Cochlea Implant: Helical Curling

When talking to a deaf person, yelling seems to be appropriate to make oneself understood. The problem: sound levels of more than 80 decibels hurt, no matter whether deaf or not. That is why hearing aid devices cannot amplify sounds endlessly. The solution: a new cochlea implant, which - in contrast to conventional implants - allows deaf persons to make use of their remaining hearing ability.19/11/2009

Omid Majdani;© Messe Düsseldorf

Conventional hearing aid devices enable profoundly deaf people to hear noises but not to follow a conversation. A new cochlea implant, which is being developed at the Hanover Medical School, could help these patients. Unlike hearing aids, cochlear implants do not amplify sound, but work by directly stimulating any functioning auditory nerves inside the cochlea with an electric field. External components of the cochlear implant include a speech processor, a microphone and a radio frequency transducer, which is implanted beneath the skin behind the ear. The speech processor relays the incoming signal to the implanted electrodes in the cochlea via high frequency waves.

While inserting the implant, the cochlea membrane gets hurt and as a result, profoundly deaf patients completely lose their remaining hearing ability. “We intend to save the hearing ability with the help of our new implant made out of shape memory metals,” explains Omid Majdani, who has been working on the development of the implant for several years, in his talk at MEDICA VISION. The new metal implant deforms helically when inserted into the cochlea because of the body temperature. “The implant gets flexible which allows surgery without hurting the cochlea membrane”, says Majdani. However, there is still some research needed before the new implant will be fit for use.

Sonja Endres
MEDICA.de