Researchers at the University of Michigan were preparing a new version of cochlear implant earlier this year. But now it seems like they are looking at a fresh auditory nerve implant , nicknamed as “a superior alternative” to the (now) old fashioned option.
The uber-thin electrode array is believed to be able to “transmit a wide range of sounds to the brain,” and give people suffering from hearing impairments the power to “to hear low-pitched sounds common in speech, converse in a noisy room, identify high and low voices, and appreciate music.”
Researchers on the project are confident that this technology, once set aside a too diificult, ambitiously outwits cochlear implants in every way. While preliminary patents have already been filed, it will still be nearly a decade before these things can make their way into human ears en bloc.
