Liu Houguang, Xu Dan, Yang Jianhua, Yang Shanguo, Cheng Gang, Huang Xinsheng
School of Mechatronic Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, China.
Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Shanghai Zhongshan Hospital affiliated to Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
Acta Bioeng Biomech. 2017;19(2):103-111.
In this work, a finite element study is proposed to evaluate the effects of the transducer and its coupling layer on the performance of round window (RW) stimulation.
Based on a set of micro-computer tomography images of a healthy adult's right ear and reverse engineering technique, a coupled finite-element model of the human ear and the transducer was constructed and verified. Then, the effect of the cross-section of the transducer, the elastic modulus of the coupling layer, the mass of the transducer, and the preload of the transducer were studied.
The increase of the transducer's cross-section area deteriorates the RW stimulation, especially at the lower frequencies. This adverse effect of the cross-section area's increase of the transducer can be reduced by adding a coupling layer between the transducer and the RW. However, the coupling layer's improvement on the RW stimulation is reduced with the increase of its elastic modulus. Moreover, the mass loading of the transducer decreases the RW stimulation's performance mainly at higher frequencies and applying a static preload on the transducer enhances its hearing compensating performance at higher frequencies.
The influence of the transducer's mass, the mass of the transducer, the applied static preload and the properties of the coupling layer must be taken into account in the design of the RW stimulation type implantable middle ear hearing device.
在本研究中，提出了一项有限元研究，以评估换能器及其耦合层对圆窗（RW）刺激性能的影响。
基于一名健康成年人右耳的一组微型计算机断层扫描图像和逆向工程技术，构建并验证了人耳与换能器的耦合有限元模型。然后，研究了换能器的横截面、耦合层的弹性模量、换能器的质量以及换能器的预载的影响。
换能器横截面积的增加会恶化RW刺激，尤其是在较低频率下。通过在换能器和RW之间添加耦合层，可以减少换能器横截面积增加的这种不利影响。然而，随着耦合层弹性模量的增加，其对RW刺激的改善作用会降低。此外，换能器的质量负载主要在较高频率下降低RW刺激的性能，而对换能器施加静态预载可提高其在较高频率下的听力补偿性能。
在RW刺激型可植入式中耳听力装置的设计中，必须考虑换能器的质量、换能器的质量、施加的静态预载以及耦合层的特性的影响。
