Title :
A preliminary simulation study of virtual channel generated by penetrating optic nerve electrical stimulation
Author :
Jiajia Wang ; Pengjia Cao ; Liming Li ; Menghui Li
Author_Institution :
Sch. of Biomed. Eng., Shanghai Jiao Tong Univ., Shanghai, China
Abstract :
Visual prosthesis is an implantable microelectronic system which collects and processes external image information to stimulate the remaining neural tissue of the visual pathway of the blind, helping them restore some functional vision. This paper focuses on an optic nerve visual prosthesis using penetrating micro-electrode array to stimulate optic nerve fibers. One challenge that visual prosthesis faces is that large amounts of information are needed to be input but the number of stimulating electrodes is limited. To solve this problem, auditory prosthesis uses a "virtual channel" technology to increase the number of auditory perception channels without increasing the number of electrodes. Only a preliminary simulation in retinal prosthesis has been conducted currently about virtual channels. Based on the penetrating optic nerve prosthesis, this study established an optic nerve fiber activation model in response to dual-electrode electrical stimulation. By studying the impact of the electric field interaction induced by dual-electrode simultaneous stimulation on the size and shape of the optic nerve fiber recruitment area, a theoretical reference can be provided to the design of micro-electrode array arrangement and electrical stimulation strategy in virtual channel study of optic nerve prosthesis.
Keywords :
auditory evoked potentials; bioMEMS; biological tissues; biomedical electrodes; biomedical electronics; integrated circuits; microelectrodes; neurophysiology; prosthetics; visual evoked potentials; visual perception; auditory perception channels; auditory prosthesis; blind; dual-electrode electrical stimulation; dual-electrode simultaneous stimulation; electric field interaction; external image information; functional vision; implantable microelectronic system; neural tissue; optic nerve fiber activation model; optic nerve fiber recruitment area; optic nerve fibers; optic nerve visual prosthesis; penetrating microelectrode array; penetrating optic nerve electrical stimulation; preliminary simulation study; virtual channel generation; virtual channel technology; virtual channels; visual pathway; Biomedical engineering; Informatics; electrical stimulation; optic nerve; virtual channel; visual prosthesis;
Conference_Titel :
Biomedical Engineering and Informatics (BMEI), 2014 7th International Conference on
Conference_Location :
Dalian
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4799-5837-5
DOI :
10.1109/BMEI.2014.7002830