Ultra-Wideband Transceivers for Cochlear Implants
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Ultra-Wideband Transceivers for Cochlear Implants Thomas Buchegger Linz Center of Competence in Mechatronics, Altenbergerstraße 69, 4040 Linz, Austria Email: [email protected]
Gerald Oßberger Linz Center of Competence in Mechatronics, Altenbergerstraße 69, 4040 Linz, Austria Email: [email protected]
Alexander Reisenzahn Institute for Microelectronic, Johannes Kepler University of Linz, Altenbergerstraße 69, 4040 Linz, Austria Email: [email protected]
Erwin Hochmair Institute for Applied Physics, Leopold Franzens University of Innsbruck, Technikerstraße 25, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria Email: [email protected]
Andreas Stelzer Institute for Communications and Information Engineering, Johannes Kepler University of Linz, Altenbergerstraße 69, 4040 Linz, Austria Email: [email protected]
Andreas Springer Institute for Communications and Information Engineering, Johannes Kepler University of Linz, Altenbergerstraße 69, 4040 Linz, Austria Email: [email protected] Received 29 April 2004; Revised 21 January 2005 Ultra-wideband (UWB) radio offers low power consumption, low power spectral density, high immunity against interference, and other benefits, not only for consumer electronics, but also for medical devices. A cochlear implant (CI) is an electronic hearing apparatus, requiring a wireless link through human tissue. In this paper we propose an UWB link for a data rate of 1.2 Mbps and a propagation distance up to 500 mm. Transmitters with step recovery diode and transistor pulse generators are proposed. Two types of antennas and their filter characteristics in the UWB spectrum will be discussed. An ultra-low-power back tunnel diode receiver prototype is described and compared with conventional detector receivers. Keywords and phrases: broadband antenna, cochlear implant, detector receiver, step recovery diode, back tunnel diode, ultrawideband.
1.
INTRODUCTION
A cochlear implant is an electronic hearing device intended to help severely profoundly deaf individuals who gain little or no benefit from hearing aids [1]. It consists of two main parts: an internal implanted part and an external part This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
known as the speech processor. Sounds are picked up by a microphone which feeds the speech processor that converts the sound into electrical signals. The transmission system transmits the electrical signals, transcutaneous or percutaneous, to the implanted electrodes. The electrode or an electrode array, inserted into the cochlea by a surgeon, stimulates the auditory nerves. The majority of the CI manufacturers (Nucleus, Clarion, Med-El) use a transcutaneous link with an external and an implanted coil for the radio frequency link.
3070
EURASIP Journal on Applied Signal Processing
UWB EIRP emission level (dBm/MHz)
−40
using an UWB link, the lifetime of the implant’s battery, is o
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