A Novel Sensing System for Robotic Cochlear Implants Electrode Array Placement

Intracochlear electrode array insertion is a crucial process for cochlear implant surgery. However, the behavior of the intracochlear electrode array during the insertion remains unclear to surgeons. In order to minimize or eliminate the trauma induced by electrode array insertion, we propose an electrode capacitive sensing method to sense the behaviors of the electrode array during the robotic insertion process. To this end, we take a single capacitance measurement between electrode pair 1 and 2 during the robotic insertion and show experimentally that capacitance signal curves are systematically affected by intracochlear forces between the scala tympani wall and the contact electrode. Therefore, electrode capacitance measurements help track the motion between the electrode array and the cochlear lateral wall during surgeries.