MED-EL
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

MED-EL is a global medical technology company specializing in hearing implants and devices. They develop and manufacture products including
cochlear implant A cochlear implant (CI) is a surgically implanted neuroprosthesis that provides a person who has moderate-to-profound sensorineural hearing loss with sound perception. With the help of therapy, cochlear implants may allow for improved speech unde ...
s,
middle ear implant A middle ear implant is a hearing device that is surgically implanted into the middle ear. They help people with conductive, sensorineural or mixed hearing loss to hear.   Middle ear implants work by improving the conduction of sound vibrations fr ...
s and bone conduction systems.   MED-EL is a privately owned company and is run by its co-founder and CEO Ingeborg Hochmair, an internationally acclaimed scientist and researcher in the field of hearing implants. The company headquarters are in Innsbruck,
Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
.


History

In the mid-1970s, Ingeborg and Erwin Hochmair were research scientists at the
Technical University of Vienna TU Wien (TUW; german: Technische Universität Wien; still known in English as the Vienna University of Technology from 1975–2014) is one of the major universities in Vienna, Austria. The university finds high international and domestic recogn ...
, working on the development of cochlear implants. In 1977, the first microelectronic multichannel cochlear implant was implanted by Dr Kurt Burian in
Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...
. Two years later in 1979, a modified version of that implant enabled a female patient to understand words and sentences without lip-reading via a small, body-worn sound processor used in a quiet environment. In 1989, the Hochmair’s decided to create their own hearing implant company: MED-EL GmbH. As Erwin Hochmair had been awarded a professorship at the
University of Innsbruck The University of Innsbruck (german: Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck; la, Universitas Leopoldino Franciscea) is a public research university in Innsbruck, the capital of the Austrian federal state of Tyrol, founded on October 15, 1669. ...
, they decided to found the company in the city and hired their first three employees in 1990. In 1991, they developed the world’s first behind-the-ear (BTE) audio processor. Instead of being attached to the body, this audio processor was worn behind the ear in the same way as a conventional
hearing aid A hearing aid is a device designed to improve hearing by making sound audible to a person with hearing loss. Hearing aids are classified as medical devices in most countries, and regulated by the respective regulations. Small audio amplifiers s ...
. In 1995, MED-EL developed the CIS LINK system: an audio processor that allowed users of the Ineraid implant to use the recently developed CIS sound coding strategy, despite the fact that Ineraid had discontinued further development on their implants. In 2003, the company acquired the Vibrant Soundbridge, a new type of active middle ear implant pioneered by American inventor Geoffrey Ball. It was MED-EL’s first non-cochlear implant product. Further non-cochlear implant products followed with the Bonebridge active bone conduction implant in 2012 and the Adhear non-surgical bone conduction system in 2017. MED-EL operates in over 100 countries worldwide including Europe, America, the Middle East, Asia and Australia. There are around 200,000 MED-EL users around the world. The company opened its own hearing museum, the Audioversum Science Centre, in 2013. The science centre is located in central Innsbruck.


Products


Cochlear Implants

These were the first products to be designed and manufactured by MED-EL. They electronically stimulate the
cochlea The cochlea is the part of the inner ear involved in hearing. It is a spiral-shaped cavity in the bony labyrinth, in humans making 2.75 turns around its axis, the modiolus. A core component of the cochlea is the Organ of Corti, the sensory or ...
, sending sound signals to
auditory nerve The cochlear nerve (also auditory nerve or acoustic nerve) is one of two parts of the vestibulocochlear nerve, a cranial nerve present in amniotes, the other part being the vestibular nerve. The cochlear nerve carries auditory sensory information ...
and onto the
brain A brain is an organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It is located in the head, usually close to the sensory organs for senses such as vision. It is the most complex organ in a ve ...
. The current models available are the Synchrony 2 implant with either the Sonnet 2 or Rondo 3 audio processor. The Synchrony 2 implant can undergo MRI scans of up to 3.0 Tesla.


Electric acoustic stimulation

In 2005, MED-EL released their first electric acoustic stimulation system (EAS). This new type of implant combines both cochlear implant and hearing aid technology. The cochlear implant technology helps patients to hear high-pitched sounds, while the hearing aid technology helps them to hear low-pitched sounds. The current models are the Synchrony 2 for EAS implant with the Sonnet 2 EAS audio processor.


Middle ear implants

In 2003, MED-EL acquired the Vibrant Soundbridge, a new type of middle ear implant. The implant works by vibrating the bones of the middle ear, allowing sound vibrations to pass from the
middle ear The middle ear is the portion of the ear medial to the eardrum, and distal to the oval window of the cochlea (of the inner ear). The mammalian middle ear contains three ossicles, which transfer the vibrations of the eardrum into waves in the ...
to the cochlea. The current models are the VORP 503 implant and the SAMBA 2 audio processor. Inventor Geoffrey Ball still works as a technical director at MED-EL.  The company also offer passive middle ear implants — prostheses that replace one or all of the ossicles in the middle ear, again allowing sound vibrations to pass from the middle ear to the cochlea.


Bone conduction systems

MED-EL offers two types of bone conduction systems: an implant and a non-surgical device. The Bonebridge bone conduction implant was the first implant on the market to offer direct drive stimulation of the bone through a transcutaneous device. The current models are the BCI 602 implant and the SAMBA 2 audio processor. The system was first approved in Europe in 2012. The Adhear bone conduction device is the company’s only non-surgical hearing device. It consists of an adhesive adapter, which is placed on the skin behind the ear. The hearing device then snaps onto the adapter and transmits sound vibrations to the bones of the skull. There is currently only one model of the Adhear available.


Auditory brainstem implant

MED-EL has been producing auditory brainstem implants since 1997. The ABI is similar in design to a cochlear implant, however the electrode array is placed on the
cochlear nucleus The cochlear nuclear (CN) complex comprises two cranial nerve nuclei in the human brainstem, the ventral cochlear nucleus (VCN) and the dorsal cochlear nucleus (DCN). The ventral cochlear nucleus is unlayered whereas the dorsal cochlear nucle ...
of the brainstem, as opposed to being inserted into the cochlea.


Research and development


Hearo

A collaboration with Swiss company CAScination helped to develop Hearo, a surgical robot designed to assist with cochlear implantation. It uses image-guided surgical planning software to plan the optimal trajectory to the cochlea. The Hearo received the CE mark in 2020.


Vestibular prosthesis

Vestibular dysfunction can lead to a multitude of balance problems, such as falls. MED-EL is conducting research into a viable vestibular prosthesis with local partners, including the Medical University of Innsbruck and the UMIT university in Hall. Investigational devices have already been implanted in patients in Europe and the US.


Dexel

MED-EL is developing the Dexel electrode array, which emits controlled doses of the drug
dexamethasone Dexamethasone is a glucocorticoid medication used to treat rheumatic problems, a number of skin diseases, severe allergies, asthma, chronic obstructive lung disease, croup, brain swelling, eye pain following eye surgery, superior vena ...
into the cochlea to improve healing after implantation. The first six patients were implanted with the Dexel at the
Hannover Medical School The Hannover Medical SchoolAlthough the English spelling of the city name is "Hanover", this form of the name, using the German spelling of the city name, is used as the English-language name of the school, for example . (german: Medizinische Ho ...
in
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
as part of a
clinical trial Clinical trials are prospective biomedical or behavioral research studies on human participants designed to answer specific questions about biomedical or behavioral interventions, including new treatments (such as novel vaccines, drugs, diet ...
in 2020.


Improved healing

The company is researching different ways to improve healing after cochlear implantation. In 2020, MED-EL and the Paracelsus Medical University Salzburg announced a joint research agreement for the clinical testing of human umbilical cord cell-derived extracellular vesicles. The first clinical trial will take place at the Hannover Medical School in Germany.


TICI

MED-EL is developing a totally implantable cochlear implant. This involves combining all the parts of the audio processor into the internal implant. The first patient in
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
was implanted with a TICI in September 2020 as part of a clinical trial.


Awards

2021: Red Dot award for Rondo 3 2020: Innovator of the Year award for Synchrony cochlear implant system, Bonebridge bone conduction implant and AudioKey app 2020: Trigos award for international engagement, for healthcare projects in
Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
and Ivory Coast 2019: Red Dot award for Bonebridge BCI 602 implant 2014: Red Dot award for MED-EL audio processor 2013: Red Dot award for VSB QuickCheck 2004: Honorary Doctorate for Medicine (Ingeborg and Erwin Hochmair) from
Technical University of Munich The Technical University of Munich (TUM or TU Munich; german: Technische Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It specializes in engineering, technology, medicine, and applied and natural sciences. Establis ...


References


External links


MED-EL Website

HearPeers Website



Cochlear Implant Online

Research Gate

Lasker Foundation
{{coord, 47.2625, N, 11.3740, E, source:wikidata, display=title Technology companies established in 1990 Medical technology companies of Austria Hearing aid manufacturers Austrian brands