The Cochlear™ Hybrid™ System, released by member organisation Cochlear, was made possible by collaborative research carried out by the HEARing CRC, and opens up cochlear implant technology to a new group of potential recipients who do not receive sufficient benefit from conventional hearing aids. It is the world’s first implantable system that can fully integrate acoustic signals (from a hearing aid) with electrical signals (from a cochlear implant) to address the challenge of partial hearing loss.
The Cochlear Hybrid System builds on Cochlear’s existing state-of-the-art cochlear implant technology, which has restored hearing to over 140,000 hearing impaired adults and children worldwide. The new Hybrid system delivers an integrated solution for a group of patients who could not previously benefit from cochlear implantation, estimated at more than 70,000 in Australia alone.
“The cochlear implant is one of biomedical engineering’s most amazing technological feats. It is one of the few implantable medical devices that truly integrates with the user’s own nervous system in order to restore hearing ability,” said CEO A/Prof Robert Cowan.
“The HEARing CRC worked closely with Cochlear on biosafety and surgical studies to develop the Hybrid electrode concept and subsequent clinical trials,” continued A/Prof Cowan. “We have successfully shown that the new Hybrid electrode array can preserve the recipient’s existing low frequency hearing, while effectively replacing their lost high frequency hearing with electrical signals.”
To date the number of recipients of the Cochlear Hybrid System is more than 500. The technology has be rolled out internationally except in the United States of America, where it is in clinical trial, and China.
Reproduced from the HEARing CRC www.hearingcrc.org/communications/news/excellence-innovation-award
Further information can be found on Cochlear’s site at: www.cochlear.com/wps/wcm/connect/au/home/discover