Designing and implementation an Electrical Stimulation Device for Estimating Sound Perception in Cochlear Implant Candidates- Construct and Test

Transtympanic Promontory Stimulation Test (TPST) has been suggested to be a useful tool in predicting the effectiveness of cochlear implant surgery. This test is helpful for patients with poor auditory neuron functioning and individuals with a long auditory deprivation. It can provide a way to find a correlation between the dynamic range of the auditory nerve with the electrical dynamic range of the cochlear implant and estimate sound perception. In this study, an electrical stimulation device is designed and constructed that can produce stimulation with specific features. The device has two parts, hardware, and software. Software is designed as a user interface which installed on PC and helps the user to do a lot of operations for creating a desired electrical stimulation easily utilizing software menus. The data are transferred via serial port and network to hardware and finally, the stimulation is done through an active electrode that located in auditory canal and a passive electrode that can be placed on the mastoid or forehead. To ensure the proper functioning of the device, electrical tests have been done in different conditions. The results are shown that currently generated in a constant load resistance is linear and independent of load resistance.