Invention: Cochlear implant to restore hearing
Understanding speech requires more than just hearing it – the listener also receives information via the speaker’s inflection or tone of voice. Ingeborg and Erwin Hochmair’s invention, the multi-channel cochlear implant, allows people around the world to clearly understand speech rather than only muffled sound.
The married couple's
invention consists of two components: an external processor that converts sound
into electrical signals, and an internal implant that sends that information to
the brain. The implant itself comprises a computer that receives information
from the processor, and uniquely shaped electrodes that pass this information
along.
In contrast to single-channel cochlear devices, through which patients could only discern some vague sounds, the Hochmairs' multi-channel implant has been enabling the profoundly deaf or severely hearing-impaired people to regain their complete sense of hearing since 1980. It is still the only device ever to have successfully replaced a sensory organ.
Societal benefit:
Hearing loss is one of the six leading contributors to the global disease burden, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The multi-channel implant transmits all sorts of sound information accurately and allows hundreds of thousands of people with hearing impairment to understand speech without the need for lip reading or visual stimuli such as hand gestures.
Economic benefit:
MED-EL, based in Innsbruck, Austria, is the second-largest producer of cochlear implants in the world. As of December 2010, 219 000 people had received cochlear implants from MED-EL, underlining its important role in a growing market.
Cochlear implants are the largest segment in the overall hearing implants market, generating more than 80% of the market's global revenue in 2010. The global cochlear implants market is forecast to reach EUR 1.7 billion by 2017, with a annual growth rate of 14%. The market is expected to be driven by the growing incidence of hearing loss, the rapidly growing potential patient base in emerging markets such as China and India, and technological advancements in the area of cochlear implants.
