Due to medical necessity or contraindications to currently available hearing devices, some patients go without hearing augmentation.
Otologics most recent development is a direct cochlear stimulation prosthesis designed for patients with moderate to severe conductive and mixed hearing loss who cannot wear conventional air-conduction hearing aids. Reasons could include congenital or surgically induced malformation of the external ear canal or middle ear such as atresia or external ear canal and/or tympanic cavity tumors, severe chronic external otitis or otitis media. Also included are hearing loss secondary to otosclerosis in persons who cannot undergo stapedectomy, dermatitis of the external ear or other conditions in which an air-conduction hearing aid is contraindicated.
The Otologics prosthesis combines a fully implantable sound processor with a small transducer that replaces the function of the middle ear. The system allows sound to be conducted to the cochlea rather than via the middle ear.
This theraputic prosthesis is currently being evaluated in Europe and clinical trials in the US are expected to commence in 2007.