STTR Phase I: Matrix-Addressed, Thin-Film Cochlear Implant Electrode Arrays

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The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project is to significantly improve the quality of life for people with hearing impairments. Hearing loss affects more than 37 million people in the US each year, accounting for 15% of the adult population. The cochlear implant (type of hearing aid) market is estimated at $2 B. This project will develop an implantable hearing aid with improved differentiated speech, sounds, music, and acoustic nuances of daily life. The objective is to address current technical limitations with a technologically superior solution enabling improved pitch specificity and speech perception. This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project seeks to establish the feasibility of a circuit design to significantly increase the capabilities of hearing aids by eliminating the current data constraints of conventional wire bundle cochlear electrodes. A novel electrical circuit design will be fabricated on a thin-film platform using standard manufacturing equipment. These prototypes will undergo electrical bench tests of performance, reliability, and mechanical tests indicative of implanted patient conditions. This product will improve pitch specificity and speech perception by increasing data processed to enable hearing at higher resolution across a wider frequency range. Moreover, the design enables significant manufacturing improvements with automated semiconductor fabrication processes that significantly reduce production costs and improve product consistency over current hand-made cochlear implant electrodes.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.