231results about "Ear implants" patented technology

A canal hearing device has a subminiature filament assembly which vibrates and directly drives the tympanic membrane (eardrum) and imparts audible mechanical vibrations thereto. The filament assembly is partially supported by the tympanic membrane via capillary adhesion thereto and is dynamically coupled to a stationary vibration force element position at a distance from the tympanic membrane within the ear canal. The elongated filament assembly is freely movable within an operable range and is essentially floating with respect to the vibration force element. In a preferred embodiment, the vibrational filament assembly comprises a magnetic section which is insertable into the air-core of an electromagnetic coil. The filament assembly is coupled to the tympanic membrane via an articulated tympanic contact coupler.

The present invention provides a method of repairing a tympanic membrane deformity, such as a tympanic membrane perforation, commonly referred to as tympanoplasty or myringoplasty, using a collagen biofabric. The collagen biofabric is preferably laminated. The invention further provides kits comprising one or more pieces of collagen biofabric, for example laminated collagen biofabric, for the repair of a tympanic membrane.

An electromechanical actuator (100) suitable, for example, in hearing aid applications is disclosed. Certain embodiments of the actuator comprise a hermetic titanium housing (1), a mechanical output structure (110) emulating the long process of incus (8), and means for efficiently generating movement in the audible frequency range. The electromechanical actuator (100) may be configured to be coupled to the inner ear fluids via a conventional stapes prosthesis. The implantable actuator (100), which may be considered to be operably equivalent to a loudspeaker of a conventional hearing aid, may bypass the outer and the middle ear in order to directly drive the inner ear fluids. As such, embodiments of the electromechanical actuator of the present invention may be used to remedy any source of conductive hearing loss. Additionally, certain embodiments of the electromechanical actuator may be configured to provide sufficiently high output levels to treat severe sensorineural hearing loss while being sufficiently small to completely fit into a human mastoid.

A textile prosthesis comprising a unitary body of predetermined shape having structural integrity, the body including at least one anchorage body portion for attachment to an anatomical body part, the body being composed of a combination of binding yarns and tensile load bearing filaments, the binding yarns being located at least in the or in each of said anchorage body portions and being interconnected to one another by sewn stitches, the tensile load bearing filaments being located inbetween said stitches so as to be constrained to extend through said unitary body along predetermined pathways extending in one or more predetermined directions so as to render the body resistance to stretch when a tensile load is applied in said one or more predetermined directions.

An auditory ossicle prosthesis with a first and a second securing element for mechanical securement in the middle ear as well as a connecting element, which is rigidly connected to the securing elements and connects them to each other and has a receiving part and a push-in part that can be pushed into a receiving opening of the same, the connecting element being designed so as to be variable in length in the axial direction between the receiving part and the push-in part, and it being possible for the receiving part and the push-in part to be clamped in a desired relative coaxial pushed-in position, characterized in that the clamping force F_K between the receiving part and the push-in part in the clamped state is at least 10 times, preferably approximately 100 times, greater than the maximum external forces naturally occurring in the middle ear in the region of the ossicles. In this way it is possible in a simple manner for a desired, defined length of the prosthesis to be established even before it is clamped in between the two securing points, and for this length to be maintained exactly with a lasting effect even after completion of the operation, for example after the insertion of a second securing element, formed as a piston, through a perforated stirrup footplate.

The present invention relates to a method for repairing cartilage defects in a patient. According to the current invention, a porous material having at least expandable or compressible properties is implanted into a cartilage defect.

Provided herein is methods of treating a medical implant and methods of using the same.

A bioelectronic device and method of making is disclosed. The device includes a scaffold formed via 3D printing. The device also includes a biologic and an electronic device formed via 3D printing, the biologic and electronic device being interweaved with or coupled to the scaffold. The electronic component may e.g., include at least one of hard conductors, soft conductors, insulators and semiconductors. The scaffold may be formed of at least one of synthetic polymers and natural biological polymers. The biologic may include at least one of animal cells, plant cells, cellular organelles, proteins and DNA (including RNA).

A middle ear prosthesis comprises a body of deformable material capable of retaining different shapes. The body comprises a slotted wall defining a cavity for receiving a bone of the middle ear. The wall is deformable proximate slots in the wall between an open position for receiving the bone and a closed position wherein the body is reshaped to grasp the bone.

An improved implantable auditory stimulation system includes two or more implanted microphones for transcutaneous detection of acoustic signals. Each of the implanted microphones provides an output signal. The microphone output signals may be combinatively utilized by an implanted processor to generate a signal for driving an implanted auditory stimulation device. The implanted microphones may be located at offset subcutaneous locations and/or may be provided with different design sensitivities, wherein combinative processing of the microphone output signals may yield an improved drive signal. In one embodiment, the microphone signal may be processed for beamforming and/or directionality purposes.

Provided herein are various connectors that allow for translating the axial movement of an implantable hearing transducer 108 from a first direction to a second direction. In various arrangements, these connectors form a spanning connector 200 that extend across a portion of a tympanic cavity of a patient. One end 202 of the connector 200 may be affixed to the tympanic cavity, and a second end 204 may engage an auditory component. In such an arrangement, a vibratory actuator 112 may engage the connector 200 between the first and second ends 22, 204. Such an arrangement may provide improved alignment of actuator movement with a direction of movement of an auditory component.

Provided is an artificial eardrum using silk protein and a method of fabricating the same. The artificial eardrum is fabricated in the form of a silk membrane by desalinating and drying silk protein (or silk fibroin) or a silk protein complex solution obtained after removal of sericin from a silkworm cocoon or silk fiber. Thus, regeneration of an eardrum perforated due to disease or a sudden accident is stimulated, a boundary of the regenerated eardrum is clean and biocompatibility and transparency are increased. In addition, the artificial eardrum may be fabricated using the silk protein or silk protein complex solution obtained from a silkworm cocoon alone or mixed with collagen, alginic acid, PEG or pluronic 127.

An ossicular prosthesis delivery system having an ossicular prosthesis including an enlarged head and a shaft axially, moveably mounted to the head to adjust shaft length. An elongate main body having an operating portion, including a cylindrical through bore, connected to an adjusting portion, including a generally semi-cylindrical upwardly opening channel coaxial with the bore. An end wall at a distal end of the adjusting portion includes a through passage coaxial with the channel and an upwardly opening cavity. An elongate cylindrical plunger has a claw at one end. The plunger is received in the bore with the claw in the channel and an opposite end extending outwardly of the operating portion. The ossicular prosthesis' shaft is positioned in the channel with the head received in the cavity and the plunger is rotatable in the bore to capture the shaft and is reciprocally moveable in the bore to adjust shaft length of the ossicular prosthesis.

An auditory ossicle prosthesis (10) which comprises, at one end, a plate-shaped first securing element (11) for bearing on the tympanic membrane or on the footplate of the stirrup, and, at the other end, a second securing element (12) for mechanical connection to the ossicular chain or to the inner ear, and also a connection element (13) that connects the two securing elements so as to conduct sound, wherein the first securing element has a radially inner coupling area (14) for coupling the first securing element to the connection element, and also a plurality of web elements (15) for radial connection of the coupling area to radially outer portions (16) of the first securing element, is characterized in that the coupling area, the web elements and the radially outer portions are of such a geometric configuration, and their material so chosen, that a plastic deformation is effected by stretching or pushing together in the plane of the plate of the first securing element, by means of which plastic deformation the external diameter of the first securing element is permanently increased or reduced. This means that the number of different prostheses to be kept ready during an operation can be reduced to a single standard prosthesis, without losing the possibility of optimal adaptation of the prosthesis to the specific case of use.

A passive ossicular prosthesis includes a first and second fastening element for connection to the tympanic membrane. A connecting element connects the fastening elements in a sound-conducting manner. The connecting element includes a receiving part and an insertion part. The insertion part is inserted into a receiving opening of the receiving part. The receiving part encloses an end section of the insertion part in the manner of a clamp by way of two opposing, parallel legs disposed parallel to a shank axis of the connecting element. The legs have catch devices that fix the enclosed end section discrete spatial positions relative to the shank axis.

The present invention concerns an actuator for an implantable hearing aid for implantation into the human middle ear. The actuator comprises a substantially elongate piezoelectric component (34, 36) having first and second operating end faces (41, 43), said end faces extending substantially at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the piezoelectric component. Also there is provided a frame component comprising at least one flextensional amplifier element (32), the flextensional amplifier element being integral with and connecting first and second frame end portions (42, 44), the first and second frame end portions also extending substantially at right angles to longitudinal axis of the piezoelectric component when fitted thereto, whereby the first and second end portions are in contact with the piezoelectric component end faces.

An ossicular prosthesis is described which includes an elongated prosthesis member having a proximal end and a distal end. A cochlea striker mass is at the distal end of the prosthesis member and includes an outer striking surface for coupling vibration of the striker mass to an outer cochlea surface of a recipient patient. A locking clamp is at the proximal end of the prosthesis member and includes a clamp strap having a fixed end and a free end, and a locking head at the fixed end of the clamp strap which has a strap opening for insertion of the free end of the clamp strap. The clamp strap passes around an ossicle of the middle ear in a closed loop and is fixedly engaged by the locking head such that acoustic vibration of the ossicle is coupled by the prosthesis member to the cochlea surface.