Med-El Launches World's First Fully Implanted Cochlear Implant
First Implantable Cochlear Implant Launches
Med-El's TICI Unico hides its microphone, sound processor, and rechargeable battery entirely beneath the scalp, ending the external hardware that has long limited daily life for cochlear implant users. The 20-gram device won European approval, and the first four commercial implantations were performed the morning of the announcement. A 30-patient trial found hearing performance comparable to conventional implants, while letting users hear while asleep, swimming, or recharging.
For the first time, all components of a cochlear implant, including the microphone, are implanted beneath the skin. There are no external components to wear, to remove, or to manage.
- Semkas
This probably sounds really obvious, but I underestimated how isolating even slight deafness can be.
Have a really nice chatty senior (70s) at my volunteering job who was very jovial with everyone, always cheered me up because I worry about the amount elder-loneliness in my town sometimes. He lost some of his hearing over the years, and even with decent hearing aids and people taking his hearing into account he participates much less in conversation during our breaks.
- janeerie
There's a good thread on Reddit from a recipient of this implant talking about his experience: https://www.reddit.com/r/Cochlearimplants/comments/1wu4zjz/t...
In related news, 2 companies have begun human trials on genetic therapy for the most common cause of hearing loss (GJB2). I'm sure cochlear implant companies are a bit nervous about this development!
- silver92bullet
So I think thos would be something that needs to be started at a young age with lots of exposure training. My father in law is deaf and has a cochlear implant but often removes at points because it gets overwhelming for him to hear all the noise all the time. This seems like it would not afford him the luxury of that.
- codedokode
As I understand, the novelty is that they put external components, including a lithium battery, under the skin. Is that a good idea? You cannot easily replace them, and what if something happens to the battery?
- weinzierl
When I first heard about Cochlear Implants I thought this is magic. That we can replace a part of the body that does some calculation mechanically with a real time computer simulation of it blew my mind.
Nowadays these implants must be quite common. At least I encounter people wearing ones regularly. If their life can get more convenient with an implantable version this is fantastic news.