A cochlear implant is disclosed, comprising: a transcutaneous energy transfer circuit for transcutaneously transferring power across a recipient's skin; and a transcutaneous capacitive data link circuit for transcutaneously transferring data across the recipient's skin, wherein the transcutaneous energy transfer circuit and the transcutaneous capacitive data link circuit operate independently of each other. The transcutaneous capacitive data link circuit comprises: a first pair of capacitors each having an external electrode configured to be externally positioned on a recipient and an internal electrode configured to be internally positioned in the recipient; a first voltage driver having positive and negative terminals each connected to one of the external electrodes, and configured to generate a first voltage drive signal responsive to a first input control signal; and a first differential amplifier circuit connected to the internal electrodes, configured to generate a first output data signal representative of the first input control signal.