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Implantable Intracochlear Nanotechnology and Perfusion Hearing Aid Device to Improve Hearing Disclosed


Implantable intracochlear nanotechnology and perfusion hearing aid device earned inventors Dr. Michael H. Fritsch, John H. Fritsch and Josephine Fritsch (Lincoln, NE) U.S. Patent 7,650,194 on January 19, 2010.

The invention is a greatly improved implantable intra-cochlear implant for aiding in the hearing of a patient. The implant includes a body portion implantable within an interior of a cochlea of a patient. The body portion has a proximal end, a distal end and a primary axis. Signal carrying electrodes extends along the body portion. The electrodes have proximal ends and distal ends, with the proximal ends being capable of receiving a signal from a signal generator, and the distal ends being capable of delivering the received signal to an anatomical receptor within a cochlea.

At least several of the electrodes have a nanoelectrode-sized portion. The implant also may include a fluid delivery system of tubules, reservoirs, and pumps for the delivery of chemicals and cells to activate regeneration of neural elements lost during the hearing loss process.

The implant comprises a body portion implantable within an interior of a cochlea of a patient. A plurality of signal-carrying electrodes exist that are capable of receiving a signal from a signal generator and delivering the received signal to an anatomical receptor within a cochlea.

The implant also includes a fluid delivery tubule having a proximal end and a distal end. The proximal end is capable of receiving a fluid from a fluid source. The tubule includes a distal end that is disposed within an interior of the cochlea, and is capable of delivering received fluid to the interior of the cochlea.

Intra-cochlear implants, of the types that this patent addresses have to transmit electrical signals through the cochlear fluids of the scala vestibuli or scala tympani and the bone of the modiolus to reach the residual dendrites and spiral ganglia nerve cells.

Fritsch ‘s intracochlear nanotechnology  and perfusion hearing aid device address several problems not address by current technology.

 One of the problems in dealing with intra-cochlear implants is that the small size of the inner ear structures such as the Organ of Corti, dendrites, spiral ganglion cells, and all the other anatomic structures within the cochlea severely limits the size of any intra-cochlea implant.

Another major problem with present implants is that they have a relatively limited number of electrodes from which to stimulate the cochlea. Intra-cochlear implants known currently to Applicants range from one to 24 mono or bipolar electrodes. The number of original cells within the human Organs of Corti that stimulate the spiral ganglion cells and cochlear nerve are in the tens of thousands (.about.30,000). Thus, a major deficiency of present implants is that they do not adequately stimulate in numbers all along the cochlea. The result is lack of resolution within the sound-perception spectrum. Each single electrode substitutes for thousands of originally functioning cells.

Another major problem with presently available implants is that they do nothing to help regenerate any of the anatomic deficiencies just described. With present implants there are no means of delivering chemicals, medications, nutrients, nucleotides, and cells into the cochlea and/or perfusion of these substances and cells into and out of the cochlea.

Another deficiency with presently available implants is that electrical stimulus transmission is not transmitted from an electrode stud to a nerve structure by directly touching or even being intimate to one. Presently manufactured implants have intra-cochlear electrodes that must traverse fluid and bone to reach residual nerve tissue elements


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