Section: Bilateral Contracts and Grants with Industry

CIFRE PhD contract with Neurelec

Participants : Maureen Clerc, Kai Dang, Théodore Papadopoulo, Jonathan Laudanski [Neurelec] .

Title: Modeling and characterizing electrical conductivity for the placement of cochlear implants.

Neurostimulation consists in applying an electrical current close to a nerve to trigger its activation. This is the principle of cochlear implants, which aim to stimulate the auditory nerve via an electrode coil inserted in the cochlea. The interplay between the stimulating electrodes and the bioelectrical medium is modeled by a partial differential equation whose main parameters are the electrical conductivity and geometry of the tissues. This equation also links active sources and electric potential measurements by electroencephalography. The objective of this PhD thesis is to propose models for efficiently representing tissues and their electrical conductivity within the auditory system (bone, cochlea, ganglia, auditory cortex). This will make it possible to optimize the stimulating current, thanks to a better knowledge of the current diffusion due to the anatomical conformation of the cochlea.