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US 9,427,568 B2Granted
Hearing prosthesis electrode array with resiliently flexible tip member
AssigneeCochlear Limited
InventorsFysh Dadd, Claudiu Treaba, Peter Gibson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A tip member for inserting into the cochlea, a device comprising: an elongate member including at least one electrode mounted thereon; and a tip member extending distally from a distal end of the elongate member, the tip member comprising a tapered portion tapering distally and a blunt end portion at a distal end of the tapered portion, wherein the tip member is resiliently flexible, and a method for making such a device.
Claims27
A hearing prosthesis comprising:
- an elongate member, configured to be implanted into a duct of a recipient's cochlea, having a preformed curved orientation, proximal and distal ends, electrodes disposed thereon, and a longitudinally-extending lumen for receiving a stiffening element;
- and
- a tip member, extending distally from the distal end of the elongate member, configured to have a substantially uniform bending stress distribution in an axial direction, and a length sufficiently short to avoid substantially damaging walls of the duct when the elongate member is in a fully implanted location in the cochlea, and sufficiently long to guide the elongate member through the duct to the fully implanted location as the elongate member adopts its preformed curved orientation in response to withdrawal of the stiffening element from the lumen.
A hearing prosthesis comprising:
- an elongate member, configured to be implanted into a duct of a recipient's cochlea, having a preformed curved orientation, proximal and distal ends, electrodes disposed thereon, and a longitudinally-extending lumen for receiving a stiffening element;
- and
- a tip member, extending distally from the distal end of the elongate member, having a substantially uniform bending stress distribution and a length sufficiently long to prevent the tip member from folding over as the elongate member adopts the preformed curved orientation in response to withdrawal of the stiffening element from the lumen.
A hearing prosthesis comprising:
- an elongate member, configured to be implanted into a duct of a recipient's cochlea, having a preformed curved orientation, proximal and distal ends, electrodes disposed thereon, and a longitudinally-extending lumen for receiving a stiffening element;
- and
- a tip member, extending distally from the distal end of the elongate member, having a substantially uniform bending stress distribution and a length sufficiently long to prevent the tip member from catching on the duct wall as the elongate member adopts the preformed curved orientation in response to withdrawal of the stiffening element from the lumen.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.