PROGRESS REPORT
Basilar Membranes
Biomimetic Artificial Basilar Membranes
for Next-Generation Cochlear Implants
Jongmoon Jang, Jeong Hun Jang, and Hongsoo Choi*
Patients with sensorineural hearing loss can recover their hearing using a
cochlear implant (CI). However, there is a need to develop next-generation
CIs to overcome the limitations of conventional CIs caused by extracorporeal
devices. Recently, artificial basilar membranes (ABMs) are actively studied
for next-generation CIs. The ABM is an acoustic transducer that mimics the
mechanical frequency selectivity of the BM and acoustic-to-electrical energy
conversion of hair cells. This paper presents recent progress in biomimetic
ABMs. First, the characteristics of frequency selectivity of the ABMs by the
trapezoidal membrane and beam array are addressed. Second, to reflect
the latest research of energy conversion technologies, ABMs using various
piezoelectric materials and triboelectric-based ABMs are discussed. Third,
in vivo evaluations of the ABMs in animal models are discussed according
to the target position for implantation. Finally, future perspectives of ABM
studies for the development of practical hearing devices are discussed.
1. Introduction
Hearing restoration has a profound impact on interpersonal
relationships, psychological well-being, quality of life, and
economic independence for people with hearing impair-
ments.[1] In cases of mild hearing impairment, it is possible
to restore hearing through a hearing aid. However, damage to
the hair cells in the cochlea leads to sensorineural hearing loss
(SNHL),[2–4] which results in severe hearing impairment with
loss of more than 90 dB. In 2010, over 30 million people in
the United States and millions more around the world were
reported to be suffering from SNHL.[5,6] At present, the loss
of hair cells is irreversible,[7,8] the standard care for SNHL is
a cochlear implant (CI). The CI is a surgically implanted elec-
tronic device that stimulates the auditory nerve, bypassing
the damaged hair cells in the cochlea.[9–12] Figure 1a shows a
schematic drawing of a CI consisting of an extracorporeal unit
Dr. J. Jang, Prof. H. Choi
Department of Robotics Engineering
DGIST-ETH Microrobot Research Center
Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST)
333, Techno jungang-daero, Hyeonpung-Myeon, Dalseong-Gun
Daegu 42988, Republic of Korea
E-mail: mems@dgist.ac.kr
Prof. J. H. Jang
Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery
Ajou University College of Medicine
164, World cup-ro, Yeongtong-gu, Suwon 16499, Republic of Korea
The ORCID identification number(s) for the author(s) of this article
can be found under https://doi.org/10.1002/adhm.201700674.
DOI: 10.1002/adhm.201700674
Adv. Healthcare Mater. 2017, 6, 1700674 1700674  (1 of 16)
www.advhealthmat.de
and an internal unit (MED-EL, Innsbruck,
Austria). The external unit is composed
of a microphone for sound detection, a
sound processor for converting the sensed
signal into electrical stimulating pulses,
and a radio frequency (RF) coil system for
delivering the pulses to the internal unit.
The internal unit consists of a receiver
to modulate the transmitted signal and
an electrode array to deliver the stimu-
lating pulses to the cochlea (Figure 1b).
Although the CI has been used as a clinical
solution to restore hearing in patients
with SNHL,[13–15] a number of drawbacks
remain. Especially, the extracorporeal
unit can be inconvenient in daily life,
e.g., in taking a shower, participating
in water sports, and sleeping. It is also
associated with aesthetic concerns and
the social stigma of hearing impairment.[5,16–18] In addition, it
requires frequent charging due to high-energy consumption
(typically, 50–750 mW) and is expensive, with a cost typically
of ≈$30 000.[19,20] Due to these limitations, some people with
hearing impairment cannot choose CIs even though it repre-
sents the best clinical solution.[11]
Artificial basilar membranes (ABMs) are an attractive option
to overcome the limitations of conventional CIs.[19,22–27] The
ABM is an acoustic transducer that mimics cochlear tonotopy,
which is the passive mechanical frequency selectivity of the
basilar membrane (BM) and acoustic-to-electrical energy con-
version of the hair cells. Figure 2a shows a schematic diagram
of the human auditory system to explain the mechanical fre-
quency selectivity. The mechanical vibration of the tympanic
membrane is transmitted to the cochlea through the ossi-
cles. The vibration creates a traveling wave inside the fluid-
filled cochlea that is separated by the BM. The BM varies in
width, thickness, and stiffness along the longitudinal direction
such that the basal region responds to high-frequency sound,
while the apical region responds to low-frequency sound.[28–30]
Figure 2b shows a diagram of the organ of Corti, which is
located on the BM. Vibration of the BM deflects the stereocilia
bundle of the outer hair cells. The ionic channel is then opened
and the action potential is generated to stimulate the auditory
nerve.[31–33] Finally, the bioelectric signal is transmitted to the
auditory cortex allowing sounds of various frequencies to be
sensed at the auditory cortex.
For ABMs, mechanical frequency selectivity is achieved by
varying structural parameters, such as the width of the mem-
brane,[22,23,34–39] beam length,[24–27,40–42] and beam thickness.[43]
In addition, acoustic-to-electrical energy conversion is realized
via the piezoelectric effect,[22,23,25,26,39] piezoresistive effect,[44–46]
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capacitive sensing,[47] optical readout method,[19,48] and tri-

boelectric effect.[27] Recently, the piezoelectric and triboelec- Jongmoon Jang is a Ph.D.
tric effect have been actively used to implement self-powered candidate in the Department
ABMs without an external power source. Piezoelectric ABMs of Robotics Engineering at
have been fabricated using various piezoelectric materials, Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of
such as lead zirconate titanate (PZT),[39] aluminum nitride Science and Technology. He
(AlN),[25,26,49,50] polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF),[22,38,51,52] and received his B.S. degree from
PVDF fluoride trifluoroethylene [P(VDF-TrFE))].[23] Kyungpook National University
The tonotopic characteristics of the ABMs demonstrate a in 2010. His doctoral research
proof-of-concept for next-generation CI. In particular, the ABMs focuses on piezoelectric/
can potentially substitute the extracorporeal units of the con- triboelectric artificial basilar
ventional CI composed by a microphone and a signal processor membrane for next-generation
for detecting sound and frequency selectivity, respectively. In cochlear implant.
addition, the ABMs were fabricated by using microelectrome-
chanical system (MEMS) technology for fully implantable or Jeong Hun Jang is an
completely concealable device. Also, the power consumption of assistant professor
the CI can be minimized with a self-powered ABM via piezo- in the Department of
electric or triboelectric effect. Furthermore, the MEMS-based Otorhinolaryngology at
ABMs could be produced in a batch fabrication to reduce the Ajou University College of
manufacturing cost. Medicine. He received his
Recent advances in ABMs have been made through in vivo M.D. and Ph.D. degree from
experiments in which ABMs were applied to animal models. Seoul National University in
The auditory brainstem response (ABR) from deafened guinea 2001 and 2013. His research
pigs were measured using the electrical output induced by focuses on clinical and basic
the ABM under sound pressure.[23,26,27,53,54] Another approach research for cochlear implant
involves implantation of the ABM into the cochlea followed and clinical application of
by evaluation of its tonotopic characteristics.[23] These studies optical coherence tomography in otology.
demonstrated the feasibility of using ABMs as potential CIs.
This manuscript provides a brief overview of recent pro- Hongsoo Choi is an Associate
gress in ABMs for next-generation CIs. In particular, this paper Professor in the Department
reports the frequency selectivity of ABMs according to their of Robotics Engineering and
structural design. In addition, the acoustic-to-electrical energy Co-Director of DGIST-ETH
conversion of the ABMs is discussed in terms of piezoelectric Microrobot Research Center
materials and the triboelectric effect. To verify the feasibility of at Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute
use as a potential CI, in vivo experiments using various ABMs of Science and Technology.
are also reported. Finally, the future prospects and core tech- He received his M.S.
nologies of ABMs for next-generation CIs are discussed. (2003) and Ph.D. (2007)
degrees from the School of
Mechanical and Materials
2. Passive Mechanical Frequency Engineering at Washington
Selectivity of ABMs State University. His general research area is in BioMEMS,
and his curretly research topics are micro/nanorobot, artifi-
The cochlea is a highly sensitive mechanical frequency analyzer cial cochlea, microultrasonic transducers, and biochip.
capable of separating incoming sound signals into 3500 chan-
nels.[34] This is possible due to the BM in the cochlea, which
has characteristics of varying width, thickness, and stiffness studies, White and Grosh developed a microscale membrane-
depending on its position. Inspired by the mechanical proper- type ABM using MEMS technology in 2005.[34] The ABM was
ties of the BM, ABMs have been designed with varying struc- designed as a trapezoidal membrane with exponentially varying
tural parameters, such as width of the membrane, beam length, width, as shown in Figure 3a. The narrow region (left side) of
and beam thickness. In this section, representative ABM the membrane corresponds to the basal region of the BM; the
studies are introduced according to the structural parameters. wide region (right side) corresponds to the apical region. To
In 1970, von Békésy proposed a mechanical cochlear model fabricate the thin membrane, the rear side of the silicon wafer
consisting of two cylindrical tubes with a separating membrane was etched by a deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) process.[59]
between them.[28,55] The two water-filled cylinders correspond To characterize the mechanical frequency selectivity, acoustic
to the scala tympani and scala vestibuli in the cochlea, and the stimulus was applied to the membrane-type ABM through fluid
prestretched membrane clamped with a slot corresponds to filling the chamber under the membrane. The mechanical dis-
the BM. Since von Békésy first analyzed the mechanical fre- placement along the location of the membrane-type ABM was
quency selectivity of the BM, a number of groups have devel- measured using a laser Doppler vibrometer (LDV). The peaks
oped macroscale physical cochlear models.[56–58] Based on these appeared at different locations depending on the input sound

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Figure 1.  a) Schematic illustration of the conventional cochlear implant (CI). Reproduced with permission.[5] Copyright 2015, Institute of Electrical
and Electronics Engineers. b) Photograph of the conventional CI consisting of i) an extracorporeal unit and ii) an internal unit. Copyright MED-EL.[21]

frequency, as shown in Figure 3b; the mechanical frequency
selectivity of the membrane-type ABM was verified using a
mathematical model. These results showed that the membrane-
type ABM with variable width can have frequency selectivity
similar to the BM.
Another parameter involved in mechanical frequency selec-
tivity is the length of beams. As the resonance frequency of a
beam varies depending on its length, an array of beams with
different lengths has mechanical frequency selectivity. Since
Tanaka et al. proposed the fish-bone like silicon resonator
array,[60,61] several groups have developed beam array-type
ABMs.[24–27,40–42,62] Figure 3c shows the beam array-type ABM
developed in 2013 by Kim et al.[24] A MEMS beam array with
both sides fixed was fabricated using an isotropic silicon dry
etching process with XeF2 gas.[63,64] The length of the beams
was increased from 305 to 3200 µm; the shortest beam corre-
sponds to the basal region of the BM, while the longest beam
corresponds to the apical region of the BM. The frequency
selectivity of their beam array-type ABM was characterized by
measuring the mechanical displacements under electrical and
sound stimuli; additionally, finite element analysis (FEA) was
conducted to numerically compute the resonance frequencies
of all of the beams. Figure 3d shows the electrical-to-mechanical
transfer functions of the beam channel array-type ABM; dif-
ferent channels have peaks at different resonance frequencies,
and the resonance frequencies are shifted to a lower frequency
as the beam becomes longer (higher number channel). Thus,
the beam array-type ABM with different lengths can serve as a
mechanical frequency band-pass filter, similar to the BM. Gene­
rally, the beam array or cantilever array-type ABM has a very
clear frequency selectivity compared with the membrane-type
ABM.[22,42]
In general, the thickness of an ABM is difficult to control
due to the limitation of the 2D MEMS fabrication process.
Shintaku et al. first proposed thickness variation of the ABM as
a parameter for mechanical frequency selectivity.[43] An example
of this is given in previous studies in which 64 beams of
various thicknesses, from 2.99 to 142 µm, were fabricated using
gray-scale lithography, as shown in Figure 3e.[65,66] The reso-
nance frequencies of the ABM were measured by LDV while
applying acoustic stimuli and were shown to lie in the range of
11.5–290 kHz (Figure 3f). This study showed that advances in
ABM production could be achieved through the development
of new MEMS technology; however, the resonance frequencies
were too high with respect to the audible frequency range.
3. Mechanical-to-Electrical Energy Conversion
of the ABMs
This section introduces the ABM according to the mechanical-
to-electrical energy conversion method. Although capacitive

Figure 2.  a) Schematic diagram of the human auditory system with an uncoiled cochlea. Due to the varying stiffness, width, and thickness of the
basilar membrane (BM) depending on location, the cochlea has passive mechanical frequency selectivity. b) Schematic illustration of the organ of
Corti. The movement of the BM deflects the hair cells and an action potential is generated, which enables acoustic-to-electrical energy conversion in
the cochlea. Reproduced with permission.[27]

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Figure 3.  a) Photograph of a trapezoidal membrane-type artificial basilar membrane (ABM). b) The displacement response of the membrane-type ABM
depending on the input sound frequency. Reproduced with permission.[34] Copyright 2005, National Academy of Sciences, USA. c) Photograph of a
beam array-type ABM. d) Electrical-to-mechanical transfer functions of the beam array-type ABM. Reproduced with permission.[24] Copyright 2013, IOP
Publishing. e) i) Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image of the beam array-type with nonuniform thickness. ii) SEM images of the thinner beams.
iii) Thicker beams. f) Resonance frequencies of all beams with nonuniform thickness. Reproduced with permission.[43] Copyright 2013, IOP Publishing.

sensing[47] or the optical readout method[19,48] may be advan-
tageous in terms of sensitivity, these mechanisms require a
power source to drive the ABM. Given that the purpose of the
ABM is to operate sustainably in the human body, the piezo-
electric and triboelectric effects that can create self-powered
devices are now being actively studied. Various types of piezo-
electric material, such as PZT,[39] AlN,[25,26,49,50] PVDF,[22,38,51,52]
and P(VDF-TrFE),[23] are used as the active materials for dif-
ferent types of ABM. The advantages of each piezoelectric
material are well reflected in the characteristics of the
ABMs. In this section, representative studies of ABMs using
various piezoelectric materials and the triboelectric effect are
presented.
3.1. Flexible PZT Thin Film-Based ABM
Pb(Zrx, Ti1−x)O3, or PZT, is a commonly used piezoelectric material
due to its high piezoelectric constant and large electromechanical
coupling coefficient.[67–69] Using MEMS technology, PZT has been
applied in various fields, e.g., in pressure sensors,[70–72] energy
harvesters,[73–75] and piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic trans-
ducers (pMUTs).[68,69,76,77] Recently, with the development of a
technique for depositing PZT on a flexible substrate, flexible PZT
has been used in implantable or wearable devices.[78–80] Here, we
discuss ABMs developed using flexible PZT thin film.
In 2014, Lee et al. developed an inorganic piezoelectric
acoustic nanosensor (iPANS) using flexible PZT thin film for

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biomimetic artificial hair cells.[39] Figure 4a shows a schematic
view of the organ of Corti with the flexible PZT thin film.
The authors aimed to insert the flexible ABM into the cochlea
and use it to detect vibration of the BM by generating piezo-
electric output from the PZT film. To verify their hypothesis,
FEA simulation was conducted as shown in the bottom right
of Figure 4a. In the simulation, the flexible PZT thin film can
generate sufficient electrical output (3 V) to stimulate the audi-
tory nerve when mechanical displacement of the BM is about
600 nm under sound pressure.[23] The flexible iPANS was then
fabricated on polyethylene terephthalate film by the laser lift-off
process.[79] The fabricated iPANS was attached to the flexible
trapezoidal silicone membrane (SM) for mechanical frequency
selectivity. Figure 4b shows a conceptual illustration to present
the deflected iPANS on the SM while applying the acoustic
stimulus. Figure 4c shows the fabricated a-, b-, and c-iPANSs
on the SM frequency separator. The locations of a-iPANS and
c-iPANS correspond to apical and basal regions of the BM,
respectively. In addition, the inset of Figure 4c shows the
flexi­bility and mechanical stability of the fabricated iPANS by
attaching the device to a glass rod with a radius of curvature
of 1 cm. Figure 4d shows the working principle of the iPANS

Figure 4.  a) Conceptual schematic diagrams of the organ of Corti. The inorganic piezoelectric acoustic nanosensor (iPANS) using a lead zirconate
titanate (PZT) thin film is located under the BM. b) Schematic diagram of the iPANS attached to the flexible trapezoidal silicone membrane (SM) as
a frequency separator. c) Optical image of the fabricated iPANS with the SM. d) i) Working mechanism for piezoelectricity generation. ii) Applying the
acoustic stimulus, the SM is vibrated at its resonance frequency. Deformation of the iPANS creates a piezoelectric potential difference between adjacent
electrodes. e) The mechanical displacement and piezoelectric output were measured with a laser Doppler vibrometer (LDV) and sound level analyzer,
respectively. Reproduced with permission.[39]

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under sound pressure. The iPANS has interdigitated electrodes
to operate in the d33 mode, which means that the direction
of the generated electric field is parallel to that of the applied
strain.[81,82] When poling is performed by an electric field at
temperatures higher than the Curie temperature, the dipoles
in the PZT thin film are aligned and polarization occurs. The
alignment is maintained even without the external electrical
field because PZT is a ferroelectric material. When the PZT
thin film is deformed by acoustic stimulation, an electric field
is generated between the adjacent electrodes, which can be
expressed by the following equation[39]
D − dijT (1)
E=
εT
where dij is the piezoelectric charge constant and εT is the
permittivity under constant stress. D and T represent the
electric charge density displacement and the stress applied to
the deformed PZT thin film, respectively. When the acoustic
stimulus is applied to the PZT thin film, the electric field (E1)
is (D| − |dijT)/εT, whereas the electric field (E2) is D/εT when
the acoustic stimulus is not applied. Therefore, the electric
field difference (ΔE) with and without the acoustic stimulus is
expressed as − (dijT)/εT. According to the theoretical interpreta-
tion, the electric field difference is strongly dependent on the
piezoelectric charge constant. Therefore, it is advantageous to
use PZT with a relatively high piezoelectric charge constant
(d33 = 60 – 130 pm V−1)[83] to sufficiently stimulate the audi-
tory nerve. Figure 4e shows the mechanical displacement and
piezoelectric output voltage of a-iPANS while applying the
acoustic stimulus in the range of 100–1600 Hz with 40 dB
sound pressure level (SPL). The a-iPANS generated the maxi­
­mum displacement and piezoelectric signal at 500 Hz, which
is the resonance frequency of the SM frequency separator at
the point where the a-iPANS is located. These results show that
high-sensitivity iPNAS could be fabricated using PZT thin film
with a flexible membrane. The ABM has sufficient flexibility
for attachment to the BM of the cochlea and has the possibility
of stimulating the auditory nerve directly via the piezoelectric
output of the PZT thin film. Recently, single-crystal materials
with high piezoelectric constant, such as Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-
PbTiO3 (PMN-PT),[84] Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 (PMN-
PZT),[85] and Pb(In1/2Nb1/2)O3–Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3–PbTiO3 (PIN-
PMN-PT),[86] have been actively studied by the same research
team for application to flexible devices.
3.2. MEMS Piezoelectric AlN-Based ABM
AlN is an attractive piezoelectric material because it is lead-free,
compatible with complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor
(CMOS) fabrication,[87,88] and can be deposited at relatively
low temperatures (<250 °C).[89] AlN also has the advantage of
a relatively high electromechanical coupling coefficient due to
its low dielectric constant.[87,90] The piezoelectric properties of
AlN are produced by aligning the c-axis orientation during the
sputtering process. Therefore, AlN does not require a poling
process unlike other piezoelectric materials.[89,91] Due to these
advantages, AlN is widely used in various applications in
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MEMS research, such as resonators,[92] pMUTs,[87] and energy
harvesters.[93]
In 2013, Jang et al. developed the MEMS ABM using piezo-
electric AlN thin film as shown in Figure 5a. The ABMs were
designed as a beam array[25] or a cantilever array[26] with dif-
ferent beam lengths to achieve a mechanical frequency band-pass
filter.[26] The MEMS beams were fabricated by the DRIE process
onto the front and back sides of silicon wafers. Figure 5b shows
schematic cross-sectional images of the AlN beams. The piezo-
electric AlN layer was sputtered between the top and bottom elec-
trodes to operate in d31 mode in which the direction of the gener-
ated electric field is perpendicular to that of applied strain. For the-
oretical calculation of the piezoelectric output signal in d31 sensing
mode, the electrical polarization matrix is described as follows
D3 = d31 ⋅ T1 (2)
where d31 and T1 are the piezoelectric coefficient and the stress
caused by the acoustic stimulus, respectively. Therefore, the
piezoelectric voltage output (Vpiezo) is given by
D3 ⋅ tpiezo
Vpiezo = (3)
εT
where the tpiezo is the thickness of the AlN thin film and εT is the
permittivity. According to Equation (3), the acoustic stimulus is
converted into the piezoelectric voltage output signal. Although
the piezoelectric constant of AlN is relatively low (3.9 pm V−1),[83]
AlN has low permittivity (≈100 × smaller than that of PZT),[87]
which enables the AlN ABM to effectively sense the sound. To
determine the characteristics of the tonotopic characteristics of
the AlN ABM, a periodic chirp signal was applied to the ABM by
a loudspeaker. Figure 5c shows the piezoelectric voltage output
of the fourth cantilever of the AlN cantilever array ABM.[26]
Figure 5d shows the piezoelectric voltage output in the fre-
quency domain for the same cantilever. The insets in Figure 5c,d
show the input SPL. The maximum piezoelectric voltage output
was 4.06 mV at 7.04 kHz, which is the first resonance frequency
of the fourth cantilever of the AlN cantilever array. The cantilever
vibrates as the first bending mode at the resonance frequency,
as shown in Figure 5e. Finally, the piezoelectric output voltages
of all cantilevers in the AlN ABM were measured, as shown in
Figure 5f. The resonance frequencies shifted gradually to lower
frequencies with increasing channel number (i.e., with increasing
length of the cantilever). The sensitivities of the channels of the
AlN cantilever array are in the range of 0.354–1.67 mV Pa−1.
These results show that the piezoelectric AlN ABM is a self-pow-
ered acoustic sensor, which works as a mechanical band-pass
filter.[16,23] In particular, the CMOS compatibility of AlN is advan-
tageous for future development of fully implantable CIs, because
the signal processor and the ABM can be fabricated by the same
process on a single chip. AlN has been used with flexible poly-
mers for implantable and wearable devices,[89,91,94,95] an ABM
with flexible AlN has also been studied.[96]
3.3. Flexible Piezoelectric PVDF- and P(VDF-TrFE)-Based ABMs
PVDF is a synthetic fluoropolymer with monomer chain of
(CH2CF2)n.[67] The piezoelectric properties of PVDF
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Figure 5.  a) Optical microscopy images for i) beam-array and ii) cantilever-array ABMs using piezoelectric aluminum nitride (AlN). Reproduced with
permission.[25] Copyright 2013, Elsevier. b) Schematic drawing of a cross-section of the AlN beam. The active piezoelectric AlN layer was deposited
between the top and bottom electrode on the supporting layer. c) Piezoelectric voltage output of the fourth channel of the cantilever array. The inset
indicates the input sound. d) Frequency response of the piezoelectric output voltage. e) Snapshot the vibrational pattern of the cantilever beam. The
cantilever is vibrated as first bending mode. f) Piezoelectric output voltages of all channels of the beam array. Reproduced with permission.[26] Copyright
2015, Nature Publishing Group.

are achieved by forming a β-crystalline phase, which can be
obtained by mechanical stretching.[97] P(VDF-TrFE) copoly­
mer also has piezoelectric properties because it is directly
­ characterize the tonotopy of their PVDF membrane-type ABM,
crystallized during the fabrication process.[98] Due to their
excellent chemical stability, mechanical flexibility, and biocom-
patibility, both PVDF and P(VDF-TrFE) are widely used for
piezoelectric sensors and actuators.[98–103] In particular, PVDF
has been used in ABMs due to its flexibility and piezoelectric
properties.[22,23,38,52,104,105]
In 2010, Shintaku et al. developed an ABM using PDVF as
a piezoelectric material,[22] the ABM consisted of a trapezoidal
PDVF membrane on a stainless steel plate with a trapezoidal
through hole, as shown in Figure 6a. The top electrodes were
patterned with 24 channels on the surface of the PVDF film to
acquire locally generated piezoelectricity. To mimic the lymph
environment of BM in the cochlea, the fluid channel was
filled with silicon oil under the PVDF film. The effects of the
surrounding fluid in the cochlea were theoretically predicted
by the Wentzel–Kramers–Brillouin asymptotic method. To
acoustic stimulus was applied to the device using a loudspeaker
in the audible frequency range (20–20 000 Hz). Figure 6b
shows the mechanical displacements and piezoelectric outputs
from (i) channel 6, (ii) channel 12, and (iii) channel 18 while
applying the acoustic stimulus. Each channel of the ABM dem-
onstrates peaks at a different resonance frequency. The reso-
nance frequencies increased as the location of the electrode
shifted toward the narrow region of the trapezoidal membrane.
In addition, the resonance frequencies measured by mechan-
ical displacement and piezoelectric output were in good agree-
ment. These results showed that the trapezoidal PVDF ABM
had similar tonotopic characteristics to the cochlea.
In 2011, Inaoka et al. developed an implantable miniaturi­
­zed ABM using a P(VDF-TrFE) membrane as a piezoelectric

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Figure 6.  a) i) Optical image of the fabricated ABM using polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF). ii) Schematic drawing of the ABM cross-section. b) The
amplitude of vibration and piezoelectric output from i) channel 6, ii) channel 12, and iii) channel 18 while applying the acoustic stimulus. Reproduced
with permission.[22] Copyright 2010, Elsevier. c) i) Integrated images of the implantable piezoelectric device and the basal turn of the cochlea. ii) Sche-
matic diagram of the implantable piezoelectric membrane based on PVDF fluoride trifluoroethylene [P(VDF-TrFE)]. d) Piezoelectric output voltage of
the implantable device applying sound pressure of 100 dB in the range of 1–40 kHz in air. Reproduced with permission.[23] Copyright 2011, National
Academy of Sciences, USA.

material. Figure 6c shows the optical image of the ABM on
the basal turn of a guinea pig cochlea. For insertion into the
cochlea, the ABM was designed as a trapezoidal shape on a sili­
­con frame. The miniaturized ABM can generate a piezoelectric
output in the range of 0.14–5.88 mV while applying the acoustic
stimulus at 100 dB SPL over a frequency range of 1–40 kHz
in air, as shown in Figure 6d. The displacement of the P(VDF-
TrFE) membrane for piezoelectric output originates from the
vibration of the BM caused by the input sound. The main con-
tribution of this study is the evaluation of the characteristics of
the ABM within the cochlea, which is discussed in section 4.2.
3.4. Triboelectric-Based ABM
Since first proposed by Wang and co-workers in 2012,[106] the
triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) has been adopted as an
innovative technology in the field of energy harvesting.[107–109]
The TENG converts mechanical energy into useful electrical
energy by a combination of contact electrification and electro-
static induction.[110,111] In comparison to piezoelectric-based
devices, the TENG can be fabricated easily with a variety of
materials because most materials have a different triboelectric
series.[112,113] It also has the advantage of being useful for the
production of flexible and foldable devices using polymers that
are inexpensive.[106,114] Within the fields in which TENG has
been applied, sound-driven energy harvesters or self-powered
acoustic sensors have been developed by several groups.[115–119]
Recently, Jang et al. proposed the triboelectric-based ABM
(TEABM) to mimic cochlear tonotopy. Figure 7a shows a sche-
matic illustration of the TEABM. For mechanical frequency
selectivity, the TEABM consisted of an eight-beam array with
varying length. The aluminum (Al) film (bottom layer) and
Kapton film (top layer) were stacked and each side of the beams
was clamped on the 3D-printed device frame. The top elec-
trode was sputtered on the Kapton layer using titanium/gold

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Figure 7.  a) Schematic diagram of the triboelectric-based artificial basilar membrane (TEABM). The TEABM consists of an eight-beam array with dif-
ferent lengths. The longest and shortest beams correspond to the apex and base of the cochlea, respectively. Each beam is stacked with Kapton film
and aluminum foil, and each side of beam is clamped to form fixed-fixed boundary conditions. b) Photograph of the fabricated TEABM. c) Snapshots
of the vibrating beams during acoustic stimulus. The beam is vibrated at the first bending mode at the resonance frequency. d) Schematic diagram of
the principle for electricity generation during a cycle. e) Acoustic-to-electrical transfer functions for all channels of the TEABM. e) Measured resonance
frequencies by mechanical displacement and electrical output. Reproduced with permission.[27]

(Au) layers. Figure 7b shows an optical image of the fabricated
TEABM. While applying acoustic stimulus to the TEABM, the
mechanical displacement and electrical output were measured
with a scanning laser Doppler vibrometer; the beam showed
vibration as the first bending mode at the first resonance fre-
quency, as shown in Figure 7b. During vibration, the electrical
output was generated by triboelectrification. Figure 7d shows
a schematic illustration of the principle of electricity genera-
tion by the TEABM during a cycle. When sound is applied to
the TEABM, the Al and Kapton films are in contact and the Al
donates electrons to the surface of the Kapton film according
to the triboelectric series (stage 1). As the two layers bend
upward, a slight gap is formed between the two layers, and the
positive charges of the Al are transferred to the Au electrode
by electrostatic induction. At this point, the generated current
flows through the external load (stage 2). When the separation
is maximized, no current flows and the charge redistribution
reaches a steady state (stage 3). Upon the next contact of the
Al and Kapton films, the positive charge at the Au electrode
moves down to the Al to create electrostatic equilibrium. Here,
the current flows in the reverse direction (stage 4). Figure 7e
shows the acoustic-to-electrical transfer function (HPV) of all
of the TEABM channels. The measured resonance frequencies
move consistently to the lower frequency region in the range of
294.8–2311 Hz as the length of the beam increases. In addition,
the sensitivity to sound was in the range of 1.74–13.1 mV Pa−1.

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The resonance frequencies were also verified by measuring
the acoustic-to-mechanical transfer function (HPD). Figure 7e
shows that the resonance frequencies of HPV and HPD corre-
spond and the TEABM has mechanical frequency selectivity.
This study showed for the first time that the triboelectric effect
can be used as an energy conversion mechanism for ABMs.
Furthermore, future development of ABMs using the tribo-
electric effect based on various materials is expected to realize
smaller devices.
4. Characterization of the ABM Using
Animal Models
Animal experiments have been conducted to verify the perfor-
mance of ABMs to examine their potential for use in next-gene­
ration CIs. There are two approaches to animal testing using
ABMs, depending on the target position for implantation. In
studies attempting to implant the ABMs into the ear canal or
middle ear cavity, the ABMs were used as acoustic sensors for
recording the auditory evoked potential in animal models using
an additional signal processor and electrode array.[23,26,27,53,54]
For intracochlear ABMs, the ABM is inserted into the cochlea
of the animal model and the frequency selectivity is evaluated
in the cochlea.[23]
4.1. Direct Sound Sensing in the Ear Canal or Middle Ear Cavity
Determining the ABR involves measuring an auditory-evoked
potential extracted from the brainstem as electrical stimulation
is transmitted to the auditory cortex.[120–123] The ABR is used
to measure the hearing, threshold of hearing, and degree or
type of hearing loss in newborn infants or animal models. The
ABR is categorized into two types according to the input signal:
acoustically evoked ABR (aABR) and electrically evoked ABR
(eABR). While the aABR is used to check for hearing impair-
ment, the eABR is often used to evaluate the performance of
a CI that supplies electrical pulses to the auditory neurons.
Therefore, the eABR has been used to verify the performance
of ABMs. Prior to animal testing using an ABM, ototoxic
deafening is performed by injection of kanamycin and furo-
semide[26,27] or ethacrynic acid[23] to prevent the electrophonic
effect. To confirm deafness in the animal model, aABR is used
to measure the threshold of hearing and hematoxylin and eosin
staining is used to identify damage to the hair cells.[23,26]
Studies evaluating the performance of ABMs by recording
the eABR from deafened guinea pigs were performed using
PVDF membrane-type ABMs,[23,53,54] AlN cantilever array
ABMs,[26] and TEABMs.[27] Figure 8a shows schematic illustra-
tions of the animal test performed using the AlN cantilever-
type ABM, as reported by Jang et al.[26] When the acoustic
stimulus is applied to the ABM by a loudspeaker, the ABM
generates piezoelectric output depending on the SPL and the
sound frequency. The piezoelectric output is amplified and
used as a switch to generate the stimulating signal, which is
a charge-balanced biphasic pulse. Then, the stimulating pulse
is delivered to the cochlea using a custom-made intracochlear
electrode array.[124] The electrode array is inserted into the scala
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tympani through the round window, which is exposed by pos-
tauricular incision and drilling a hole in the bulla. Following
insertion, the eABR is measured by recording signals through
needle electrodes in the vertex (noninverting electrode), mas-
toid (inverting electrode), and hind leg (ground). The ABR
recording systems differ slightly; the system provided by Tucker
Davis Technologies Inc. (TDT, Alachua, FL, USA) has been
used in several studies.[23,26,27] Figure 8b shows a photograph of
the experimental setup for animal testing using the TEABM,[27]
which is similar to the setting in Figure 8a with the TEABM,
as opposed to the AlN ABM. Figure 8c shows the recorded
eABR signals using the TEABM depending on the applied SPL.
The amplitudes of the second positive peaks (P2) of the eABRs
increased with increasing input SPL, indicating that the ABM
could be used to induce the auditory evoked potential in deaf-
ened guinea pigs. In addition, the resonance frequency and off-
resonance frequency sound were applied to a certain channel of
the ABM to evaluate frequency selectivity. As the ABM cannot
generate sufficient electricity at the off-resonance frequency
sound, the amplitude of the eABR was recorded as noise
level.[26,27,53] These experiments validated the cochlear tonotopy
of the ABMs using a deafened animal model.
4.2. Intracochlear ABM
With regard to ABMs designed to be implanted in the
cochlea,[22,23,39] the miniaturized P(VDF-TrFE) ABM was exam-
ined in vivo.[23] Figure 9a shows an optical microscopic image
of the miniaturized P(VDF-TrFE) ABM in the basal turn of
the guinea pig cochlea. The opening in the basal turn of the
cochlea is marked with a yellow dotted area, which was made in
the otic bulla preserving the other parts, such as the tympanic
annulus, tympanic membrane, and ossicles. The opening was
made to measure mechanical displacement of the miniaturized
ABM in the cochlea by LDV. Figure 9b shows the mechanical
displacement of the BM, P(VDF-TrFE) membrane, and silicon
frame. With application of the acoustic stimulus from the
external auditory canal in the range of 1–30 kHz, the mechani­
­cal displacement (green line) of BM showed peaks at 3 and 9
kHz. The peaks also clearly showed the displacements of the
P(VDF-TrFE) membrane (blue line) unlike the displacements of
the silicon frame (red line).
The results showed that vibration of the BM initiated oscil-
lation of the P(VDF-TrFE) membrane with the same frequency
response. The ex vivo model of the guinea pig temporal bone,
shown in Figure 9c, was proposed to demonstrate the feasibility
of the miniaturized ABM for use in hearing devices. The ABM
was inserted into the scala tympani of the basal turn in the
temporal bone ex vivo model. A needle was attached to the stapes
to transmit vibrations to the cochlea, as shown in Figure 9d.
Applying the tone burst stimuli at frequencies of 5, 10, and
20 kHz to the stapes using an actuator, the peak-to-peak piezo-
electric voltage outputs were measured as 23.7, 5.7, or 29.3 µV,
respectively, as shown in the red waveform in Figure 9e. The
piezoelectric voltage output was negligible in the control setup
with the actuator detached from the stapes, confirming that
the ABM generates piezoelectricity using vibrations within the
cochlea. In addition, the amplitude of the piezoelectric outputs
© 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
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Figure 8.  a) Schematic diagram of the experimental setup for animal testing using a piezoelectric aluminum nitride ABM. The piezoelectric ABM
generates an electrical output according to the acoustic stimulus using a loudspeaker. The electrical output is converted to a stimulating signal at the
signal processor. The output port of the signal processor is linked to the intracochlear electrode array to transmit stimulating signals to the cochlea.
The electrically evoked auditory brainstem response (eABR) was recorded in deafened guinea pigs. Reproduced with permission.[26] Copyright 2015, the
authors. Published under CC-BY 4.0 license. b) Photograph of the experimental setup for animal experiments using TEABM. c) The measured eABR
according to the sound pressure level (SPL) from 70 to 85 dB SPL. Reproduced with permission.[27]

depended on the frequency of acoustic stimuli, indicating that
the miniaturized ABM has cochlear tonotopy. Recently, Tona et al.
developed an electrode to stimulate the spiral ganglion neurons
of the cochlea using the P(VDF-TrFE) membrane ABM.[125]
After fixation of the electrode in the cochlea, they measured the
eABR from guinea pigs and conducted histological analysis to
reveal inconspicuous fibrosis and scar formation.
5. Future Perspectives for Next-Generation CIs
Using ABMs
This progress report discusses various ABMs to demonstrate
the possibility of developing next-generation auditory pros-
theses by animal experiments using ABMs with cochlear
tonotopy. However, further studies and optimization will be
necessary for the development of a practical hearing device in
terms of device size, sensitivity to sound, stability, frequency
response range, etc. In previous research, the ABMs varied
slightly in size depending on the target implantation posi-
tion, and recent MEMS ABMs are becoming smaller, which is
favorable for implantation.[23,26] However, the circuit boards for
signal processing, the electrode array, and the battery require
further miniaturization for real-world application. In addition,
the ABMs should be able to sense a wider frequency range
of 100 Hz to 8 kHz, and be sensitive enough to detect sound
with a minimum of ≈40 dB SPL.[27] Packaging for chemical
and electrical stability and subsequent verification of long-
term biocompatibility are also essential.[126–129] In addition to
optimizing the ABM itself, research on the whole CI system
should be performed for the development of next-generation
devices. As the limitations of the conventional CI are mostly

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Figure 9.  a) Optical microscopy image of the implantable device in the basal turn of the guinea pig cochlea. The opening of the basal turn of the cochlea
is indicated by the yellow dotted line. b) Mechanical displacement of the BM, piezoelectric membrane, and silicon device frame was measured with a
LDV applying acoustic excitation. c) Photograph and d) schematic diagram of the ex vivo experimental setup. The implantable device was inserted into
the scala tympani of the temporal bone of the guinea pig. The needle was linked to the actuator for mechanical vibration. e) The measured electrical
output from the implantable device during acoustic stimulus. The bars indicate the period of acoustic stimulation. Reproduced with permission.[23]
Copyright 2011, National Academy of Sciences, USA.

due to the extracorporeal device, next-generation CIs should be
fully implantable for completely concealed devices. For such
devices, two key technologies are essential: CMOS technology
for system-on-chip (SoC)[5,6] and sustainable battery technology.
As shown in Figure 8a, the ABM and the stimulating circuit are
on the printed circuit board, which is too large to be implanted
in the human body. In the case of intracochlear ABMs, ampli-
fication and conversion circuits are also required to be small
for practical applications.[23] Therefore, CMOS technology is
essential to miniaturize the ABMs and signal processor for
the development of a fully implantable next-generation CI. In
2012, Young et al. reported a capacitive accelerometer with an
electronic integrated circuit (IC) chip as the interfacing signal
processor, as shown in Figure 10a.[6] The total size of the inte-
grated microphone unit is 2.5 × 6.2 mm2 with a weight of 25 mg
and it was attached to the umbo of the eardrum in the tem-
poral bones to assess its performance. The minimum sound
detection level was 60 dB SPL at 500 kHz and 35 dB SPL at
2 kHz (bandwidth: 200 Hz). These results indicate that the
MEMS microphone, as well as the miniaturized IC chip, can
be completely implanted into the middle ear cavity. In 2015,
Yip et al. reported an SoC with piezoelectric middle ear sensor
and arbitrary waveform neural stimulation for a fully implant-
able CI.[5] Figure10b shows a die image of the SoC for a fully
implantable CI. The piezoelectric sensor front end (PZFE) con-
verts the vibration of ossicles to piezoelectric output to sense
the incoming sound. The PZFE could sense the sound from
40 to 90 dB SPL, which was characterized by human temporal
bone. The highly reconfigurable sound processor has contin-
uous interleaved sampling[130] as a sound processing strategy
leveraging ultralow-voltage digital processing at 0.6 V to maxi-
mize the energy efficiency. The arbitrary waveform stimulation
parts use ultralow-voltage digital control for energy efficiency,
which was used in human CIs and achieved energy savings
of 15–35%. The power consumption of SoC was only 572 µW
with an 8-channel mode. This study demonstrated a successful
on-chip system integration as a proof-of-concept for a fully
implantable CI and, combined with ABM studies, will facilitate
next-generation CI development.
For a fully implantable CI, a battery or energy harvesting
is crucial for long-term device operation and convenient daily
use. Recent studies on implantable and sustainable batteries

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Figure 10.  a) Microelectromechanical system (MEMS) capacitive accelerometer with an integrated circuit, which is attached to the umbo of the tym-
panic membrane. Reproduced with permission.[6] Copyright 2012, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. b) Die image of the system-on-chip
(SoC) for a fully implantable CI. Reproduced with permission.[5] Copyright 2015, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. c) Optical images of
a flexible PZT mechanical energy harvester (MEH) with a rectifier and rechargeable battery, mounted on the right ventricle of the bovine heart during a
cycle of i) expansion and ii) relaxation. Reproduced with permission.[78] Copyright 2014, National Academy of Sciences, USA. d) i) Schematic diagram
of the mammalian ear system. The endoelectronics chip is located in the middle ear cavity. ii) Schematic diagram of the cross-section of the cochlear
half turn. The endocochlear potential between the endolymph and perilymph is measured by an endoelectronics chip. Reproduced with permission.[131]
Copyright 2012, Nature Publishing Group.

include thermoelectric devices[132,133] to capture body heat and
energy harvesters to use the movement of organs[78,134,135] and
muscle.[136] In particular, implantable energy harvesting tech-
nologies, which convert the mechanical movement of the living
body into a source of electrical energy, have increased dramati-
cally with the development of flexible bioelectronics.[39,137–141]
Figure 10c shows optical images of a flexible PZT mechani­
­cal energy harvester (MEH) with a rectifier and rechargeable
battery.[78] The MEH has PZT ribbons with piezoelectric mate-
rial between the top and bottom electrode layers. Polyimide
was used as the flexible substrate and also as a biocompat-
ible encapsulation layer. For in vivo evaluation, the electrical
voltage outputs from the PZT MEHs were measured on bovine
and ovine hearts by varying the heart rates. The lung and dia-
phragm were used to characterize the PZT MEH due to their
repetitive mechanical movements during respiration. The open
circuit voltage outputs were in the range of 2–4 V from the
movement of these organs. Furthermore, the time-averaged
power density of the multilayer stack of five PZT MEHs could
reach as high as 1.2 µW cm−2, which is sufficient to operate
a cardiac pacemaker.[142,143] These results demonstrated a suc-
cessful energy harvesting device that can operate in the body
using the mechanical movements of the organs, which could
be used as a promising energy source for future implantable
hearing devices.
Another interesting implantable energy harvesting method is
the use of endocochlear potential (EP) due to the electrochemi­
­cal gradient in the inner ear.[131] Figure 10d shows a schematic
diagram of the mammalian ear system; the endoelectronic chip
is located in the middle ear with two electrodes at the endo-
lymph and perilymph. As the endolymph in the scala media
has a higher potassium concentration than the perilymph
in the scalar tympani, the difference in ionic concentration
induces the EP. The endoelectronic chip demonstrated extrac-
tion of a minimum of 1.12 nW from the EP in guinea pigs for
up to 5 h. Although further optimization is required for prac-
tical use of the endoelectronic chip, this study demonstrated
the possibility of using the electrochemical gradient of the
cochlea as an energy source. In particular, this is expected to be
a fundamental technology for the future development of fully
implantable CIs because the endoelectronic chip is sufficiently
small to be implanted into the body and harvest energy from
the auditory system. If the CMOS and the sustainable battery
technology are applied to the current CIs, significant improve-
ments are also expected even with the current microphone,
signal processor, and electrode array. The CMOS technology

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may significantly reduce the size and power consumption of
the external device. This can reduce discomfort in daily life by
exposure to hearing loss and frequent recharging of the battery.
In addition, if a sustainable in-body battery is applied to the
current CI, the energy transfer into the body using an RF coil
may not be necessary or minimized.
6. Conclusion
This progress report describes several studies of ABMs for use
in next-generation CIs. The ABMs mimics the tonotopic char-
acteristics of the cochlea. For mechanical frequency selectivity,
the ABMs were designed to trapezoidal membranes or beam
arrays with different length or thickness. Also, the mechanical-
to-electrical transduction was implemented by the piezoelectric
or triboelectric effect for self-powered devices. In particular,
ABMs using various piezoelectric materials, such as PZT, AlN,
PVDF, and P(VDF-TrFE), were presented. The tonotopic char-
acteristics of the ABMs were verified by the animal models
using prototypes of CI with electrode array and signal pro-
cessor. Also, the future direction of the ABMs will focus on the
optimization of the size, frequency response range, sensitivity
to sound, and packaging for practical hearing device. In addi-
tion, the SoC and sustainable battery technology are expected to
accelerate the development of next-generation CI based on the
ABMs. Finally, the ABM study, which initiated by mimicking
the cochlea, is currently evolving into a practical hearing sensor
and will be the key technology that opens up the development
of next generation CIs in near future.
Acknowledgements
This work was funded by the National Research Foundation of Korea
(NRF) funded by the Ministry of Science, ICT & Future Planning
(Grant Nos. 2014M3C1A9060874 and 2015R1C1A1A02036457) and by
the DGIST R&D Program of the Ministry of Science, ICT, and Future
Planning (Grant No. 17-BD-0404).
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Keywords
artificial basilar membranes, cochlear implants, frequency selectivity,
piezoelectricity, triboelectricity
Received: May 29, 2017
Revised: July 13, 2017
Published online: September 11, 2017
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