Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research (대한의용생체공학회:의공학회지)

The Korean Society of Medical and Biological Engineering (대한의용생체공학회)
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Ear Canal Insertable Size Wireless Transceiver for Hearing Aid

  • Woo, Sang-Hyo (School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Kyungpook National University) ;
  • Mohy-Ud-Din, Zia (Dept. of Biomedical Eng., Kyungpook National University Hospital) ;
  • Yoon, Young-Ho (Defense Agent for Technology and Quality) ;
  • Kim, Min-Kyu (School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Kyungpook National University) ;
  • Lee, Jyung-Hyun (Dept. of Biomedical Eng., Kyungpook National University Hospital) ;
  • Kim, Myoung-Nam (Dept. of Biomedical Engineering, School of medicine, Kyungpook National University) ;
  • Cho, Jin-Ho (School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Kyungpook National University)
  • Received : 2009.10.28
  • Accepted : 2010.01.25
  • Published : 2010.02.28
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Abstract

The aim of this study was to test the feasibility of a wireless transceiver that can be inserted into the ear canal. The wireless technology could minimize the cosmetic problems of patients, and it can be applied to binaural hearing aids for improving speech perception. In order to implement the ear canal insertable transceiver, simple finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulations were carried out to determine the feasibility, and the hardware of the transceiver was implemented within the ear shell. The size of the implemented transceiver was only $7{\times}7mm$, and it could successfully transmit signals to external devices. In order to measure the radiation pattern, a simple RF phantom was used, and the maximum attenuation from the phantom was observed to be 23 dB when the reference antenna was placed at a distance of 2 m from the transmitter.

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