Descripción del proyecto
Implantes auditivos de última generación y autoalimentados
Para que las personas con hipoacusia neurosensitiva de severa a profunda puedan oír, se usan implantes cocleares (IC) para puentear las células ciliadas dañadas del oído y estimular directamente el nervio auditivo por medio de un electrodo coclear. Se está mejorando la tecnología de los IC, que llevan usándose más de cuarenta años. En el proyecto OPERA, financiado con fondos europeos, se desarrollará el primer IC de nueva generación totalmente implantable, de baja potencia y con captación de energía (autoalimentado), que imita el mecanismo auditivo natural del oído. El objetivo es ofrecer al usuario un sonido más natural y claro. El método de carga de batería utilizado es su característica más importante: recoge la energía a través de la vibración generada por las ondas sonoras, mediante un simple tapón de oído conectado a un generador de tonalidad.
Objetivo
Today, congenital or acquired hearing loss affects around 6% of the world population (over 460 M people, of 7% are children) and presents significant impact on people’s social, emotional, and economic wellbeing. Sensorineural impairment, which represents the majority of the profound deafness, is caused from irreversible damage to cochlear hair cells rendering them non-functional/missing. It can be restored using cochlear implants (CIs), which are used to bypass the damaged hair cells and directly stimulate the auditory nerve by means of a cochlear electrode to repair hearing in people with severe-to-profound sensorineural hearing loss. CIs are used for more than 40 years and today implanted in around 420.000 individuals worldwide. However, conventional CIs have major drawbacks. OPERA, with its potential to eliminate these drawbacks, will be the first fully implantable, low-power, energy harvesting (self-powered), next generation CI mimicking the natural hearing mechanism of the ear. Thus, it is expected to give the user a more natural and clear sound. Moreover, being fully implanted, it will not suffer from mechanical damage risks or contact with water, and raise no aesthetic concerns by users. The system does not use magnets, eliminating the MRI limitation in all conventional implants. One of the most important features of OPERA is its novel battery charging method by which the device harvests energy through the vibration generated by sound waves, fed by a simple earplug connected to a tone generator. In OPERA project, we aim to; validate technical performance and functionalities compared with state-of-the-art systems; perform stakeholder analysis and determine the main requirements for clinical practice; validate the design choices against the regulatory requirements; validate the economic and societal benefits; carry out a freedom to operate analysis and protect the IP; consolidate the business model, set up the product value chain and prepare the business plan.
Ámbito científico
Programa(s)
Régimen de financiación
ERC-POC-LS - ERC Proof of Concept Lump Sum PilotInstitución de acogida
06800 Ankara
Turquía