Implex Aktiengesellschaft Hearing Technology

Other

Implex Gmbh Spezialhorgerate

Implex Gmgh Spezialhorgerate

Cochlear Limited

Gerd M Muller

Hans Leysieffer

Joachim W Baumann

Rolf Martin Lehner

Felix Oden

Andreas Volz

Gabriele E Reischl

Dieter Muller

Klaus Bodganowitz

Uta Hopken

Martin Lipp

Gabriele Reischl

Klaus Bogdanowitz

A protective device for a repeatedly rechargeable electrochemical battery (10) with a battery housing (12), the protective device having at least one switching element (86) which can be activated by a detector element (62) and which is designed or adjusted to prevent recharging and/or discharging of the battery (10) in an impermissible operating state thereof. The protective device has a hermetically sealed protective housing (54) which holds the battery housing (12). An impermissible operating state of the battery (10) causes a change in shape (deflection) to be impressed on the detector element (62). Preferably, the at least one switching element (86) is made as a make contact which electrically short circuits a recharging circuit supplied by a charging device when a predetermined expansion in the volume of the battery housing (12) and/or gas escape therefrom occurs. The protective device is part of an implantable device, such as a hearing aid.

Protective device for a repeatedly rechargeable electrochemical battery

An improved implantable thermoelectric energy converter for converting thermal energy generated by an implant wearer into electrical power for supplying electric power to an at least partially implanted active device, the implantable thermoelectric energy converter including a hot pole, a cold pole, and a plurality of individual modules electrically coupled to one another disposed between the hot pole and the cold pole. In particular, the hot pole thermally couples one end of the plurality of individual modules to an implantation site having a temperature substantially that of a core body temperature and the cold pole thermally couples another end of the plurality of individual modules to an implantation site closer to an outer skin surface of the implant wearer. In another embodiment, the implantable thermoelectric energy converter may also include an implantable energy storage for collecting and temporarily storing the electric power generated. In accordance with still another embodiment of the present invention, the cold pole of the implantable thermoelectric energy converter may form a cooling body having an enlarged surface area which is adapted to be positioned directly under a skin surface of the implant wearer. In yet another embodiment, the implantable thermoelectric energy converter may be implanted in the skull or neck area of the implant wearer's body.

Process and device for supply of an at least partially implanted active

A fixation element secures to a patient's ear an implantable microphone having a cylindrical housing part with an acoustic inlet membrane after insertion into a hole which crosses a rear bony wall of the patient's auditory canal. The fixation element has a cylindrical sleeve part which surrounds the cylindrical housing part of the microphone and which has projecting, elastic flange parts which can be placed against the side of the wall of the auditory canal which faces the skin of the auditory canal. In use, the elastic flange parts are held in a bent position against an elastic restoring force of the flange parts, before implantation, by applying a holder to the flange parts which allows insertion of the flanges through the hole of the wall of the auditory canal. After the microphone assembly has been inserted through the hole, the holder (which can be, for example, thread or a cap) is removed allowing the elastic flange parts to spring into a position in which they project essentially radially away from the cylindrical sleeve part between the wall of the auditory canal which faces skin of the auditory canal and the skin of the auditory canal.

Fixation element for an implantable microphone

Implantable microphone for implantable hearing aids, which is used for excitation of hearing, such as cochlear implants or hearing aids with mechanical stimulation of the middle or inner ear, with a microphone capsule which is accommodated in a hermetically sealed housing, and with an electrical lead-in wire connector for connecting an implant line to the microphone module. The housing has at least two legs which are oriented at an angle relative to one another, one leg holding the microphone capsule and being provided with a sound inlet membrane, and the other leg containing the electrical lead-in wire connector. As a result of the two-legged geometry of the microphone housing, the microphone can be implanted after a mastoidectomy in the mastoid cavity such that the leg which has the sound inlet membrane lies in a hole in the posterior wall of the auditory canal so that, by mechanical contact of the membrane with the closed skin of the auditory canal wall, an acoustic signal incident in the external auditory canal is acoustically received, while the leg of the microphone housing containing the electrical lead-in wire connector is in the area of the mastoid tip. Completely implantable hearing aids for electrical excitation of hearing using the implantable microphone, can have, on the implant side, a battery arrangement for power supply which can be recharged transcutaneously via an external charging device. The audiological implant functions can, likewise, be transcutaneously controlled via a remote control.

Implantable microphone and implantable hearing aids utilizing same

A permanently implantable, fixable positioning system (1) for stationary attachment to a human body, without play, preferably to the human skull. It has ball-and-socket joint (3), linear axle (4) fixed stationary to it, and a carriage (5) which is guided on the linear axle for accommodating an implantable actuator or sensor device (6). The combination of the axial degree of freedom of the linear axle (4) with three degrees of rotational freedom of the ball-and-socket joint (3) allows a surgeon four-axis, in-situ positioning of the implantable means especially in the middle ear and mastoid cavities. By using the positioning system, precise positioning of a free active end (16) of the implantable device (6) relative to sensitive anatomical structures of the human body is enabled while avoiding risky relative movements between the implantable device and the body of the patient. The positioning system is thus used more or less as a 'tremor-free artificial hand' of the surgeon. According to one preferred embodiment, the implantable device is an implantable piezoelectric hearing aid transducer of a partially or completely implantable hearing aid.

Implantable positioning and fixing system for actuator and sensor

Growing community of inventors

Unterschleissheim, Germany

Gerd M Muller