Cochlear Implants with no External Components

Feb-13-14 By significantly reducing power requirements, researchers have developed a new sort of cochlear implant that is embedded entirely within the ear and skull, requiring no bulky, external hardware.

Typical cochlear implants require external components, including a microphone, speech processor/power source and a transmitting coil, as well as an array of implanted parts. The new design, from a team at MIT, takes advantage of the middle ear’s natural microphone, which is usually intact in patients with cochlear implants. The design also builds upon the principles of middle ear implants, which transmit sound vibrations from the eardrum to the cochlea.

The new implant would feature the same type of sensor as that used in middle ear implants, which would route the signal to a microchip implanted in the ear. The signal would then be converted to an electrical signal which would in turn be sent to an electrode embedded in the cochlea. The key to the success of the design was the team’s discovery of how to drastically lower the power requirements of the system, which allows it to be wirelessly recharged in about two minutes.

Image: Traditional cochlear implant with external hardware

More Info about this Invention:

[GIZMAG.COM]
[MIT]

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