The company specialises in providing implants to the hearing disabled as opposed to the widely used hearing aids. While hearing aids only amplify sounds, implants bypass damaged parts of the ear and directly stimulate the hearing nerve, making the sound louder and clearer.
Going forward, the company is putting together a hybrid solution which is a mix of a cochlear implant and the traditional hearing aid.
According to the company, this new technology has an advantage for those who are partially deaf. It allows them to retain and use their residual hearing more effectively, without having to go in for a total replacement of the functions of the inner ear as in the case of a cochlear implant.
The hybrid hearing implant, based on the electro-acoustic stimulation (EAS) technology, is expected to hit the international market soon.
"The product is in the final stages of clinical trials. The results are encouraging. It will be commercially launched within a year, first in Europe and subsequently in India and other Asia Pacific countries," said Mark Salmon, President, Asia Pacific Region, Cochlear Ltd.
More From This Section
While cochlear implants are indicated for profound deafness, there is a category of individuals who are partially deaf. They are unable to hear higher frequency sounds, but, to some extent, are able to hear low frequency sounds.
For them hearing aids alone often do not provide satisfactory results. At the same time, traditional cochlear implants are not ideal because they do not allow users to benefit from their remaining natural hearing. It is these people who are expected to benefit from the new EAS implant.
The EAS implant is a combination of a hearing aid that acoustically amplifies low frequencies and a cochlear implant that electrically stimulates the higher frequencies.
Since the specially-designed thin electrodes in EAS implant occupy very small space in the inner ear, it does not altogether replace the existing natural hearing ability of the person.
"It enables people in preserving their residual hearing and vastly improves their speech recognition, even in noisy situations. Patients can hope to hear even music with a lot of clarity," explained Salmon. People with partial hearing constitute an exciting new market for the company, he said.
EAS implant is the third in the row of the hearing implants offered by Cochlear Ltd. The 25-year-old company's two other devices