ABCIT

Advancing Binaural Cochlear Implant Technology

 Coordinatore UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON 

 Organization address address: GOWER STREET
city: LONDON
postcode: WC1E 6BT

contact info
Titolo: Mr.
Nome: Federico
Cognome: Giavardi
Email: send email
Telefono: 442031000000

 Nazionalità Coordinatore United Kingdom [UK]
 Sito del progetto http://www.ucl.ac.uk/abcit
 Totale costo 5˙279˙350 €
 EC contributo 4˙000˙000 €
 Programma FP7-HEALTH
Specific Programme "Cooperation": Health
 Code Call FP7-HEALTH-2012-INNOVATION-2
 Funding Scheme CP-FP
 Anno di inizio 2012
 Periodo (anno-mese-giorno) 2012-09-01   -   2015-08-31

 Partecipanti

# participant  country  role  EC contrib. [€] 
1    UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON

 Organization address address: GOWER STREET
city: LONDON
postcode: WC1E 6BT

contact info
Titolo: Mr.
Nome: Federico
Cognome: Giavardi
Email: send email
Telefono: 442031000000

UK (LONDON) coordinator 863˙674.20
2    NEURELEC SA

 Organization address address: Chemin Saint Bernard 2720
city: VALLAURIS
postcode: 6220

contact info
Titolo: Dr.
Nome: Dan
Cognome: Gnansia
Email: send email
Telefono: 3698582562

FR (VALLAURIS) participant 2˙013˙153.00
3    CARL VON OSSIETZKY UNIVERSITAET OLDENBURG

 Organization address address: AMMERLAENDER HEERSTRASSE 114-118
city: OLDENBURG
postcode: 26111

contact info
Nome: Sabine
Cognome: Geruschke
Email: send email
Telefono: +49 441 798 2437
Fax: +49 441 798 2503

DE (OLDENBURG) participant 722˙392.00
4    HORTECH GGMBH

 Organization address address: MARIE CURIE STRASSE 2
city: OLDENBURG
postcode: 26129

contact info
Nome: Stephan
Cognome: Albani
Email: send email
Telefono: +49 441 2172 147
Fax: +49 441 2172 250

DE (OLDENBURG) participant 400˙780.80

Mappa


 Word cloud

Esplora la "nuvola delle parole (Word Cloud) per avere un'idea di massima del progetto.

background    ci    team    population    individuals    noise    temporal    prototype    ability    hear    implant    critical    evoked    communication    function    successful    algorithms    loss    device    cocktail    party    binaural    listening    implants    social    benefit    auditory    restore    brain    neurelec    ears    sensory    responses    normal    true    sound    abcit    deaf    speech    ear    cis    generation    hearing    cochlear    simulation    sources   

 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'Cochlear implants (CI) are the most successful sensory prosthetic devices developed to date, as judged by their ability to restore sensory and motor function (i.e. hearing and normal speech patterns) in the profoundly deaf. With 1 in 7 of the population affected by hearing impairment, and an increasingly ageing population Europe-wide, sensory therapies for hearing are critical for the future physical, social and economic health of the European Union. Nevertheless, considerable progress remains to be made if CI users are to be able to hear and communication in even moderately challenging ‘cocktail party’ environments, where sources must be localized and individual conversations heard out from a background of multiple talkers, room reverberations and extraneous noise sources. This requires two-eared, or binaural, hearing. To this end, the next generation of cochlear implants will be binaural and feature semi-automated fitting procedures, aided by the objective measurement of evoked brain responses. The restoration of binaural hearing, the ability to integrate information from the two ears is critical to hearing performance. Although bilateral implantation (an independent implant in each ear) provides some opportunity for this, the temporal information required to achieve true binaural hearing is completely absent. The current proposal will develop the first generation of binaural implants capable of exploiting the temporal information arriving at each ear to provide true cocktail party listening for deaf individuals using cochlear implants, and a new generation of medical devices that take account of the requirements of the binaural brain to restore effective hearing. Significant benefit will accrue to the SME, Neurelec, in the development of new stimulation algorithms and research interfaces, and both they and hearing-impaired individuals will benefit from the development of a sensory technology designed to enhance communication over the life course.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

An EU-funded project has developed a prototype of a novel cochlear implant (CI). This device allows users to experience more normal listening.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

Hearing loss is the most common sensory deficit, and one in seven people in the general population have this problem. Those who are deaf or hard of hearing and use the current hearing equipment still struggle in many scenarios, largely because background noise makes communication difficult.

CIs, devices that stimulate the auditory nerve through electric pulses, were an excellent start in bringing sound to those with hearing loss. However, most CIs only allow for one-ear 'monaural' listening, while normal-hearing individuals use binaural hearing to compare information about sounds from both ears and to locate the source of sound.

The EU-funded project 'Advancing binaural cochlear implant technology' (http://www.ucl.ac.uk/abcit (ABCIT)) is working with the leading CI developer, Neurelec, to exploit the latest technologies and develop a binaural CI.

Project objectives are to make use of the full range of binaural hearing cues in CIs, develop a research platform to enhance CI processors, adapt currently successful hearing aid algorithms to CIs, and develop a way to assess binaural processing in CIs. The team is also working to develop a low-power, wireless link between the CIs in each ear to access binaural information.

Results thus far include the development of a speech-processing simulation strategy and simulation tool of the device. The team has conducted experiments with both animals and humans to assess neural responses to the new device, developed a design that allows for recording of electrically evoked auditory brainstem responses, and developed a way to measure sensitivity to interaural time differences.

The team is still working on assessing speech-processing algorithms. Ultimately, researchers will use the data collected to develop the prototype of the binaural CI and begin to disseminate information about it.

ABCIT's prototype could revolutionise CIs, allowing users to hear more normally and function in social settings where communication was previously near impossible. The device represents a therapeutic, cost-effective solution for a growing proportion of the population.

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