In this paper, the voice signal processing module has been designed using the micro processor for the use of fully implantable middle ear devices (F-IMEHD). The voice signal processing module for F-IMEHD should be designed to compensate for the hearing loss of hearing impaired person and have the flexibility for compensating various hearing threshold level. So, the voice signal processing module has been designed and implemented to present the various frequency characteristics using the low-power micro processor, MSP430F169. The different voice signal path to the inner ear entrance was considered so that two voice signal would be combined in-phase using an all pass filter with a constant time-delay to improve the vibration of the ossicles.

In this paper, a simple piezoelectric floating mass transducer (PFMT) for implantable middle ear hearing devices (IMEHDs) is proposed and its modeling and designing are studied. The transducer which can be implanted in the meddle ear consists of a PMN-PT multi-layered piezoelectric actuator, an elastic material, and a metal case. The proposed transducer has a simple structure and the force generated from the piezoelectric actuator is efficiently transferred to the ossicles of the middle ear. For the analysis of the vibration characteristics, the transducer attached on the ossicle is simplified into a simple mechanical model considering the mass of an incus. And the vibration displacement of the model is calculated using computer simulation and verified by the experimental results. It is shown that the designed PFMT can allow implantation in the middle ear cavity and provide a sufficiently high output of more than 100 nm of vibration displacement. Plus, it is verified that the vibration characteristics of PFMT can be controlled through adjustment of the metal case size and the elastic material of the transducer.

A differential electromagnetic transducer (DET) was implemented using micro electro mechanical system (MEMS) technology for use in an implantable middle ear (IME) system. The DET is designed to have good vibration efficiency and structure that can't be interfered by the external environmental magnetic field. In order to preserve the uniform vibration performance, the MEMS technology was introduced to manufacture the elastic membrane using polyimide that is softer than silicon. Using the finite element analysis (FEA), vibration characteristics are simulated and designed so that the resonance frequency of the membrane is closed to that of the middle ear. The results of the vibration experiments of the developed DET showed excellent results. We implemented the IME system using a DET and implanted it into a dog. This showed the IME system performed well in a living body.

In this paper, for the fully-implantable middle ear hearing devices (F-IMEHD), a transcutaneous recharging system that has the function of the bi-directional signal transmission with the implant module in a body as well as recharging battery has been designed and implemented. The electromagnetic coupling method using two coils has been adopted for the transfer of electrical power to recharge internal battery of the implant module. To increase the efficiency of power transfer, the switching frequency of recharging system is determined by the consideration of the resonance of LC tank circuits. The bidirectional signal transmission between the recharging system and the implant module has been designed through the on-off keying modulation of switching signal in the recharging system and the impedance variation of LC tank circuit in the implant module. Through the demonstration of the implemented system, it has been verified that the proposed system has the performance of bidirectional signal transmission with the implant module of F-IMEHDs as well as the battery recharging.

In this paper, the pressure monitoring telemetry system has been designed and implemented for an accurate pressure measure-ment inside the gastrointestinal tract with minimizing pain and inconvenience. The system is composed of a miniaturized pres-sure measurement capsule and an external receiver. The per-formance of the telemetry capsule for monitoring pressure in the gastrointestinal tract is demonstrated by the results of animal in-vivo experiments.