Patent ID: 8855774

Claim:
A vestibular prosthesis for a patient, comprising: one or more micro-electric-mechanical (MEMS) sensors, including at least one pair of gyroscopes in each of three orthogonal axes and at least one pair of accelerometers in each of the three orthogonal axes, to detect an angular and linear movement providing displacement measurements; at least one microprocessor coupled to the MEMS sensors, wherein the microprocessor uses a mathematical model of an informative process of a vestibular mechanoreceptor to produce an output comprising one of an electric pulse pattern and a continuous galvanic current pattern; a conditioning unit that amplifies and conditions the microprocessor output to apply current that is proportional to said output, to stimulation electrodes; wherein the microprocessor is configured to: determine a displacement of a cupula and an otolithic mass of the patient; determine a membrane potential V 1 of one or more hair cells of the patient as a result of the displacement detected by the MEMS sensors by means of determining a transduction current I T ; and determine an action potential discharge pattern V 2 for a primary afferent neuron that synapses with the hair cell by means of the mathematical model of the informative process of the vestibular mechanoreceptor.