MEMS piezoelectric artificial basilar membrane with passive frequency selectivity for short pulse width signal modulation

We demonstrated a novel MEMS artificial basilar membrane composed of a piezoelectric beam array that mimics the passive frequency selectivity of the cochlea and exhibits acoustic-to-electrical energy conversion. Each beam was designed to have a unique resonance frequency. To determine the resonance frequencies of the beams, the displacement and piezoelectric voltage were measured by applying a periodic chirped signal with a sound pressure level of 109.7 dB. The measured resonance frequencies were in the range 10–37 kHz. The piezoelectric signal was used to modulate a finite pulse-width signal for electrical stimulation; the pulse widths were in the range 0.43–5.1 ms with sound pressure levels in the range 84.9–112.4 dB.