Qualia Oto Secures $300K NIH Phase I Grant to Advance Robotic Insertion of Cochlear Implants | Hearing Health & Technology Matters

Prostheric Hearing: Soft Brainstem Implant One Step Closer To Human Trials

The cochlear implant has helped many regain hearing functionality and a new study shows a potential roadmap for those whose cochlear nerve is too damaged; the auditory brainstem implant.Not the current auditory brainstem implant, rigid structure does not allow for good tissue contact, which means a majority of the electrodes must be switched off due to unwanted side effects such as dizziness or facial twitching, a soft, thin-film version with el…

Qualia Oto Secures $300K NIH Phase I Grant to Advance Robotic Insertion of Cochlear Implants | Hearing Health & Technology Matters

Qualia Oto has been awarded a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), specifically the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, totaling more than $304,000 over the next 12 months. The project, titled “Robotic-Inserted, Shape-Conforming Cochlear Implant Electrode Arrays,” aims to validate the company’s novel shape-memory polymer (SMP) technology and its perfor…