A neural implant ASIC for the restoration of balance in individuals with vestibular dysfunction

This paper describes an ASIC developed as part of a neural prosthesis to restore balance to individuals with a dysfunctional vestibular end-organ. The device interfaces with inertia sensors; sensing acceleration in five degrees of freedom (three radial and two linear axis), and then conditions, processes and converts the signals to provide the artificial stimulus to the vestibulocochlear nerve. The IC described herein has been realised as part of a board-level solution, also including the sensors, power source and DC blocking capacitors. It is envisaged that this can be later implemented in a system-in-package (SiP) form to provide a totally implantable solution. We describe the design and implementation of the integrated circuit in a standard 0.35 mum CMOS technology.