Multi-channel cochlear prosthesis for profound-to-total hearing loss

A multi-channel cochlear prosthesis for profound-total hearing loss has been developed. The prosthesis helps the patients understand running speech when combined with lip-reading, and a proportion obtain significant open-set speech scores for electrical stimulation alone. The patients with these open-set scores can use the device in situations where lip-reading is not possible, for example, to converse over the telephone. The prosthesis consists of an externally worn, pocket-sized speech-processor, a headset and an implanted receiver/stimulator and electrode array.