Researchers at the University of Michigan have developed a new, less-invasive means of implanting electrodes into the cochlea that may ultimately do less damage to hearing nerves in the cochlea and preserve more residual hearing in the patient.
New Cochlear Implant Electrode Does Less DamageThe new electrode is thinner and can be inserted with a new device that enables doctors to monitor their progress and avoid doing the kind of damage that currently results in most implant patients losing most or all of what is left of their natural hearing. Because cochlear implants directly stimulate the auditory nerve they are able to bypass the hairlike cilia hearing cells that line the cochlea. And because it is designed to go deeper into the cochlea, it may provide more stimulation of low-frequency sounds, which could significantly improve the hearing of implantees. The new electrode is being tested on animals and would not be available for human patients for at least four years. But when it arrives, because it is made with the same materials used to make semiconductor chips, it will bring implant patients one step closer to true “Bionic Man” status that Michael Chorost has written about in Rebuilt.
