Cochlear implantation is an accepted treatment method for adults and children with severe to profound hearing loss. Confidence in technology has led to changes in individuals who can receive a cochlear implant and changes in expected benefit with a cochlear implant. This article describes the research and development activities at MED-EL, which make possible the implementation of new speech-cod...

Mammalian hearing relies upon active cochlear mechanics, which arises from outer hair cell electromotility and hair bundle movement, to amplify acoustic stimulations increasing hearing sensitivity and frequency selectivity. Here we describe the novel finding that gap junctions between cochlear supporting cells also have a critical role in active cochlear amplification in vivo. We find that targ...

A large amount of energy produced by active aerobic metabolism is necessary for the cochlea to maintain its function. This makes the cochlea vulnerable to blockade of cochlear blood flow and interruption of the oxygen supply. Although certain forms of human idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss reportedly arise from ischemic injury, the pathological mechanism of cochlear ischemia-reperfu...

More than 60,000 people worldwide use cochlear implants as a means to restore functional hearing. Although individual performance variability is still high, an average implant user can talk on the phone in a quiet environment. Cochlear-implant research has also matured as a field, as evidenced by the exponential growth in both the patient population and scientific publication. The present repor...

The extra-cellular cochlear microphonic is believed to be generated predominantly by outer hair cells and therefore it would seem reasonable to assume that the presence of a cochlear microphonic excludes outer hair cell dysfunction. Indeed, a diagnosis of auditory neuropathy might be, and has been, made on the basis of a cochlear microphonic present with an abnormal auditory brainstem response....

BACKGROUND Cortical neurons implement a high frequency-specific modulation of subcortical nuclei that includes the cochlear nucleus. Anatomical studies show that corticofugal fibers terminating in the auditory thalamus and midbrain are mostly ipsilateral. Differently, corticofugal fibers terminating in the cochlear nucleus are bilateral, which fits to the needs of binaural hearing that improves...

Fluid motion resulting from the compressional excitation of the cochlear capsule due to bone conduction is examined in this paper. Vibrations of the skull deform the shape of the cochlear capsule and give rise to motion the fluid. A two-dimensional channel having a height to length ratio equal to ε is used to model the cochlea. The cochlear pressure approaches zero the integral equation is solv...

Background. Postoperative imaging after cochlear implantation is usually performed by conventional cochlear view (X-ray) or by multislice computed tomography (MSCT). MSCT after cochlear implantation often provides multiple metal artefacts; thus, a more detailed view of the implant considering the given anatomy is desirable. A quite new method is flat panel volume computed tomography. The aim of...

BACKGROUND Gene therapy is a potentially effective therapeutic modality for treating sensorineural hearing loss. Nonviral gene delivery vectors are expected to become extremely safe and convenient, and nanoparticles are the most promising types of vectors. However, infrequent nuclear localization in the cochlear cells limits their application for gene therapy. This study aimed to investigate th...

HYPOTHESIS Cochlear dysfunction is not common in human meningioma of the internal auditory canal. BACKGROUND Meningiomas arising from the cerebellopontine angle and internal auditory canal typically cause hearing loss. Cochlear dysfunction is known to contribute to sensorineural hearing loss induced by vestibular schwannoma, the most common tumor of the internal auditory canal. Detailed cochl...