Linear Feedthrough Placement for Hermetic Sealing in Implantable Hearing Prostheses
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current hearing prostheses, such as cochlear implants, face challenges in providing effective sound perception for individuals with sensorineural hearing loss, as they rely on air conduction principles, which may not adequately address conductive hearing loss, and existing devices lack efficient methods for hermetic sealing and structural reinforcement in implantable components.
Innovation Solution
The development of an implantable hearing prosthesis with a housing that includes a linear feedthrough assembly for hermetic sealing, a battery for power, and a feedthrough conductor arrangement to provide structural reinforcement, allowing for both air and bone conduction stimulation and ensuring the device's integrity within the body.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If conventional hearing aids using air conduction are used, then sensorineural hearing loss is addressed, but conductive hearing loss is not adequately treated
Solution Approach 1:
The implantable hearing prosthesis is designed to provide both air conduction and bone conduction stimulation capabilities within a single device, enabling it to effectively treat both sensorineural and conductive hearing loss. The device includes a housing with openings for air conduction and a bone conduction transducer for direct skull vibration, making it universally applicable to different types of hearing impairment.
2Reliability
If existing hermetic sealing methods are used in implantable components, then basic sealing is achieved, but structural reinforcement is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The feedthrough assembly combines hermetic sealing and structural reinforcement functions into a single integrated component. The linear feedthrough conductors are arranged in a reinforced structure that provides both the hermetic barrier against body fluids and the necessary mechanical strength to support the housing and withstand implantation forces, eliminating the need for separate sealing and strengthening components.
3Volume of moving object
If the housing is made compact to minimize implant size, then insertion ease is improved, but space for feedthrough assembly is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The feedthrough conductors are arranged in a linear configuration that optimizes space utilization within the compact housing. By positioning the conductors in a straight line through the housing wall rather than using traditional circular or scattered arrangements, the design accommodates the feedthrough assembly in a space-efficient manner, maintaining small overall device dimensions while ensuring proper conductor placement and hermetic sealing.
Data Source
AI summary
A device, including a housing of a medical device configured to be implanted in a human recipient, the housing having at least one opening on one side of the housing, and a linear feedthrough assembly, wherein the linear feedthrough assembly closes the opening, the housing has a length, a width, and a height, wherein the height is the smallest dimension, and the opening is located in at least about the center of at least one of the length or the width, and the opening faces a direction normal to a plane established by the length and the width.