Measurement of electric intensity distribution inside a human cadaver cochlea for multichannel cochlear implants

Abstract

ABSTRACT We have proposed a Tripolar Electrode Stimulation Method (TESM) which may succeed in narrowing the stimulation region and continuously moving the stimulation site for cochlear implants. The TESM stimulates the auditory nerve array through lymph liquid using the 3 adjacent electrodes which are selected among the electrodes of an electrode array. The currents from the two electrodes on both sides are emitted and a central electrode receives them. The current received by the central electrode is made equal to the sum of the currents emitted from the electrodes on both sides. In this paper, the electric intensity profiles produced by the TESM and the monopolar stimulation were measured in a human cadaver cochlea and in a saline solution. As a result, in the TESM, the electric intensity profile produced in the human cadaver cochlea was about the same as that in the saline solution. In monopolar stimulation, the electric intensity profile was broader than that of TESM in a human cadaver cochlea.