A STIMULATOR WITH WIRELESS POWER AND SIGNAL TRANSMISSION FOR IMPLANTATION IN ANIMAL-EXPERIMENTS AND OTHER APPLICATIONS

Functional electrical stimulation in alert experimental animals is oft en hampered, as free mobility of the animals is limited by the leads. On the other hand, portable devices carrying the power supply are not always accepted by the animal. For wireless transmission of power and stimulus code a system designed for implantation is described below. T he power for the implant is supplied inductively by a rotating magneti c field. The stimulation signal is radio-transmitted by FM in the 140 MHz range and processed by the implant. Finally, a current source is d riven for electrical stimulation. The present design is intended to be used for electrical cochlear stimulation. However, the circuit can al so be used for other types of functional electrical stimulation. (C) 1 998 Elsevier Science B.V.