Numerical study of the PDMS membrane designed for new chamber stapes prosthesis

Abstract

New chamber stapes prosthesis (ChSP) is intended to restore hearing in patients with conductive hearing loss caused by otosclerosis. The proper selection of the membrane stiffness determines the effective prosthesis functioning. In this study, finite element (FE) model and simulation results of the poli-dy-methylo-siloxane (PDMS) membrane thickness are presented. The FE model was created using Abaqus 6.13 software. During simulations, the membrane thickness was adjusted so that its stiffness was similar to the stiffness of the normal stapes annular ligament. The simulation results allow to build a series of ChSP prototypes for preclinical experiments.