Listen with light: Göttingen researchers revolutionize cochlea implants!

Listen with light: Göttingen researchers revolutionize cochlea implants!

Göttingen, Deutschland - researchers of the Göttingen Excellence Cluster "Multiscale Bioimaging" (MBEXC) and the Else Kröner Fresenius Center for Optogenetic Therapies (EKFZ OT) have made significant progress in hearing outhetics. They develop a new, optogenetic cochlea implant (OCI), which is intended to enable pigeons and hearing impaired people to regain natural listening pleasure. In particular, research aims to improve the sound by “listening to light”, which is often perceived as artificial and distorted in conventional cochlea implants (ECI), especially in music and voices. This information was provided by the Uni Göttingen The current weaknesses of the electrical cochlea implants are dealt with

, which often have difficulty understanding language in noisy environments and when capturing emotional papers. The new concept combines gene therapy with modern medical technology, the goal is to make nerve cells in the audio snail sensitive to light. This is done with the help of optogenetics, which modifies the cells in such a way that they can stimulate light signals of an optical cochlea implant.

News technology for improved hearing

according to the doctor's set of Ärzteblatts becomes more than one more than one Million from the “jump” program of the State of Lower Saxony and the Volkswagen Foundation supported. The project management under Professor Dr. med. Tobias Moser assumes that the combination of an optical implant with genetic therapy enables significantly improved frequency resolution. This innovation could make it possible to better understand language in complex acoustic environments and to perceive music more precisely.

A planned 64-channel optical cochlea implant is intended to pursue the goal of improving intelligibility and musicality in noisy scenarios. Successful tests in the animal model have already been carried out, and the first clinical study for 2026 is planned, although there is still considerable research.

future of hearing therapy and global challenges

According to the Auditory Neuroscience , around 430 million people worldwide, and by 2050, almost 700 million people who need hearing. The need for cochlea implants that have existed since the 1970s and are used by over 700,000 hearing impaired patients is enormous.

cochlea implants convert sound signals into neural impulses. While they enable the understanding of language into calm environments, the sound -coding quality in complex acoustic situations remains insufficient. Innovative optogenetics could be a major progress here by enabling targeted activation of the neurons and thus improving the sound quality. Studies on optogenetics have already shown that the light stimulation of nerve cells could be more effective than conventional electrical stimulation.

The future promises promising developments. Innovative micro-LED-Cochlea implants are in the works and you strive to develop systems with up to 100 light sources for human use. The coming years could therefore be decisive for improving hearing in people with hearing loss.