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Abstract

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.

First Claim