EPFL researchers have developed a soft, thin-film ABI, which enables better tissue contact, prevents off-target nerve activation, and reduces side effects.
Scientists have developed a new flexible auditory brainstem implant, which closely conforms to the curved surface of the brainstem. EPFL researchers claimed that the technology has successfully demonstrated high-resolution “prosthetic hearing” in macaques.
The auditory brainstem implant is useful for those whose cochlear nerve is too damaged for a standard cochlear implant.Researchers have highlighted that the current ABIs are rigid implants that do not allow for good tissue contact. As a result, doctors commonly switch off a majority of the electrodes due to unwanted side effects such as dizziness or facial twitching—leading most ABI users to perceive only vague sounds, with little speech intelligibility.Soft, thin-film ABI uses micrometer-scale platinum electrodesNow, EPFL researchers have developed a soft, thin-film ABI, which uses micrometer-scale platinum electrodes embedded in silicone, forming a pliable array just a fraction of a millimeter thick. The novel method enables better tissue contact, prevents off-target nerve activation, and reduces side effects. “Designing a soft implant that truly conforms to the brainstem environment is a critical milestone in restoring hearing for patients who can’t use cochlear implants,” says Stéphanie P. Lacour, Head of the Laboratory for Soft Bioelectronic Interfaces at EPFL. “Our success in macaques shows real promise for translating this technology to the clinic and delivering richer, more precise hearing.”Previous ABIs rest on the dorsal surface of the cochlear nucleus, which has a 3 mm radius and a complex shape. Researchers have also claimed that rigid electrodes leave air gaps, leading to excessive current spread and undesired nerve stimulation. By contrast, the EPFL researcher’s ultra-thin silicone design easily bends around the tissue.Emilie Revol, co-first author on the project and a former PhD student at EPFL, stated that half the challenge is coming up with a viable implant, the other half is teaching an animal to show us, behaviorally, what it actually hears.She meticulously trained the animals to perform an auditory discrimination task: the monkeys learned to press and release a lever to indicate whether consecutive tones were the “same” or “different.” Researchers engineered dual-site implantable systemPublished in the journal Nature, the study claims that the researchers engineered a dual-site implantable system, scaled to macaque anatomy, for the analysis of auditory perception evoked by electrical stimulation of the cochlear nucleus.“Behavioural responses collected over several months were sufficiently precise to distinguish stimulations from adjacent channels. Soft multichannel ABIs may aid the rehabilitation of individuals with profound hearing loss who are ineligible for cochlear implants,” said researchers in the study.Despite the promising innovation, the path to a commercially available soft ABI is still far as it requires additional research and regulatory steps. “One immediate possibility is to test the device intraoperatively in human ABI surgeries,” said Stéphanie P. Lacour.
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