Cochlear Implant News and Research

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Researchers develop coding strategy in cochlear implants to help users hear music better

For many, music is a universal language that unites people when words cannot. But for those who use cochlear implants -- technology that allows deaf and hard of hearing people to comprehend speech -- hearing music remains extremely challenging.

10 Oct 2013

NIH awards grant to FDA-approved clinical trial of auditory brainstem implant in children

House Research Institute (HRI) and Children's Hospital Los Angeles Children's Hospital) announced today final approval of grant funding by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Institute on Deafness and Communications Disorders (NIDCD) for a major five-year, FDA-approved clinical trial of the auditory brainstem implant (ABI) in children.

21 Aug 2013

One-third of patients with heart pumps develop infection at abdominal power connection site

Cardiac surgeons and cardiologists at the University of Maryland Heart Center are part of a multi-center clinical trial evaluating the efficacy of powering heart pumps through a skull-based connector behind the ear. Typically, these devices for patients with severe heart failure are energized through an electrical cord connected at an abdominal site, where potentially deadly infections can develop.

8 Aug 2013

Cochlear implants restore usable hearing to deaf patients

Cochlear implants, electrical prosthetic devices that stimulate inner ear neurons of individuals who have lost their cochlear sensory cells, restore usable hearing to deaf patients. Cochlear implant electrodes are placed in the fluid-filled scala tympani of the cochlea, at a significant distance from the spiral ganglion and even from the spiral ganglion dendrites.

22 Jul 2013

Massachusetts Eye and Ear enrolls deaf children in new clinical trial of Auditory Brainstem Implant

The Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, a Harvard Medical School teaching affiliate, is now enrolling a select group of deaf infants and children in a new FDA-approved clinical trial of an Auditory Brainstem Implant.

12 Jun 2013

International experts formulate guidance for neuromodulation practitioners

An international panel of experts has formulated guidance for neuromodulation practitioners that reflects increasing recognition of the value of this growing field.

10 Jun 2013

Study challenges correlation between bad behaviors in children with hearing implants, language delay

A new study presented today at the 48th Annual American Neurotology Society spring meeting is challenging a long held belief among speech therapists and audiologists that bad behavior in young children with hearing implants is an indicator of device failure and a predictor of poor language development.

15 Apr 2013

Jacob Landis to make cross-country bicycle tour to raise funds for people with hearing loss

A 24-year-old hearing-impaired baseball fan from Annapolis, Md., hopes to raise $1 million to help others facing hearing loss, so they too can experience in what he calls his "miracle," the cochlear implant performed at The Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1999 that restored much of his hearing when he was 10 years old.

30 Mar 2013

Study reveals role of maternal sensitivity in language growth for deaf children

University of Miami Psychologist Alexandra L. Quittner leads one of the largest, most nationally representative studies of the effects of parenting on very young, deaf children who have received cochlear implants.

11 Mar 2013

Cochlear implants improve speech perception in early bilateral SNHL

Cochlear implant surgery in children with an early diagnosis of bilateral sensorineural hearing loss results in significant progressive improvements in speech perception and intelligibility, suggest study findings.

7 Mar 2013

New image-guided programming method can improve hearing in cochlear implant users

Imagine suddenly being able to hear the words and tone of the person across the table from you in a crowded restaurant when once you only heard overwhelming noise. Or speaking on the telephone with confidence because what you hear is now crisp and clear. Longtime cochlear implant users are reporting such dramatic improvements in their hearing, thanks to new image-guided programming methods developed by Vanderbilt University researchers.

7 Mar 2013

Auditory training with noise can work in hearing-impaired children

Children with hearing loss struggle to hear in noisy school classrooms, even with the help of hearing aids and other devices to amplify their teacher's voice. Training the brain to filter out background noise and thus understand spoken words could help the academic performance and quality of life for children who struggle to hear, but there's been little evidence that such noise training works in youngsters.

13 Feb 2013

Speech training holds promise for cochlear implant recipients

Behavioral speech therapy programs are effective and efficient for training speech sound production in adults who have received a cochlear implant, exploratory research findings show.

16 Jan 2013

Bionic devices: an interview with Dr Rylie Green

Bionic devices are implants which replace biological functions which have been lost due to nerve damage. They use electrical signals to stimulate the remaining nerve cells following disease or injury. Although the term bionic was only coined in the late 1950s, the earliest bionic devices were cardiac pacemakers, developed in the early 1900s. However the first commercial implantable units were not available until the 1950s.

14 Jan 2013

Columbia Asia Hospitals conducts successful cochlear implants and BAHA surgery

Loss of hearing may not be a life threatening condition but it can certainly affect the quality of life and hamper a child’s normal growth. Deafness identified early helps address the challenges involved in the normal development of the child, including speech, which usually gets affected. Columbia Asia Hospitals across India has been conducting Cochlear implants and BAHA (Bone Anchored Hearing Aid) very successfully.

30 Oct 2012

Cochlear implant an option for unhappy stapes patients

Cochlear implantation is a safe and effective treatment option for patients with far advanced otosclerosis who have not benefitted from stapedectomy, report US researchers.

25 Sep 2012

Bilateral cochlear implants may restore binaural sound processing in the brain

Cochlear implants - electronic devices surgically implanted in the ear to help provide a sense of sound - have been successfully used since the late 1980's. But questions remain as to whether bilateral cochlear implants, placed in each ear rather than the traditional single-ear implant, are truly able to facilitate binaural hearing. Now, Tel Aviv University researchers have proof that under certain conditions, this practice has the ability to salvage binaural sound processing for the deaf and hard-of-hearing.

24 Sep 2012

Canadian physician wins AAO - Head and Neck Surgery Distinguished Service Award

For only the second time in the history of the American Academy of Otolaryngology (AAO), a Canadian physician has won the AAO - Head and Neck Surgery Distinguished Service Award. Dr. Lorne Parnes is a Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology -Head and Neck Surgery and Clinical Neurological Sciences at Western University's Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry.

15 Sep 2012

CHLA, House Research Institute and University of Verona to advance ABI use in children

House Research Institute and Children's Hospital Los Angeles have announced an international consortium with the University of Verona in Italy to collaborate on teaching and research to advance the use of the Auditory Brainstem Implant (ABI) in children worldwide.

11 Sep 2012

Montefiore physician to develop tablet computer app for children with cochlear implants

Elena Willis, MD Resident Physician, Department of Otorhinolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, Montefiore Medical Center, has been awarded a $10,000 Resident Research Grant by The American Academy of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, sponsored by The Oticon Foundation, to develop a tablet computer app to help improve the speech of children with cochlear implants.

20 Jul 2012