Multi-Joint Insertion

About

Description A spiral strip cochlear implant has been developed which can support hundreds of electrodes located on the outside surface. These implants can far exceed the electrode count of conventional designs and offers the ability to provide highly optimized electrode configurations. This results in an implant that can provide more finely tuned signals to the auditory nerves for each patient as well as providing a greater frequency resolution. The innovative spiral strip cochlear implant is a deformable and stretchable biocompatible flexible strip containing a multitude of conductive strips on the outside surface patterned with micro lithography and rolled or wrapped into a tubular shape. The implant may be implanted using a novel multi-jointed robotic insertion device designed to achieve not only automatic continuous shape optimization during insertion but also configured to achieve superior spiral ganglion electrical stimulation. To accommodate the tapered spiral shape of the cochlea, as the cochlear implant is inserted into the ear, the robot may continuously adjust the angle of a set of joint actuator units on the robot. To detect the position of the cochlear implant relative to the wall of scala tympani, the implant stimulation electrodes may be used as distance sensors by applying scanning electrochemical microscopy. As the robot advances, high resolution maps are constructed enabling the robot to calculate the next incremental angle change of the joint segments independently for each insertion movement. The result is that the system can automatically conform to the shape of the cochlea of each individual patient, thereby placing the cochlear implant within the scala tympani without damage and with superior frequency resolution.