Pre-Filtering of Stimuli for Improved Energy Efficiency in Electrical Neural Stimulation

Francesc Varkevisser*, Amin Rashidi, Tiago L. Costa, Vasiliki Giagka*, Wouter A. Serdijn

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter/Conference proceedingConference proceedingAcademicpeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

This work proposes a guideline for designing more energy-efficient electrical stimulators by analyzing the frequency spectrum of the stimuli. It is shown that the natural low-pass characteristic of the neuron's membrane limits the energy transfer efficiency from the stimulator to the cell. Thus, to improve the transfer efficiency, it is proposed to pre-filter the high-frequency components of the stimulus. The method is validated for a Hodgkin-Huxley (HH) axon cable model using NEURON v8.0 software. To this end, the required activation energy is simulated for rectangular pulses with durations between 10 μs and 5 ms, which are low-pass filtered with cut-off frequencies of 0.5-50 kHz. Simulations show a 51.5% reduction in the required activation energy for the shortest pulse width (i.e., 10 μs) after filtering at 5 kHz. It is also shown that the minimum required activation energy can be decreased by 11.04% when an appropriate pre-filter is applied. Finally, we draw a perspective for future use of this method to improve the selectivity of electrical stimulation.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationBioCAS 2022 - IEEE Biomedical Circuits and Systems Conference
Subtitle of host publicationIntelligent Biomedical Systems for a Better Future, Proceedings
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages312-316
Number of pages5
ISBN (Electronic)9781665469173
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 16 Nov 2022
Event2022 IEEE Biomedical Circuits and Systems Conference, BioCAS 2022 - Taipei, Taiwan, Province of China
Duration: 13 Oct 202215 Oct 2022

Publication series

SeriesBioCAS 2022 - IEEE Biomedical Circuits and Systems Conference: Intelligent Biomedical Systems for a Better Future, Proceedings

Conference

Conference2022 IEEE Biomedical Circuits and Systems Conference, BioCAS 2022
Country/TerritoryTaiwan, Province of China
CityTaipei
Period13/10/2215/10/22

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 IEEE.

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