A Review of an Implantable Middle Ear Microphone: New Floating Piezoelectric Microphone

An increasing number of (those with severe and profound sensorineural hearing loss, SSHL / PSHL) have benefited from cochlear implants (CIs). The exterior components of CIs, including the speech processing system, exterior coil, power supply component, and microphone (sensor), can be attract attention and inconvenient, may embarrass patients, can limit patients’ social activities, can cause the inevitability of silent sleep (24/7 h) and complicate patients’ daily activities, for example, during bathing or while participating in swimming or other sports [1,2]. To eliminate these disadvantages, totally implantable cochlear implants (TICIs) must be studied. The most essential challenge is the implantable microphone (sensor), which needs to be collect acoustic signals and convert them into electrical signals.