body part.
In still other embodiments of the present invention, microphones for an implantable hearing aid include: a body part including a cylindrical housing installed to pass through a tympanum; an acoustic collection part that provides a passage for transmitting external sounds into the body part, the acoustic collection part being disposed on one end of the body part in a direction of an external auditory meatus; and an acoustic transfer part disposed on the other end of the body part in a direction of a middle ear cavity to transmit an acoustic signal into a microphone controller.
The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the present invention, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate exemplary embodiments of the present invention and, together with the description, serve to explain principles of the present invention. In the drawings:
Advantages and features of the present invention, and implementation methods thereof will be clarified through following embodiments described with reference to the accompanying drawings. The inventive concept may, however, be embodied in different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the present invention to those skilled in the art.
Therefore, the embodiments of the present invention are not limited to the specific shape illustrated in the exemplary views, but may include other shapes that may be created according to manufacturing processes.
In the specification, ‘and/or’ means that it includes at least one of listed components. The terms of a singular form may include plural forms unless specifically mentioned. The meaning of “include or comprise”, or “including or comprising” specifies a component, a step, an operation, an element, and a device but does not exclude other components, steps, operation, elements, and devices.
The present invention will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which exemplary embodiments of the invention are shown.
Referring to
A typical implantable microphone may be implanted under a skin of ostemporale or external auditory meatus, a malleus behind a tympanum, or the middle ear cavity. Thus, a large-scale operation is needed. However, the embodiments of the present invention suggest a subminiature implantable microphone that passes through or crosses the tympanum and is seated by autogenic reproducibility of the tympanum. Thus, the subminiature implantable microphone may be provided as a high-performance implantable microphone that is used for a hearing aid. According to the high-performance implantable microphone, the microphone may be installed on the tympanum in a noninvasive manner and prevent the sensibility of the microphone from being attenuated.
That is, the embodiments of the present invention suggest an implantable microphone that is easily implanted in an operating room by a doctor without making wound on or cutting a patient's skin or ostemporale and without installing a screw anchor in the middle ear cavity or performing a punching process on the ostemporale toward a middle ear cavity and is simple in structure and operation.
Referring to
Here, the body part 100 may be a cylindrical housing 110 (a titanium container) having a size very smaller than that of the tympanum and be installed to cross the tympanum. The subminiature and high-sensibility MEMS microphone controller 150 is installed within the body part 100 (the housing 110). The microphone controller 150 includes a MEMS converting unit 153 for an acoustic signal into an electrical signal and a signal processing unit 155 for amplifying the acoustic signal and removing noises.
Member having outer surfaces expanded from the housing 110, i.e., as illustrated in
The acoustic collection part 200 includes the circular plate 210 in the direction of the external auditory meatus and at least one acoustic passage 250 defined in a central portion of the circular plate 210. Thus, the acoustic collection part 200 may be a device for collecting external sounds introduced through the external auditory meatus. The wire connection part 300 include the circular plate disposed on an end of the body part 100 in the direction of the middle ear cavity and a wire 350 connecting the microphone controller installed within the housing 110 to the hearing aid. That is, the wire 350 of the wire connection part 300 includes draw lines constituted by a power line, a signal line, and a ground line in the direction of the middle ear cavity. The microphone 10 is connected to the body part of the implantable hearing aid of
Also, each of the circular plates 210 and 310 of the acoustic collection part 200 and the wire connection part 300 may have a diameter greater than that of the body part 100 (the housing 100). This is done because the microphone body part 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention stably adheres to the tympanum, and the circular plates 210 and 310 disposed on both ends of the body part 100 serve as one stepped portion to fix the microphone.
That is, as shown in
Also, although the device is continuously pushed outward from a central portion of the tympanum due to the tissue-reproducible performance of the tympanum, the microphone according to the embodiment of the preset invention may be seated on an edge of the tympanum after a long time passes. Thus, there is no problem to achieve an electrical signal by reacting on sound intensity.
In general, a ventilation tube having a weight of several mg is used in the tympanum as a unit for treating an inflammation in the middle ear. Thus, since the body part of the present invention is made of titanium having biocompatibility, there is no problem in clinical demonstration for ear implantation fields.
When the ventilation tube is installed on the tympanum, tympanum cells are grown by the biorecovery effect thereof to adhere to the titanium body part of the microphone. Thus, the tympanum may be supported the movement of the microphone to stably fix the microphone even though vibration or impacts are applied to a head.
Also, a wounded area of the ventilation tube disposed on the central portion of the tympanum may be physiologically grown in a radius direction. As a result, after several months or years are pass, the wounded area may be pushed toward an edge of the tympanum, and thus, the microphone may be pushed toward a middle ear cavity wall. However, even though the microphone is pushed toward the middle ear cavity wall so that the microphone is closely attached to the middle ear cavity, there is no problem in the implantable microphone because the microphone detects a signal according to a motion of a membrane (or diaphragm) within the implantable microphone, but does not detect a vibration of the tympanum.
That is, as illustrated in
Also, each of circular plates 210 and 310 of the acoustic collection part 200 and the wire connection part 300 which are disposed on both sides of a cylindrical housing 110 of the body part 100 may have a diameter greater by about 1.2 times to about 1.5 times than that of the body part 100. Thus, when the microphone is installed on the tympanum, the tympanum may be cut to a size, that is enough to insert the circular plate, to push the implantable microphone according to the current embodiment. As a result, the tympanum tissue may be grown toward a central portion of the cylinder, and then, as the time elapses, the central portion may be filled to completely isolate the inside and outside of the tympanum from each other.
Thus, a pressure of the middle ear cavity may be adjusted by its original biomodulatory. Also, since a wire connection hole of the implantable microphone according to an embodiment of the present invention is sealed by biocompatible epoxy, the pressure of the middle ear cavity may be normally maintained. Each of the housing 110 of the body part 100 and the two circular plates 210 and 310 may be made of a biocompatible material. The wire 350 or the draw lines may also be made of a soft wire that is coated with biocompatible material (e.g., parylene).
As illustrated in
That is, according to the current embodiment of
Also, according to the embodiment of
Here, as shown in
In the current embodiment, the acoustic passage 453 of the cylindrical housing 413 may constitute a portion of the acoustic collection part 500. The acoustic passage 453 may pass through a side surface of the cylindrical housing 413. The acoustic passage 453 may be provided in plurality in the side surface of the cylindrical housing 413. The sounds transmitted through the external auditory meatus may be transmitted into the middle ear cavity through the tympanum and then collected into the body part 400 through the acoustic passage 453, thereby being transmitted into a microphone controller within the body part 400.
According to the current embodiment, the front surface facing the direction of the external auditory meatus of the cylindrical housing 510 may be blocked to prevent external foreign substances or liquid material from being introduced and thus to prevent the microphone from being damaged. That is, the acoustic passage 453 is formed in a side opposite to the external auditory meatus with respect to the tympanum, i.e., the inside of the tympanum. Thus, since the tympanum tissues are self-reproduced after the microphone is implanted into the tympanum, the foreign substances or liquid material introduced through the external auditory meatus may be blocked by the tympanum to prevent the foreign substances or liquid materials from being introduced into the acoustic passage 453.
As illustrated in
An acoustic transfer part 600 includes a circular plate 610 for finishing an end of a cylindrical housing 110 and an acoustic transfer tube 620 having a tube shape to transmit acoustic signals. The circular plate 610 of the acoustic transfer part 600 may have a diameter greater than that of the cylindrical housing 110 of the body part 100. This is done for a reason in which the microphone body part 100 is seated on a tympanum, and the circular plates 210 and 610 disposed on both ends of the body part 100 serve as one stepped portion to fix the microphone. Similar to the circular plate 210 of the housing 110, the circular plate 610 of the acoustic transfer part 600 may also be made of a biocompatible material. An acoustic passage 250 passing through a central portion of the circular plate 210 of the acoustic collection part 200 is defined in one end of the body part 100 in a direction of an external auditory meatus. In
The microphone controller 150 may be implanted into a middle ear cavity or an inner wall of the middle ear cavity. In this case, since the microphone controller 150 has a less influence on water, moisture, or other foreign substance which is introduced through the external auditory meatus when compared to the microphone installed in the tympanum, damage of the microphone may be effectively prevented. The microphone controller 150 receives acoustic signals transmitted through the acoustic transfer tube 620 to convert the acoustic signals into electrical signals. The microphone controller 150 may include a MEMS converting unit for converting the acoustic signals into the electrical signals and a signal processing unit for amplifying the acoustic signals and removing noises. The microphone controller 150 may be connected to a hearing aid through a wire.
However, as illustrated in
However, as illustrated in
However, as illustrated in
As described above, when compared to the typical method, the microphone may be easily installed on the tympanum in the noninvasive manner, and the attenuation in sensibility of the microphone may be prevented. Thus, the microphone according to the present invention may be significantly utilized for the implantable hearing aid.
Also, since the subminiature microphone installed on the tympanum is disposed on a boundary between the external ear and the middle ear, acoustic energy collected by the external ear may be converted as it is into electrical signal by the microphone to improve the sensibility. Also, since a surface of the microphone faces the external auditory meatus, sensibility with respect to sounds that is feedback from an internal ear may be very low to prevent an existing howling effect from occurring.
According to the embodiments of the present invention, the body part including the acoustic collection part may be easily installed on the tympanum in the noninvasive manner.
While the present invention has been shown and described in connection with the exemplary embodiments, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that modifications and variations can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
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