Hybrid-L Cochlear Implant Clinical Trial

About the Condition

Cochlear implants have improved the lives of tens of thousands of adults with severe-to-profound hearing impairment by allowing them to hear well enough to understand varying degrees of speech, talk on the telephone, achieve successful careers and interact personally. More recently, a new electrode has been designed to enable people with a severe hearing loss for high-pitched sounds, but reasonably good hearing for low-pitched sounds, to benefit from cochlear implant technology. Many people with good low-pitch, but poor high-pitch hearing frequently report having significant communication difficulties and a high level of dissatisfaction with conventional hearing aids.

About the Study

The purpose for using the Nucleus Hybrid L24 array instead of a commercially available implant, such as the Nucleus Freedom device, is to limit how far the electrode goes into the inner ear. The shorter electrode of the Nucleus Hybrid L24 will provide the needed high-pitched information electrically and is designed to allow the natural low-pitched information to work as it does currently, which may provide additional speech understanding in quiet and noise.

Entry Criteria

To be considered for the study, you must:

1. Be eighteen (18) years of age of older

2. Have severe-to-profound sensorineural hearing loss in the high frequencies and mild or moderate hearing loss in the low frequencies

3. Speak English as your primary language

In addition to the above, in order to determine if you are a candidate for the study, we will test your ability to understand words.

Study Participation

If you feel you meet the entry criteria for this study and are interested in learning more or participating, please contact:

William Shapiro, AuD, CCC-A
William.Shapiro@nyumc.org