Chang Jinke, Maltby Thomas, Moineddini Amirbahador, Shi Daqian, Wu Lei, Chen Jishizhan, Yu Jianshu, Hung Jeffrey, Viola Giuseppe, Vilches Antonio, Song Wenhui
UCL Centre for Biomaterials in Surgical Reconstruction and Regeneration, Department of Surgical Biotechnology, Division of Surgery & Interventional Science, University College London, London NW3 2PF, UK.
The UCL Institute of Health Informatics, University College London, 222 Euston Rd., London NW1 2DA, UK.
Sci Adv. 2025 May 9;11(19):eadl2741. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adl2741. Epub 2025 May 7.
Hearing loss, affecting individuals of all ages, can impair education, social function, and quality of life. Current treatments, such as hearing aids and implants, aim to mitigate these effects but often fall short in addressing the critical issue of accurately pinpointing sound sources. We report an intelligent hearing system inspired by the human auditory system: asymmetric well-aligned piezoelectric nanofibers combined with neural networks to mimic natural auditory processes. Piezoelectric nanofibers with spirally varying lengths and directions transmit and convert acoustic sound into mechanoelectrical signals, mimicking the complex cochlear dynamics. These signals are then encoded by digital neural networks, enabling accurate sound direction recognition. This intelligent hearing system surpasses human directional hearing, accurately recognizing sound directions horizontally and vertically. The advancement represents a substantial stride toward next-generation artificial hearing, harmonizing transduction and perception with a nature-inspired design. It promises for applications in hearing aids, wearable devices, and implants, offering enhanced auditory experiences for those with hearing impairments.
听力损失影响所有年龄段的人，会损害教育、社会功能和生活质量。目前的治疗方法，如助听器和植入物，旨在减轻这些影响，但在解决准确定位声源这一关键问题上往往效果不佳。我们报告了一种受人类听觉系统启发的智能听力系统：不对称排列良好的压电纳米纤维与神经网络相结合，以模拟自然听觉过程。具有螺旋状变化长度和方向的压电纳米纤维将声音传输并转换为机电信号，模仿复杂的耳蜗动态。然后这些信号由数字神经网络进行编码，实现准确的声音方向识别。这种智能听力系统超越了人类的定向听力，能够准确识别水平和垂直方向的声音。这一进展代表了向新一代人工听力迈出的重要一步，通过受自然启发的设计实现了转导和感知的协调。它有望应用于助听器、可穿戴设备和植入物，为听力受损者提供增强的听觉体验。
