Med-El Elektromedizinische Geraete Gmbh

Roland Hessler

Claude Jolly

Anandhan Dhanasingh

Martin Zimmerling

Gene Y Fridman

Ingeborg Hochmair

Detlef Behrend

Charles Coleman Della Santina

Stefan B Nielsen

Wolfram Schmidt

Hans Wilhelm Pau

Carolyn Garnham

Abdulrahman Abdullah Hagr

Olaf Specht

Andreas Jäger

Mareike Warkentin

Kenneth Mugridge

Jürgen Groll

Soeren Schilp

Pavel Mistrik

Maria Del Carmen Fuentes

Attila Ovari

Jurgen Groll

Andreas Jager

An implantable drug delivery system includes a middle ear section with a proximal end fixed to a tympanic membrane of a patient, and a distal end that penetrates through a fluid-tight sealed opening into the inner ear. An inner ear section has a proximal end that is connected to the distal end of the middle ear guide member at the sealed opening, and a closed distal end terminating the inner ear holding member some predetermined distance within the cochlea. A hollow interior of the inner ear section is configured for containing a replaceable pharmaceutical agent, and an outer surface is configured to release the pharmaceutical agent from the hollow interior into the inner ear of the patient. The middle ear section and the inner ear section are configured to cooperate for replacing the pharmaceutical agent through the proximal end of the middle ear section to the inner ear section.

Implantable fluid delivery apparatus and implantable electrode

An implantable fluid delivery system for use in hearing systems includes an implantable fluid pump having a fluid chamber having at least one wall with a membrane, an inlet and an outlet in fluid communication with the fluid chamber, and a floating mass transducer coupled to the membrane. The membrane is configured to move in a first direction increasing a volume of the fluid chamber and to move in a second direction decreasing the volume of the fluid chamber, and the floating mass transducer is configured to cause the membrane to move in the first and second directions. The system further includes an implantable hearing device having one or more fluid channels in fluid communication with the fluid pump.

Implantable fluid delivery system with floating mass transducer driven pump

An implantable electrode arrangement for a cochlear implant system is described that prevents post-surgical retraction of the electrode. The arrangement includes at least one retraction limiter having an extracochlear portion located at a distal end of the extracochlear electrode lead and an intracochlear portion located at a proximal end of the intracochlear electrode array and made at least in part of a swellable material that expands in response to fluid contact. The intracochlear portion of the retraction limiter is adapted for deformation away from an outer surface of the array proximal end in response to exposure of the swellable material to perilymph fluid within the cochlea after surgical insertion of the electrode array into the implanted cochlea so as to form an anti-retraction projection preventing post-surgical retraction of the array proximal end back through the electrode opening in the outer surface of the implanted cochlea.

Electrode with anti-spring back component

A system and method for selecting an appropriate implantable hearing device for a patient with a hearing impairment is disclosed. The system includes an auditory parameter generating module configured to receive electronically generated image data of the patient's auditory structure and to generate at least one auditory parameter based on the image data. The system further includes memory, in communication with the auditory parameter generating module, that is configured to store a listing of one or more implantable hearing devices, and a hearing device determining module, in communication with the auditory parameter generating module and the memory, that is configured to select the implantable hearing device based on the auditory parameter.

System and method for electrode selection and frequency mapping

A cochlear implant electrode includes an implantable electrode carrier having an outer surface with electrode contacts for electrically stimulating nerve tissue of the inner ear of a patient. A drug lumen is within the electrode carrier and adapted to receive a therapeutic fluid. The drug lumen contains delivery openings to the outer surface of the electrode carrier and a hydrogel matrix disposed between the drug lumen and the one or more delivery openings and adapted to swell in volume when exposed to the therapeutic fluid. The hydrogel matrix is adapted to control diffusion of the therapeutic fluid from the drug lumen through the delivery openings to the outer surface of the electrode carrier.

Hydrogel-filled drug delivery reservoirs

A novel vestibular implant system is described. An implantable vestibular stimulator provides vestibular stimulation signals to stimulate target neural tissue for vestibular sensation by a patient. One or more motion sensors are controllably powered by the vestibular implant system and develop a motion signal reflecting head motion of an implant patient. The vestibular stimulator includes at least two different operating modes: i. a sensor controlled mode wherein the motion sensor is powered and the vestibular stimulation signal is developed as a dependent function of the motion signal, and ii. a sensor independent mode wherein the motion sensor is unpowered and the vestibular stimulation signals, if any, are developed independently of the motion signal.

Implantable vestibular prosthesis system with power saving mode including soft start and soft power-down

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Innsbruck, Austria

Roland Hessler