A CMOS single-supply logarithmic amplifier for hearing aids

摘要

The Log Amplifier described in this paper is designed for hearing aids (HA) application. It works on a low single-supply voltage (1.3V). The input signal varies between 0.01mV and 100mV. To give enough compensation to the hearing impairment, the amplifier provides a very large gain. The output swing is limited because of the low supply voltage and the large gain. Therefore, the logarithmic amplifier introduced into the design of HA to compress input signal so that the output distortion can be avoid. Another factor we use it here is that the amplifier has enough sensitivity and gain to deal with the compressed input signal without getting extra distortion coursed by the pre-process on input signal. The short channel CMOS devices play an important role in reduction of the supply voltage. DONG-BU ANAM 0.18μ m process is selected.