Welcome to the new version of CaltechAUTHORS. Login is currently restricted to library staff. If you notice any issues, please email coda@library.caltech.edu
Published 1996 | Published
Book Section - Chapter Open

An analog VLSI cochlea with new transconductance amplifiers and nonlinear gain control

Abstract

We show data from a working 45-stage analog VLSI cochlea, built on a 2.2 mm×2.2 mm tiny chip. The novel architectural features in this cochlea are: (1) The use of a wide-linear-range low-noise subthreshold transconductance amplifier. (2) The use of "fuse-like" nonlinear positive-feedback amplification in the second-order cochlear filter. Several new circuit techniques used in the design are described here. The fuse nonlinearity shuts off the positive-feedback amplification at large signal levels instead of merely saturating it, like in prior designs, and leads to increased adaptation and improved large-signal stability in the filter. The fuse filter implements a functional model of gain control due to outer hair cells in the biological cochlea. We present data for travelling-wave patterns in our silicon cochlea that reproduce linear and nonlinear effects in the biological cochlea.

Additional Information

© 1996 IEEE. This work is supported by The Beckman Hearing Center.

Attached Files

Published - 00541591.pdf

Files

00541591.pdf
Files (574.4 kB)
Name Size Download all
md5:43808bfada1de34165396b87ee057a2c
574.4 kB Preview Download

Additional details

Created:
August 20, 2023
Modified:
March 5, 2024