Semi-Implantable Hearing Aid

According to the WHO, hearing loss affects over 5% of the world population with that number expected to rise to about 10% by 2050. Typically, hearing aids are placed into the ear canal to improve hearing. These hearing aid devices convert sound into electrical pulses which bypass the ear drum and directly stimulate the small inner ear bones that are responsible for converting sound waves into electrical pulses the brain can interpret. However, these devices can only be implanted with general anesthesia and can require extensive surgeries.

Inventors at UCI have developed a novel semi-implantable hearing aid which provides the same amount of audio clarity as an implanted hearing device but the UCI hearing aid can be placed with a minimally invasive procedure in a doctor’s office with only local anesthetic.