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Abstract—There is a need for high-quality implantable micro- tations, such as ear canal irritations, distortion, and occasional
phones for existing semiimplantable middle-ear hearing systems ringing, and social problems with being perceived as handi-
and cochlear prosthesis to make them totally implantable, thus capped, have deprived many patients of clear hearing. Partially
overcoming discomfort, inconvenience, and social stigma. This
paper summarizes and compares the results of an in-vitro study implantable cochlear and middle ear hearing-aid systems can
on three design approaches and the feasibility of using micro- enable those with severe hearing loss to gain improved hearing
electromechanical system acoustic sensors as implantable micro- and speech function. However, the external microphone and
phones to convert the umbo vibration directly into a high-quality electronics create concerns about reliability, inconvenience, and
sound signal. The requirements of sensors were selected including social stigma. It is, therefore, highly desirable to develop totally
the ability to withstand large body shocks or sudden changes
of air pressure. Umbo vibration characteristics were extracted implantable hearing-aid systems with implantable microphones
from literature and laboratory measurement data. A piezoelectric [2], [3]. Several approaches of implantable microphones coupled
vibration source was built and calibrated to simulate the umbo to middle ear bones have been reported. Piezoelectric material
vibration. Two laboratory models of the acoustic sensor were can be used to sense the malleus vibration [4]. However, the
studied. The model-A device, using electrets-microphone as the material is stiff and difficult to maintain precise contact with
sensor, was designed and tested in the laboratory and on temporal
bones. The results verify that the laboratory measurement is umbo. An optic-fiber approach is complex; it consumes sizable
consistent with the temporal bone characterization and achieves a power and may temporarily lose signals [5]. These approaches
near flat frequency response with a minimum detectable signal of all suffer from performance degradation when large shocks or
a 65-dB sound-pressure-level (SPL) at 1 kHz. The model-B sensor sudden changes of air pressure occur. A magnetic sensor attached
was then designed to increase the sensitivity and provide an easy
on malleus head was tried with encouraging results [6]. However,
mounting on umbo. The model-B device can detect 40-dB SPL
sound in the 1–2 kHz region, with 100-Hz channel bandwidth. the loading effect is large, and magnetic material is MRI incom-
The results of model-A and model-B displacement sensors and patible. The subcutaneous microphone is being evaluated [7],
the acceleration sensor are summarized and compared. A prelim- [8]; the noise from chewing and body movement as well as the
inary design of the implantable displacement sensor for totally tissue growth and sensitivity degradation with time are concerns.
implantable hearing-aid systems is also presented.
Our research team has studied three microelectromechanical-
Index Terms—Displacement sensor, implantable microphone, system (MEMS) acoustic sensors based on accelerometer and
implantable sensor, microelectromechanical-system (MEMS) displacement sensors [9]–[11]. The design and results of micro
acoustic sensors, totally implantable hearing systems, vibration
sensor.
accelerometer approaches were reported [9]. The sensitivity at
low frequency, mass loading, weight, and the size are challenges.
This paper presents: 1) introduction and implant microphone re-
I. INTRODUCTION quirements; 2) laboratory simulation unit; 3) design and evalua-
tion of Model-A displacement sensor; 4) design and evaluation of
T is estimated one out of ten Americans suffers from conduc-
I tive as well as sensorineural hearing loss [1]. Conventional
hearing aids can offer moderate rehabilitation, inherent limi-
Model-B displacement sensors; 5)comparison of three acoustic
sensors and future work; and 6) the conclusion.
The concept of using a displacement sensor with an inter-
face circuit as an implantable microphone in totally implantable
Manuscript received September 29, 2008; revised February 10, 2009 and May cochlear hearing-aid systems is shown in Fig. 1.
19, 2009; accepted August 17, 2009. Current version published September 25,
2009. This work was supported part by Grant 5R21-DC-006850 of the National The displacement sensor is located inside the middle ear
Institute of Health, USA. This paper was recommended by Associate Editor cavity coupled to or mounted on the umbo. The sensor output
Eugenio Culurciello. can be used as a microphone output for various implantable
W. H. Ko, R. Zhang, P. Huang, J. Guo, X. Ye, and D. J. Young are with
the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Case School hearing-aid systems, including the totally implantable cochlear
of Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 10900 prosthesis system or totally implantable middle ear hearing
USA (e-mail: whk@cwru.edu; rxz33@cwru.edu; Ping.Huang@case.edu; systems, where the stimulator output may be applied to the
Jun.Guo@cwru.edu; yexs@mail.bme.zju.edu.cn; darrin.young@utah.edu).
C. A. Megerian is with the Otolaryngology Department, Medical School, stapes or the oval round window.
Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 10900 USA (e-mail: Cliff.
Megerian@UHhospital.org). A. Requirements of the Implantable Acoustic Sensor
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org. The requirements of the implantable acoustic sensor were
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TBCAS.2009.2032267 set to include 1) and 2), for conventional microphones, and 3),
1932-4545/$26.00 © 2009 IEEE
278 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON BIOMEDICAL CIRCUITS AND SYSTEMS, VOL. 3, NO. 5, OCTOBER 2009
Fig. 2. Umbo displacement characteristics and driving voltage needed for the
Fig. 1. Totally implantable cochlear hearing-aid system block diagram and lo- PZT simulator.
cation of the implantable displacement sensor.
Fig. 7. Results of the Model-A sensor measured on temporal bones. A. Analysis of the Model-B Sensor Principle
As shown in Fig. 8, the Model-B sensor receives the driving
displacement from umbo through the mounting stub to the di-
design of the mounting structure and the implant procedure aphragm . The base is coupled to through a set of
would be difficult. Other approaches to resolve these problems springs with a combined spring constant . The capacitance
were studied. The Model-B sensor was developed. C between the and base is the acoustic sensor. The initial
KO et al.: STUDIES OF MEMS ACOUSTIC SENSORS 281
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
For all hearing applications, the phase variation is not impor- Fig. 9. Response of the sensor to input displacement. (a) “x=A .” “y=A ”
tant. The Model-B sensor is a heavily damped device. The and responses to input A versus frequency F. (b) C response to input A versus
amplitudes responding to the input depend on the value of frequency F.
and are plotted in Fig. 9(a). Considering the best damped re-
sponse, where is equal to , as approaches zero,
approaches one, and approaches zero. The and B. Model-B Displacement Sensor
responses for (solid line) and
The Model-B sensor module structure and the attachment
(dotted line) cases, are indicated in Fig. 9(a). The capacitance
method to the umbo when implanted, as well as the sensor struc-
response to (and ) is shown in Fig. 9(b).
ture, are schematically illustrated in Fig. 10.
The sensor output is the capacitor variation. The capacitance
The design of silicon chip Model-B sensor is outlined. The
of a parallel plate capacitor, neglecting the fringe effect, is
Model-B displacement sensor has a desired mass of
20 mg, and 200 Hz. According to (6), the spring
(6) constant should be 31.2 N/m. There are four folded-cantilever
beams supporting the diaphragm, acting as the springs in the
where , , , and denote the capacitance, electrode area, system, the value of each beam should be 7.8 N/m. For a given
dielectric constant, and separation between the electrodes, re- spring constant, the dimension of the cantilever-beams springs
spectively. is the initial capacitance when . The can be calculated from
amplitude of capacitance change due to input and the
change of spring length is
(8)
(7)
where , , and are the thickness, length, and width of the
spring; and E is the Young’s modulus. The calculated silicon
where is the initial length of the spring. The length change cantilever beam dimension, with 200-Hz critical frequency
is a function of spring constant and . Assuming the umbo and 20- m thickness, should be 80 m in width and 1454 m
has large driving capability, the input displacement would in length. However, due to compromises on silicon chip size
be equal to umbo vibration, and the sensor would truly be a and layout constraints from the shared fabrication processes
displacement sensor. The frequency on the silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer, the fabricated springs
can be designed to be less than 200 Hz. As frequency increases are shorter than that designed. The length of springs in the
beyond the sound frequency band, the force loading of “m” on prototype sensor is 850 m. For a spring with 20 mg,
umbo increases with . The increased loading effect would m, m, and m, the calculated
decrease the responses and at high frequencies. Beyond is 445 Hz. The prototype Model-B sensor weighs about 25 mg
a frequency , the sensor sensitivity would drop off. and the SOI wafer used also has 2- m silicon dioxide on the top
282 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON BIOMEDICAL CIRCUITS AND SYSTEMS, VOL. 3, NO. 5, OCTOBER 2009
[13] M. Zucher, “Development of a MEMS middle ear acoustic sensor Jun Guo received the B.S. degree in electrical engineering from Tsinghua Uni-
for a fully implantable cochlear prosthesis,” M.Sc. dissertation, Case versity, Beijing, China, in 1993, and the M.S. degree in electrical engineering
Western Reserve Univ., Cleveland, OH, 2006. and computer science from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH,
[14] U. B. Willi, “The dynamic behavior of the incudo malleolar joint and in 2000, where he received the Ph.D. degree in 2007 .
its role during the transmission of sound,” Ph.D. dissertation, Dept. His current research is oriented toward the design, fabrication, and testing of
Radiol. Magn. Resonance, Univ. Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland, 2003. microelectromechanical-system sensor and nanoelectromechanical devices for
[15] R. L. Goode, G. Ball, S. Nishihara, and K. Nakamura, “Laser Doppler a variety of applications.
Vibrometer (LDV)—A new clinical tool for the otologist,” Amer. J.
Otol., vol. 17, no. 6, pp. 813–822, Nov. 1996.
[16] R. Z. Gan, M. W. Wood, and K. J. Dormer, “Human middle ear transfer
function measured by double laser interferometry system,” Otol. Neu- Xuesong Ye received the Ph.D. degree in biomedical
rotol., vol. 25, no. 4, pp. 423–435, Jul. 2004. engineering from Zhejiang University, Hang Zhou,
[17] S. Nishihara, H. Aritomo, and R. L. Goode, “Effects of changes in mass China, in 1997.
on middle ear function,” Otolaryng. Head-Neck Surgery, vol. 109, pp. He was an Assistant Professor, Associate Pro-
899–910, 1993. fessor, and Professor with the Department of
[18] P. Huang, “A laboratory study of a capacitive displacement sensor as an Biomedical Engineering at Zhejiang University
implant microphone,” M.Sc. dissertation, Case Western Reserve Univ., since 1997. From 2006 to 2008, he was a Senior Re-
Cleveland, OH, 2007. search Associate with the Department of Electrical
[19] W. H. Ko, D. Young, and J. Guo et al., “A high-performance MEMS Engineering and Computer Science, Case Western
capacitive strain sensing system,” Sens. Actuators A: Phys., vol. 133-2, Reserve University, Cleveland, OH. His research is
pp. 272–277, 2007. focused on neural-network computing, neural chip
[20] M. Suster, N. Chaimanonart, J. Guo, W. H. Ko, and D. Young, “Re- fabrication, and neural signal detecting and processing for brain computer
mote-powered high-performance strain sensing microsystem,” in Proc. interface based on microelectromechanical-system sensor and complementary
IEEE Techn. Dig., Int. Conf. MEMS, Miami, FL, 2005, pp. 255–258. metal–oxide semiconductor integrated-circuit design.
[21] A. J. Maniglia, N. Nakabayashi, M. M. Paparella, and J. W. Werning,
“A new adhesive bonding material for the cementation of implantable
devices,” Otol. Surgery. Amer. J. Otol, vol. 18, pp. 322–327, 1997.
Darrin J. Young received the B.S. degree (Hons.),
M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering and
computer science from the Department of Electrical
Engineering and Computer Sciences at the Univer-
Wen H. Ko (LF’90) received the B.S. degree in elec- sity of California, Berkeley, in 1991, 1993, and 1999,
trical engineering from Amoy (Xiamen) University respectively.
of China, Xiamen, China, in l946, and the M.S. and His doctoral dissertation focused on micro
Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from Case electromechanical devices design and fabrication
Institute of Technology, Cleveland, OH, in l956 and technologies for radio-frequency analog signal
l959, respectively. processing. From 1991 to 1993, he was with
He has been an Assistant, an Associate, and a Full Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, Palo Alto, CA,
Professor of Electrical Engineering and Biomedical designing a shared memory system for a digital signal processor-based
Engineering at Case Western Reserve University multiprocessor architecture. Between 1997 and 1998, he was with Lawrence
(CWRU), Cleveland, in l959, l962, and l967, respec- Livermore National Laboratory, working on the design and fabrication of
tively. He became a Professor Emeritus in Electrical 3-D radio-frequency microelectromechanical-systems (MEMS) inductors for
Engineering at CWRU in 1993. wireless communications.
Dr. Ko is a fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engi- Dr. Young joined the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer
neering. He is active in research on microelectromechanical systems, biomed- Science, Case School of Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleve-
ical implants, as well as micropackaging. land, in 1999, where he is currently an Associate Professor. His research in-
terests include MEMS and nanoelectromechanical devices design, fabrication,
and integrated analog circuits design for sensing, communication, biomedical
implant, and general industrial applications.
Rui Zhang received the B.Sc. degree in mechanical
and electrical engineering from Xiamen University of
China, Xiamen, China, in 2003 and is currently pur-
suing the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering and Cliff A. Megerian received the M.D. degree from the
computer science from Case Western Reserve Uni- University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor,
versity, Cleveland, OH. in 1988
His current research includes the design and fab- He served his residency at Otolaryngology and
rication of microelectromechanical-systems sensors Head and Neck at University Hospital, Cleveland,
and actuators, and complementary metal–oxide semi- OH. He was the first Clinical Fellow in otology
conductor interface circuit design. and neurotology at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear
Infirmary and Harvard Medical School. Currently,
he is a Professor and Vice Chairman of otolaryn-
gology—head and neck surgery, and Professor
of neurological surgery with the Otolaryngology
Ping Huang received the M.S. degree in electrical engineering from Case Department, Medical School, Case Western University, Cleveland. He is also
Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, in 2007, in the field of microelec- the Medical Director of the Adult and Pediatric Cochlear Implant Program and
tromechanical-systems (MEMS) technology and sensor design. Co-Director of the Skull Base Surgery Program. His clinical interests include
His interest is in MEMS devices and micromachining technology. otology, neurotology, cochlear implantation, and skull-base surgery.