Polymeric fiber sensors for insertion forces and trajectory determination of cochlear implants in hearing preservation

Dinusha Serandi Gunawardena; Jingxian Cui; Xin Cheng; Arvind N Vadivelu; Alireza Mohammadi; Geraldi Edbert; Zhengyong Liu; Bernard Chen; Denny Oetomo; Stephen O'Leary; Hwa-Yaw Tam

doi:10.1016/j.bios.2022.114866

Polymeric fiber sensors for insertion forces and trajectory determination of cochlear implants in hearing preservation

Biosens Bioelectron. 2023 Feb 15:222:114866. doi: 10.1016/j.bios.2022.114866. Epub 2022 Nov 4.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Electrical Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong S.A.R, China; Photonics Research Institute, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong S.A.R, China. Electronic address: dinusha.gunawardena@polyu.edu.hk.
² Department of Electrical Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong S.A.R, China; Photonics Research Institute, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong S.A.R, China. Electronic address: jingxian.cui@connect.polyu.hk.
³ Department of Electrical Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong S.A.R, China; Photonics Research Institute, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong S.A.R, China.
⁴ Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, 3010, Australia.
⁵ Department of Electrical Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong S.A.R, China.
⁶ Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Information Processing Chips and Systems, School of Electronics and Information Technology, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, China.
⁷ Department of Otolaryngology, University of Melbourne and the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital, Victoria, 3002, Australia.

PMID: 36463651
DOI: 10.1016/j.bios.2022.114866

Abstract

The level of hearing restoration in patients with severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss by means of cochlear implants (CIs) has drastically risen since the introduction of these neuroprosthetics. The proposed CI integrated with polymer optical fiber Bragg gratings (POFBGs) enables real-time evaluation of insertion forces and trajectory determination during implantation irrespective of the speed of insertion, as well as provides high signal quality, low stiffness levels, minimum induced stress even under forces of high magnitudes and exhibits significant reduction of the risk of fiber breakage inside the constricted cochlear geometry. As such, the proposed device opens new avenues towards atraumatic cochlear implantations and provides a direct route for the next generation of CIs with intraoperative insertion force assessment and path planning capacity crucial for surgical navigation. Hence, adaptation of this technology to clinical reality holds promising prospects for the hearing impaired.

Keywords: Cochlear implants; Hearing preservation; Insertion force measurement; Polymeric optical fiber Bragg gratings; Trajectory determination.

MeSH terms

Biosensing Techniques*
Cochlea / surgery
Cochlear Implantation*
Cochlear Implants*
Hearing
Humans