A multi-channel cochlear prosthesis for profound-to-total hearing loss

Abstract

A multi-channel cochlear prosthesis for profound-total hearing loss has been developed by the University of Melbourne and Nucleus Limited. Clinical trials have shown that the prosthesis provides significant help for postlingually deaf adult patients (lost hearing after normal language patterns have been established). The prosthesis helps the patients understand running speech when combined with lipreading, and a proportion obtain significant open-set speech scores for electrical stimulation alone. The patients with these open-set score can use the device in situations where lipreading is not possible, for example, to converse over the telephone. The prosthesis consists of an externally worn, pocket-sized speech-processor, a headset and an implanted receiver/stimulator and electrode array. The headset contains an .ear-level directional microphone that picks up the speech signal. The speech processor encodes the speech as a series of electrical pulses on the electrode array. The data describing these pulses and the power required to produce them, are sent to the receiver/stimulator from .a radio-frequency coil mounted on the headset. The receiver/stimulator decodes the data and delivers the speech signal as a series of biphasic electrical pulses to the 22 electrodes which have been gently passed along the scala tympani during implantation.