NSF Convergence Accelerator Track M: Distributed Flexible Strain Sensors to Enable Proprioceptive Cochlear Implant Electrodes

现代微创外科技术采用灵活且可连续变形的导管、内窥镜和电极来导航人体解剖结构的复杂缠绕。然而，这些装置目前缺乏感觉反馈，并且由于无意的手术创伤，可能带来严重的并发症风险。这个融合研究项目将结合多学科专业知识，使薄的可变形医疗器械，包括电极和导管，可以检测自己的变形，并通过生物启发的方法合成有临床意义的数据解释。这个项目将其重点缩小到一个单一的应用：人工耳蜗（CIs）来解决听力损失（HL），这是我们老龄化社会的一个普遍问题，也是痴呆症和抑郁症的主要原因。本研究旨在提高CI手术的预后和安全性，帮助减轻HL患者的负担和成本，促进美国公众的健康和福利。在这项研究中开发的系统和方法可以应用于未来的其他外科手术，从而为更大一部分美国公众带来积极的影响。这项研究的最终成果将是实现一种柔性薄膜分布式应变传感器阵列，并附带机器学习模型，当与CI电极配对时，可以提取有临床意义的数据。该项目采用融合研究方法，结合多个观点和学科，考虑到外科领域的需求以及工程和设计方面的机会。此外，传感器系统被设计成无缝集成到CIs中，而不会给植入物增加任何额外的体积或刚度，从而使系统与外科医生使用多年的传统植入物和技术互操作。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Modern minimally-invasive surgical techniques employ flexible and continuously deformable catheters, endoscopes, and electrodes to navigate the complex windings of human anatomy. However, these devices currently lack sensory feedback and can carry a significant risk of complications due to inadvertent surgical trauma. This convergence research project will combine multidisciplinary expertise to enable thin deformable medical instruments, including electrodes and catheters, which will detect their own deformation and synthesize clinically-meaningful interpretations of the data via a bio-inspired approach. This project narrows its focus to a single application: cochlear implants (CIs) to address hearing loss (HL), a widespread problem in our aging society, which is also a leading cause of dementia and depression. This research aims to improve outcomes and safety of CI surgery, help relieve the burden and costs of HL to patients, and advance the health and welfare of the American public. The systems and methods developed in this research can be applied to additional surgical procedures in the future to enable a positive impact for an even larger portion of the American public. The culmination of this research will be to realize a flexible thin-film distributed strain sensor array with accompanying machine learning models to extract clinically-meaningful data when paired with a CI electrode. The project follows a convergence research approach to incorporate multiple viewpoints and disciplines, considering the needs in the surgical field and the opportunities in engineering and design. Furthermore, the sensor system is designed to be seamlessly integrated into CIs without adding any extra bulk or stiffness to the implant, thus making the system interoperable with the traditional implants and techniques that surgeons have been using for years.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.