Nice to see the future, as it looked in the 1970s, finally wrapping its hemp-crocheted arms around us. No, we're not talking jet packs and meals in a pill (though we'd like to be) we're throwin' more
bionics at ya instead. The Harmony HiResolution Bionic Ear System from Boston Scientific just got the FDA's good house keeping seal of approval in addition to gaining a nod from Health Canada and the CE mark in Europe. The Harmony System, which combines a
cochlear implant and behind-the-ear (BTE) device, delivers 120 spectral bands -- 5-10 times more than competing systems -- to the benefit of the severe-to-profoundly deaf with a love for music. That's right, when the implant is combined with the HiRes Fidelity 120 BTE external sound processor, users will gain access to CD-quality processing to help 'em better appreciate music while the automatic gain control adjusts amplification for soft whispers and loud sounds without adjusting clumsy controls. Approved for adults only in the US and available for that sweet, sweet implant by early 2007.
[Via
Medgadget]
posted Sep 28th 2006 8:09AM
Too bad it will probably be way out of my price range :(
Am deaf but it is pointless. Cos stem cell is coming.
I wonder if you could get one of these implanted (at your cost, obviously) if you're not deaf? Can you say 'ultimate headphones'?
You can but why? Do you realize that when they install these things they damage whatever hearing you have? That's the problem with cochlear implants and parents deciding to put these in 14 months old babies because the parents are too damn ignorant or lazy to accept deafness and learn how to communicate with their deaf child. Yeah yeah... all that crap about wanting their child to be normal... yet they slap eyeglasses on their kids and wear them themselves but eye problems and glasses are acceptable while hearing loss isn't.
Wow, I didn't think there was that much ignorance still alive regarding cochlear implants.
My daughter was deaf (profoundly) at birth.
All 5 of us learned sign language, and at 2 she received her first implant.
Last December she got another one in her other ear, which is still a relatively new option that insurance rarely covers.
You can say whatever you want, but the truth is in the results.
My kid scores 70% on word recognition tests (some of the hardest) with a SINGLE implant, and *90%* with BOTH.
She was able to mainstream this september without an interpreter, and is getting straight A's.
She couldn't be happier.
If it's ok to put on a hearing aid or a pair of glasses, or have surgery to remove a tumor or increase your breast size, it's beyond me why anyone would complain about giving a completely deaf kid access to 90% hearing and the ability to function on their own in a classroom with their peers
SLF
nice watch
DeafLEGO -
You're so right. It's the same parent who yells at their deaf child, slowly, claiming "Oh they can read lips. RIGHT?! DO YOU SEE MY LIPS?". Not bothering to learn how deaf culture is or even sign language or how the mind of a deaf person works. Keep drilling holes into peoples heads and ruining even the minimal amount of hearing they had for these devices, friggin' frankenstein crap.
@Josh and DeafLEGO
These devices are manufactured for people that want them. There are many people who have lost their hearing in mid life and desperately want it back, at any resolution and any cost. There are also those people that embrace the deaf culture. Are you saying we should stop device development because some parents will act inappropriately? Also notice that this device is approved for adults only.
@iceatcs
unfortunately not as soon as anyone would like
my older brother is deaf.
so i know a lot of deaf and hearing impaired people.
i cant wait to get their feed-back on this system.
as for stem cells, i lost track of the progress of it,the last i knew it was banned or something.
my other brothers and ALL of our friends,deaf or not learned sign,for my bro and his schoolmates,we are all good friends,many of which ive been hanging out with since i was a little kid.
but something that always upset me is the fact that our mom to this day still hasnt learned sign.
we are all in our thirties now WTF?!
oh well we love her anyway.
I don't see how you can possibly complain about a device that will allow the user to probably hear better than I can. Saying "this only allows you to avoid learning about deaf culture" ignores the fact that "deaf culture" consists of people who are deaf, and who do not necessarily have to be. Why complain about the mere existence of something that could vastly improve the lives of people who use it?
Let's pretend that a "perfect" cochlear implant existed - i.e. no bad side effects, no clunky battery packs hanging on your ear, etc. - once it's installed you basically just hear normally. Are you saying that if such a device or treatment existed, you wouldn't accept that treatment? If so, you're insane. Refusing to get new legs put on because you like hanging out with people with no legs is asinine. You can still hang out with them. You can still do everything you like doing with that culture. It's just that now you aren't FORCED to. A culture is composed of the people who choose to associate with each other, not the disabilities that brought them together. People becoming able to hear again (or for the first time) will not be the end of deaf culture.
My little brother is deaf, and has been since he was a few months old because of a disease due to physician malpractice. Throughout his childhood he tried different hearing aids, went to dodgy nutritionists, and basically did everything you can think of to try to regain some or part of his hearing. We all learned sign language, but this is what is known everywhere else on earth as a "workaround". Figuring out a way to deal with a disability doesn't make the disability go away, it only makes it less onerous.
If these devices aren't developed, then the concept of "hear as well as a normal person would expect to" will never happen. Just because this thing is a little clunky, it shouldn't be dismissed.
Try the neurophone at http://www.neurophone.com/
i wonder what the nickel does
Does this come with an optional 3.5mm Line in jack??
That would be awesome, directly pluging into MP3 player PC etc, would save hundreds in expensive audio gear ;)
yes it does, I just got one of their models about 10 months ago and use it to connect to my ipod
http://www.bionicear.com/products/auria_earhooks.asp
only problem is you can't use it on a product draws power from wall outlets cuz of all the interference from the power. you can only use it for battery powered devices. so using it on laptops running it on battery is fine while using it on a desktop computer or TV is not.
My girlfriend used to be deaf. She was born that way. She had a Cochlear implant just before coming to college to study engineering. I still remember the evening that she told about being able to hear for the first time. That look in her eyes and the tears come up while she is describing what it is like to hear a car door close and the voice of her mother and father.
Why anyone would want to take that away is beyond me. She made the choice when she was 17 and says that she wouldn't have it anyother way. She didn't want to be deaf anymore. No she has a chance to do great things that before wouldn't have been possiable.
The world isn't going to adapt to deaf people by learing sign language speaking so people can read lips. Those that are able to have this procedure (I know that not all deaf people are eligable) should get it done.
That look in her eyes that night was amazing, it was like looking at a child on christmas monrning, shame on you for wanting to take that away.
Bob L.
Whoever mentioned stem cells, I guess you mean hair cell regeneration...anyway, there won't be anything therapeutic coming out of that research for another 20 years. And even then, it will probably only be useful to restore sudden hearing losses. Due to atrophy, long-term deafened people have other defects in their inner ears besides hair cell damage.
great to see some work in this field. Unfortunately only good for certain cases. Following a tumor op, I am now profoundly deaf in one ear and even a bionic implant wouldn't help (nerve damage: I get to 'hear' white noise instead).
I am amazed at how crude most hearing tech is: my choices for getting stero inputs come down to a 'CROS' system (microphone on the other side of my head e.g. attached to a pair of shades, and routed to a hearing aid blocking the good ear), or a 'BAHA' hearing aid (titanium plug in the skull behind the bad ear, diverting soundwaves to the good ear, through the skull: see http://www.umm.edu/otolaryngology/baha.html)
That's crude and clunky.
Where's the bluetooth solution?
@scooterjp:
As you spoke about BAHA, you probably know there's Australian CI manufacturer Cochlear corp. producer of the only stem implant available at the moment.
Good for people who had tumor in the inner ear.
There's a 20 electrode 4*5 matrix in place of the classic linear array. This matrix is directly coupled onto the stem, provided the integrity of the stem-brain pathway.
There's another "concept-implant" which has been implanted 1 to 2 years ago to a 3-4 years-old baby who had no stem at all. The acoustic stimulation was obtained placing an electrode strip straight over the brain area devoted to acoustic processing. Given the age, the baby probably has easily learned to map the stimuli to meaningful sounds, while for elders this exercise may result cumbersome, but never say.
Tob
Don't understand what all the fuss is about.
Yeah "deaf culture", ruining deaf culture? it's almost like sayin people shudn't get medicine because they'll ruin that "disease" culture
If there's something that can help it should definitely be possible. And you can't say it still has side effects, as long as they aren't too bad it shudnt be a problem. We take pills all the time that have horrible side effects.
But giving someone the ability to hear again, even if its only music! I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't want that.