Microfabricated Cochlear Electrode Arrays

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): In the USA, about 36 million adults suffer from hearing loss and three out of every 1,000 children are born deaf or hard-of-hearing. When conventional hearing aids provide no appreciable benefit, implantable electronicdevices using electrode arrays inside the cochlea are a viable solution. With these cochlear implants, the profoundly deaf achieve reasonable word recognition in quiet environments. However, current technology has limited capabilities and little room for innovation due to the use of hand assembly for the implanted electrode arrays. This tedious manufacturing method is very costly, extremely labor-intensive, and inadequate in implementing new technologies for improving speech recognition and music appreciation. A superior alternative to hand assembly is MEMS fabrication, which is a fully automated, low cost, and high yield manufacturing process that is capable of implementing a variety of innovations, including smaller array size for residual hearing pre