Medizinische Hochschule Hannover

Cochlear Limited

Med-el Elektromedizinische Geraete Gmbh

Heinz Kurz Gmbh Medizintechnik

Leibniz Universität Hannover

Advanced Bionics Corporation

Tepha, Inc.

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universitaet Hannover

Otojig Gmbh

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universitat Hannover

Bess Pro Gmbh

Stiftung Tierarztliche Hochschule Hannover

Hörsys IP Gmbh & Co. Kg

Thomas Lenarz

Uwe Steinhardt

Holger Lubatschowski

John Louis Parker

Heinz Kurz

Thomas Stephan Rau

Wolfgang Ertmer

Andrej Kral

David P Martin

Simon F Williams

Peter Gibson

Claude Jolly

Geoffrey R Ball

Ingeborg Hochmair

Omid Majdani

Hubert H Lim

Gentiana I Wenzel

Anandhan Dhanasingh

James Finlay Patrick

Klaus-Peter Schmitz

Detlef Behrend

Dusan Milojevic

Katrin Sternberg

Tobias Ortmaier

Daniel Schurzig

Michael Santek

Andreas Harnisch

Friedrich-Wilhelm Bach

Max Frölich

Axel Lang

Andreas Buechner

Miro Mackiewicz

Daniel Sieber

Hannes Maier

Guenter Reuter

Andreas Hussong

Martin Leinung

Hubertus Eilers

Holger Blume

Stephan Baron

Waldo Nogueira-Vazquez

Minoo Lenarz

Jan Marten Seitz

Luder Alexander Kahrs

Thomas Stephen Rau

Jurgen Neuburger

Benno P Weber

Kathrin Sonntag

Jan-Philipp Kobler

David Martin

Marcel Kluge

Samuel John

Sabine Kramer

Manfred Kietzmann

Philipp Krüger

Sven Karsten Lange

Robert Schuon

Anita Ridl

Gerrit Paasche

Lüder Alexander Kahrs

Günter Reuter

Dirk Bormann

Burkhard Schwab

The invention relates to an irradiation device and a corresponding method for irradiating a radiation absorbing medium, as well as a hearing aid device and a laser surgery device comprising such an irradiation device. A radiation source is configured to generate one or more pulses of electromagnetic radiation and to irradiate the medium with the one or more pulses of electromagnetic radiation. A control unit is configured to control the radiation source such that the time course of the power or intensity of at least one pulse of the one or more pulses of electromagnetic radiation exhibits a rising slope and/or a falling slope, wherein the rising slope and/or falling slope has a maximum gradient which is smaller than a predetermined gradient value, whereby a generation of optoacoustic waves in the medium in response to the rising slope or falling slope, respectively, is avoided or significantly reduced.

Irradiation device and method for irradiating a radiation absorbing medium, hearing aid device and laser surgery device, in particular for laser ear surgery, with such an irradiation device

A positioning aid for surgical procedures has a carrier system and a template. The carrier system consists of a carrier plate, which is provided with a recess, and supports. The carrier plate can be secured to a cranial bone via the supports over an operating field for the surgical procedure. The template has a template plate which can be connected to the carrier plate in a play-free manner and which comprises a guiding aperture. The guiding aperture is arranged and oriented in the template plate, which consists of a blank, in an individualized manner according to coordinates ascertained in advance. The central longitudinal axis of the guiding aperture matches a trajectory for accessing the operating field for the surgical procedure when the carrier system and the template are assembled and the carrier system is secured to the cranial bone.

Positioning aid for surgical procedures

A cochlear implant of a cochlear implant system is described. The cochlear implant comprises electrodes which are mechanically connected to one another and can be inserted in a row in the form of a spiral into a cochlea in order for auditory nerve receptors to be stimulated, a control circuit that can specifically apply electric pulses to the individual electrodes, and an energy source. The control circuit allows the electrodes to be fed in a pulsed manner with electric signals generated by a processor from the acoustic signals, and auditory nerve receptors adjacent to the electrodes to be stimulated. The electrodes are components of modules, each of which comprises its own decoder-and-control circuit for decoding module addresses and stimulation signals and generating electric pulses for the electrodes. Encoded module addresses and stimulation signals generated from acoustic signals are applied to inputs of the decoder-and-control circuit.

Cochlear implant

The invention is related to a surgical device for patient-specific guidance of at least one tool used during a surgical intervention, comprising at least the following features: a) at least one carrier system which is arranged for fixation on a bone structure of a patient, b) at least one guiding system connectable to the carrier system, the at least one guiding system comprising at least one base module and at least one guiding part for precisely defined guidance of at least one tool used during the surgical intervention, c) at least one connecting means for establishing a mechanical connection between the at least one guiding part and the at least one base module, wherein the connecting means comprises at least a non-fixed operating state and a fixed operating state, wherein in the non-fixed operating state the at least one guiding part can be adjusted relative to the base module in a patient-specific adjustment and in the fixed operating state the at least one guiding part is mechanically fixated relative to the at least one base module in the patient-specific adjustment, d) at least one mechanical interface for connecting the carrier system to the guiding system, comprising first interface means of the carrier system and second interface means of the guiding system, wherein the first interface means can be connected via form fit with the second interface means, thereby ensuring a defined adjustment of the guiding system relative to the carrier system by means of form fit. The invention is further related to a method for preparation of such a surgical guidance device.

Surgical guidance device and method for its preparation

A coupling device for a middle ear implant includes a transducer end configured to engage an implantable electromechanical transducer, a bone engagement end configured to engage a temporal bone surface of a recipient patient, a planar loading spring located between the transducer end and the bone engagement end and configured for compression by displacement of the transducer end and the bone engagement end in towards each other, and compression indicators configured to provide visual indication of a pre-load force created on the temporal bone surface by the compression of the loading spring.

Pre-load feedback of a middle-ear coupler

A cochlear implant electrode arrangement is described that prevents post-surgical retraction of the electrode array from the cochlea. The arrangement includes an electrode lead that carries cochlear stimulation signals from an implanted signal processor, through an oval shaped posterior tympanotomy opening in the facial recess of a patient, to an electrode array implanted in a cochlea of the patient. A retraction limiter slides over the electrode lead through the posterior tympanotomy with projection arms aligned along the long diameter of the posterior tympanotomy, then is rotated to align the projection arms along the short diameter of the posterior tympanotomy, and secured to the electrode lead so that the projection arms prevent post-surgical retraction of the electrode lead back through the posterior tympanotomy.

Electrode lead that avoids electrode array migration from the cochlea

The invention provides a cochlea stimulator for implantation comprising optical fibers of which are coupled to an irradiation source that is controlled by a modulator to generate irradiation specific for a pre-determined range of sound-frequencies. The cochlea stimulator effects a frequency-specific activation of the organ of Corti needed for speech perception especially in noisy environment and more complex sounds. For imparting excitation signals which are generated by modulated pulsed laser irradiation conducted within an optical fiber in order to elicit nervous signals in residual functional organ of Corti sections, the auditory prosthesis preferably contains optical fibers which are dimensioned to terminate in end sections within the cochlea at different sites or sections of the organ of Corti. e.g. having different lengths for locating their end sections at different internal parts of the cochlea.

Cochlea stimulator

Drug delivery systems and biocompatible coatings for use with implantable stimulation devices such as cochlear implants have been developed. These drug delivery systems and coatings comprise polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) polymers and copolymers. The drug delivery systems may be used to deliver pharmacologically active substances, for example, directly from a cochlear implant to the inner ear. The coatings can impart lubricity to cochlear devices for ease of insertion of the electrodes. In the preferred embodiment, the drug delivery system comprises a polyhydroxyalkanoate polymer, and in the most preferred embodiment, the PHA polymer comprises poly(4-hydroxybutyrate) (P(4HB)) or copolymer thereof. A particularly preferred embodiment is where the silicone sheath of the cochlear implant electrodes has been surface modified, and coated with P(4HB), and the P(4HB) either contains a pharmacologically active substance or has been coated with such a substance.

Drug eluting cochlear implants

A passive ossicular prosthesis includes a first and second fastening element for connection to the tympanic membrane. A connecting element connects the fastening elements in a sound-conducting manner. The connecting element includes a receiving part and an insertion part. The insertion part is inserted into a receiving opening of the receiving part. The receiving part encloses an end section of the insertion part in the manner of a clamp by way of two opposing, parallel legs disposed parallel to a shank axis of the connecting element. The legs have catch devices that fix the enclosed end section discrete spatial positions relative to the shank axis.

Variable-length passive ossicular prosthesis

The invention relates to a hearing aid device for humans with impaired hearing, who have an at least partially functional cochlea and a functional nervous signalling pathway from the cochlea via the auditory nerve to the brain. The hearing aid device contains a receiver, a transducer of the sound or other acoustic signals into electrical current serving as a signal representing a sound, a pulsed irradiation source connected to the transducer for receiving the electrical current and for generating modulated pulsed irradiation in dependence from the electrical current, and preferably one or more optical fibers optically coupled to the exit of the pulsed irradiation source, wherein the optical path for conduction of irradiation within the device ends directly opposite a functional element of the natural vibration transduction pathway, e.g. adjacent the skull, the tympanic membrane, the hammer, the incus, the stapes, the outside of the cochlea, the otic capsule, the round window membrane, or the oval window membrane.

Light activated hearing device

Light activated hearing aid device

A device for adjusting and fixing relative position between an actuator end piece of an active hearing implant and an element of the ossicular chain or a coupling part to the human inner ear has a connecting element with a first coupling element for coupling to the actuator end piece, a second coupling element, and a shaft-shaped middle part, and the first coupling element geometrically encompasses the actuator end piece with two opposing parallel arms each having a pattern element to fix the encompassed actuator end piece in selectable discrete axial positions in a direction parallel to an axis of the shaft-shaped middle part, for variable-length adaptation and fixing of the actuator end piece relative to the first coupling element in a direction transverse to the axis.

Device for variable-length fixing of the actuator end piece of an active hearing implant in the middle ear

The present invention provides an apparatus for insertion of a flexible implant into a body section of an implant recipient, the apparatus comprising an elongate guiding section having a longitudinal axis and an inner volume for removably receiving the implant, an elongate first receiving member connected at its first end to a first actuator arranged for moving the first receiving member within the guiding section in parallel to the axis of the guiding section, a first control device for controlling the actuation of the first actuator, wherein first receiving member at its second end opposite its first end carries a gripping unit for releasably gripping a proximal end of the implant, a second actuator for controlling the configuration of the implant, and a second control device for controlling the actuation of the second actuator.

Apparatus and system for insertion of an implant

An electrode array that is implantable within the inferior colliculus of the midbrain and/or other appropriate regions of the brain of an implantee and adapted to provide electrical stimulation thereto. The electrode array an elongate member having a plurality of electrodes mounted thereon in a longitudinal array. A delivery cannula for delivering the electrode array comprised of two half-pipes is also described.

Auditory midbrain implant

An implantable tissue-stimulating device for an implantee. The device comprising an elongate member having at least one electrode. At least a portion of the surface of the elongate member having a configuration that at least partially controls any tissue growth on and/or round the elongate member.

Patterning of the surface of implantable devices for tissue growth management

Growing community of inventors

Hannover, Germany

Thomas Lenarz