Totally implantable cochlear implant for improvement of partial and total sensorineural hearing loss

• US 6,161,046 A
• Filed: 02/01/1999
• Issued: 12/12/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 04/09/1996
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Anthony J. Maniglia, Wen H. Ko
• Original Assignee: Anthony J. Maniglia, Wen H. Ko
• Inventors: Ko, Wen H., Maniglia, Anthony J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Getzow, Scott M.
• Application Number:
  US09/243,508
• Time in Patent Office: 680 Days
• Field of Search: 607/55, 607/57, 600/25
• US Class Current: 607/57
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/36038 Cochlear stimulation
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/606 acting directly on the eardrum, the ossicles or the skull, e.g. mastoid, tooth, maxillary or mandibular bone, or mechanically stimulating the cochlea, e.g. at the oval window

Abstract

An implantable hearing device for improvement of extreme partial and total hearing loss has a transducer mounted to the malleus of the ossicular chain by METABOND adhesive. The device responds to auditory vibrations of the malleus to establish an electrical signal in response thereto. For total hearing loss restoration, a speech processing unit is mounted inside the mastoid cavity having a intracochlear electrode which is inserted into the cochlea through the oval window to reach the nerve endings thereof and transmit speech signals capable of being understood by the brain. For total hearing loss a totally implantable system with a rechargeable battery, receiving antenna for remote control of on/off switch, volume, speech processor and programing is used with a biologic-electronic microphone activated by the implanted rechargeable battery to interact with implanted electronics for transmission of electrical signals from the transducer directly to the cochlear nerve endings.

Claims

1. A totally implantable cochlear implant hearing device which is insensitive to MRI interference for improvement of hearing loss comprising:

a first coil assembly adapted to be mounted on the ossicular chain of a middle ear;

a second coil assembly;

means for mounting said second coil assembly a predetermined distance from said first coil assembly in a contactless manner;

means adapted to be mounted in the middle ear and mastoid cavity for transforming acoustic signal into electrical signals; and

an electrical assembly located on said mounting means for receiving a said electrical signals from said translating means and sending them to said second coil to actuate same in response thereto.

2. A device as set forth in claim 1 wherein said first coil is a copper driving coil having no ferrite core.

3. A device as set forth in claim 2 wherein said second coil is Titanium.

4. A device as set forth in claim 3 wherein said second coil is sealed in a titanium case which is adapted to be bonded to the malleus of the middle ear.

5. A device as set forth in claim 1 wherein said first coil is a copper driving coil having a ferrite core.

6. An implantable hearing device which is insensitive to MRI interference for improvement of hearing loss comprising:

a sealed titanium case adapted to be mounted to the ossicular chain; and

a capacitive variation accelerometer device mounted in said sealed titanium case to respond to the vibrations of the ossicular chain to establish an electrical signal in response to the vibrations of the ossicular chain.

7. A device as set forth in claim 6 including a C/V chip connected to said capacitance variation signal from said accelerometer to convert it into a voltage signal.

8. A device as set forth in claim 7, wherein said sealed titanium case adapted to be mounted to the malleus.

9. An implantable transducer which is insensitive to MRI interference for improvement of hearing loss comprising:

a light emitting diode adapted to be fixedly mounted to the temporal bone;

a reflecting surface adapted to be mounted on the malleus; and

a light detector adapted to be fixedly mounted to the temporal bone to receive the light signals reflected from said reflecting surface and convert same to electrical signals.