Flexible hearing aids can benefit from piezoelectric actuators to generate vibrations on epidermis layer of skin behind the ear and noninvasively bypass conductive hearing loss. However, the major challenge is to generate a strong level of vibrations on the surface of skin that can reach cochlea with thin and low-power actuators. Lead zirconium titanate has a high piezoelectric constant and can generate vibrations with elevated levels of force and acceleration. In this paper, we assembled arrays of unimorph piezoelectric actuators composed of lead zirconium titanate to increase the vibration level and overcome damping in flexible substrate, skin, and bone. Finite element analysis was conducted to study the vibrations from a single actuator as well as an array of actuators. Also, the experimental data showed that an array of two actuators with adjusted phase increased the velocity of vibrations by 18 dB at 9 kHz compared to a single actuator on a flat aluminum foundation.
Conductive hearing loss (CHL) is the most common type of hearing impairment among infants and young children. Most conductive hearing aids, including bone-anchored aids, are invasive and require surgical procedures to be implanted into the skull. In addition, non-invasive wearable conductive hearing aids are bulky, rigid, and unstable. Neither aid is ideal for infants and pediatric patients with conductive hearing loss. Here, we implemented a unimorph piezoelectric actuator into a flexible substrate to achieve a micro-epidermal actuator for non-invasive Band-Aid-like conductive hearing aids. The flexible aid will generate vibrations on the surface of skin and transmit to the cochlea through a skin-bone path, thus bypassing obstructions and damage in the auditory canal. We used finite element analysis to study vibrations from microepidermal actuators and obtain output force level. A Laser Doppler vibrometer was also used to measure displacement of vibrations for an actuator placed on a segment of a cadaveric skull calvarium.
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