Prostheses for the Brain - Introduction to Neuroprosthetics

Prostheses for the Brain: Introduction to Neuroprosthetics bridges the disciplines required in the field of neuroprosthetics and provides the interdisciplinary base required for understanding neuroprosthetic devices. It introduces basic aspects from the physical, bioengineering and medical perspectives, and forms a common knowledge base. It provides the entrance to the field and sets realistic expectations, both regarding potentials as well as limitations, for the devices in both design and outcomes.
The book additionally reviews the technology behind the most frequently used and most clinically successful neuroprosthetic devices. It provides the physiological background for their function, as well as the technology behind them. Finally, the authors suggest future possible developments that may play crucial role in new prostheses for the brain. This gives the reader a comprehensive view on the principles and applications of neuroprostheses. This book has been built from the authors course they teach on neuroprostheses and is ideal for students, engineers and medical professionals in this field.

• Introduces the general principles of conductivity of electrolytes and the processes at the tissue-electrode interface
• Clarifies the conceptual differences in stimulating and sensing electrodes
• Describe the electro-chemical processes and electrical properties of a metal-electrode interface, and also new developments in electrode materials

Andrej Kral received MD in general medicine in 1993 and a PhD in pathological physiology in 1998 from the Medical School, Comenius University, Slovak Republic. Since 2009, he has been professor of auditory neurophysiology at the Medical School Hanover, director of Dept. of Experimental Otology, and Co-Director of the Institute of AudioNeuroTechnology of the Medical School Hannover. In 2017, he became member of the National Academy of Science and in 2018, he was appointed professor of systems neuroscience at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. Dr. Kral has been teaching different aspects of neuroscience and neuroprosthetics since 1998 (to medical students, biologists and engineers).
Dr. Kral has published more than 90 peer-reviewed articles, including high-impact journals New England J Med, Science, Lancet Neurol, Nat Neurosci, Trends Neurosci and Brain. He published several reviews on deafness both in clinical as well as in theoretical journals. He coauthored a book on computational neuroscience, edited one of the Springer Handbook of Auditory Research volume (47) and is a chapter author (vol. 20). Dr. Kral has been chapter author for several edited volumes including the recent 'The Auditory Cortex” (Springer). His areas of expertise include electrical stimulation of neurons, cochlear implants, central neuroprosthetics, plasticity and development of the brain. For more details, publications and a complete CV, see www.neuroprostheses.com.