Project Overview

Hearing impairment is one of the most common and debilitating disorders, adversely affecting all aspects of life. The mission of Remediation of Hearing Loss Hearing Treat is to strengthen the international position of Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing in the field of otolaryngology and audiology and shift Institute's research and development potential towards advanced field of new therapies for hearing impairment. The main project objective is to transfer the knowledge to the Institute and improve the skills of Institute's researchers to develop advanced, multidisciplinary studies on hearing preservation after cochlear implantation and combined stimulation with implant and hearing aid (termed electric-acoustic stimulation or EAS) The host institution has performed many surgeries, pioneering the particular technique of partial deafness cochlear implantation (PDCI ), and achieved unrivalled rates of hearing preservation, building up a large group of patients utilizing EAS stimulation. The patient group is in fact the largest homogenous group to be found globally, and the host institute can provide excellent facilities to allow research to be carried out on volunteers.

The areas of competence to be developed are:

  1. Determination of the optimum fitting parameters for implant and hearing aid when applied together, leading to maximal sound reception in noise, music appreciation, and localization ability (this will also lead to optimum usage of a new combined hearing device developed by two European companies).
  2. An improved understanding of ways to determine the patients' pathologies and disabilities both before and after implantation and factors determining benefit.