International Journal of Advancements in Research & Technology, Volume 1, Issue5, October-2012 1 ISSN 2278-7763 Copyright © 2012 SciResPub. Cochlear Implant Using Neural Prosthetics Shweta Gupta, Shashi kumar Singh, Pratik Kumar Dubey* Dr. K. N. Modi University, Affiliated to Rajasthan University, newai, near Jaipur, Rajasthan, India *Mahamaya Technical University, Approved By AICTE, Noida, India Abstract: This research is based on neural prosthetic device. The oldest and most widely used of these electrical, and often computerized, devices is the cochlear implant, which has provided hearing to thousands of congenitally deaf people in this country. Recently, the use of the cochlear implant is expanding to the elderly, who frequently suffer major hearing loss. More cutting edge are artificial retinas, which are helping dozens of blind people see, and “smart” artificial arms and legs that amputees can maneuver by thoughts alone, and that feel more like real limbs. Research, which curiosity led to explore frog legs dancing during thunderstorms, a snail shaped organ in the inner ear, and how various eye cells react to light, have fostered an understanding of how to “talk” to the nervous system. That understanding combined with the miniaturization of electronics and enhanced computer processing has enabled prosthetic devices that often can bridge the gap in nerve signaling that is caused by disease or injury. I. Introduction Today’s neural prosthetics can trace their origin, in part, to a pair of frog legs that caused quite a laboratory sensation in Mozart’s time (c.18th century). The lab belonged to the Italian anatomy professor and physicist Luigi Galvani, who was dissecting a frog at a table. Also on the table was a wheel that generated static electricity for Galvani’s physics experiments. Just as Galvani put a scalpel to the sciatic nerve, which connects to the muscles in the frogs’ legs, his assistant happened to discharge a spark of electricity from the wheel. Galvani noticed that when the spark was released, the legs of his dissected frog jerked. Apparently the static electricity released into the air was picked up by the metal scalpel and passed to the nerve (Figure 1). This led Galvani to conduct other experiments including one in which the static electricity of a thunderstorm prompted frog legs on a rooftop to dance, and another one in which touching the exposed nerve to a frog leg muscle was enough to cause the muscle to twitch. Figure 1 – Galvani’s frog experiment stored in the nerves of all living creatures, and literally sparked the notion that nerves use electrical energy to trigger muscle movement. (Galvani’s experiments also apparently inspired Mary Shelley, who read about them shortly before writing her famous novel Frankenstein, in which electricity is used to bring to life Dr. Frankenstein’s monster.[3] In the 19th century, the invention of an amplifier of electric current called the galvanometer (named after Galvani), enabled several basic science researchers to eavesdrop on the electrical chatter of muscles and nerves. The experiments these European physicists did on frogs revealed that an electrical current applied to the nerve can briefly reverse the charge emitted by that section of the nerve. This flip-flop in charge from positive to negative quickly spreads down the length of the nerve and to the muscle where it causes the muscle to contract. In other words, by exploring the innate electrical activity of tissues and how that changes in response to electrical stimulation, these researchers had collectively stumbled upon the electrical nerve impulse, which is the basic signaling mechanism that nerves use to communicate with tissues and organs (Figure 3).