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INNOVATIVE IMPLANT TO REVOLUTIONISE HEARING
Added: (Mon Sep 29 2008)
Innovative technology that could revolutionise hearing aids and improve the lives of deaf people has been explored with the help of two UK-based companies.
People with severe to profound hearing loss cannot sufficiently regain sound perception by using traditional hearing aids. In many cases, the only suitable solution consists in bypassing the damaged part of the ear and sending auditory signals directly to the auditory nerve in the form of electric stimulation to provide a clearer understanding of environmental sound and speech. This is done today with a Cochlear implant.
Bart Volckaerts, technology research coordinator at the Cochlear Technology Centre said:
“Our present Cochlear implants to date, consist of basically a microphone that converts sound into electrical signals that are sent to a speech processor worn behind the ear. This information, together with power, is transmitted by an inductive link (the same way that an electric toothbrush charges itself) through the recipient’s skin to the receiver-stimulator electronics implanted in the mastoid bone.
“The receiver-stimulator decodes this information and produces a pattern of electrical currents in an electrode inside the inner ear, to stimulate the auditory nerve fibers. This creates a pattern of hearing nerve activity which restores sound perception.”
The development of key components for Cochlear implants is part of the pan-European Healthy Aims project. Healthy Aims is a €23million, four year project, funded under the EU Information Society Technologies programme, with the goal of developing intelligent medical implants and diagnostic systems integrating a range of micro, bio and nano technologies; initiated and run by UK based SME, ETB.
Cochlear Technology Centre Europe, based in Belgium, took advantage of Healthy Aims’ networking capabilities and collaborated with the UK’s TWI for Sensor Connecting Technology and INEX based in Cambridge and Newcastle, respectively. TWI’s experts in material joining technology worked with Cochlear towards creating electrode probes with an improved connectivity, while INEX applied its know-how in the area of microsystems and nanotechnology to develop new electrode production processes.
“One of the challenges that we targeted jointly with IMEC in Belgium is to develop a technology capable of generating more complex stimulation in the inner ear. In combination with the appropriate speech processing strategies, such a system could potentially lead to significant improvements of music and speech perception in noisy conditions. Within this project, it is our goal to integrate active components into the electrodes.” said Mr Volckaerts.
One of the critical components in creating a totally implantable device that were explored together with Saft and CEA from France, is a rechargeable battery with an extended lifecycle.
Mr Volckaerts plans to develop the implant even further:
“What we want to do in the next generation is to miniaturize our implants to make them suited for less invasive surgery. In addition it is Cochlear’s mission to extend our product portfolio to offer implantable solutions for all types of hearing impairments that are not within reach of a hearing aid. We are thinking in the direction of direct acoustic stimulation of the cochlea and even stimulation at other locations along the auditory pathway between the cochlea and the brain.”