A novel coupled ergodic sequential logic-based cochlear model: nonlinear hearing characteristics of two-tone responses and efficient hardware implementation

This paper presents a novel hardware -efficient cochlea model designed as a multi-compartment basilar membrane (BM) whose dynamics is described by coupled ergodic sequential logics (SLs). The following comparisons of the presented model yielded useful results in developing a small and low-power cochlear implant that reproduces nonlinear hearing characteristics of the human cochlea: 1) a comparison with a conventional one designed as a single-compartment BM whose dynamics is described by coupled ergodic SLs revealed that the nonlinear hearing characteristics of two-tone responses in the presented model are closer to those of a biological example; 2) a comparison with a conventional one designed as a multicompartment BM whose dynamics is described by an ordinary differential equation revealed that fewer circuit elements and less power in the presented model are required for implementation on a field -programmable gate array and its operation, respectively.