Applied topology optimization of vibro-acoustic hearing instrument models

Designing hearing instruments remains an acoustic challenge as users request small designs for comfortable wear and cosmetic appeal and at the same time require sufficient amplification from the device. First, to ensure proper amplification in the device, a critical design challenge in the hearing instrument is to minimize the feedback between the outputs (generated sound and vibrations) from the receiver looping back into the microphones. Secondly, the feedback signal is minimized using time consuming trial-and-error design procedures for physical prototypes and virtual models using finite element analysis. In the present work it is demonstrated that structural topology optimization of vibro-acoustic finite element models can be used to both sufficiently minimize the feedback signal and to reduce the time consuming trial-and-error design approach. The structural topology optimization of a vibro-acoustic finite element model is shown for an industrial full scale model hearing instrument. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.