New Western research helps customize cochlear implants

Rendering of a 3D synchrotron-based image of an implanted cochlea. The red in the image is an implanted cochlear implant electrode array. (Supplied image) - The inner ear is a complex and highly individualized structure. So it should be no surprise that a one-size-fits-all approach to cochlear implants doesn't produce the best results for listeners. This is why a team that includes Western electrical and computer engineering professor Hanif Ladak and his surgical collaborator, otolaryngologist, Dr. Sumit Agrawal , created a tool that would " fine tune " cochlear implants to ensure that anatomical variability would be less of an obstacle for patient hearing. Their research includes collaborators at Uppsala University Hospital in Sweden. Cochlear implants are surgically implanted devices that work by placing an electrode along the length of the cochlea, the part of the inner ear responsible for converting sound to neural signals.