July 8, 2008
MED-EL Corporation has announced new data regarding FineHearing technology, available only with the MAESTRO Cochlear Implant System. In addition to hearing in “high definition” with FineHearing, MED-EL’s MAESTRO system offers what it reports as the smallest internal implant and the thinnest, lightest externally-worn speech processor available.
MAESTRO is designed to present surgeons with a choice of two internal cochlear implants (SONATATI100, pictured at right, or PULSARCI100) and patients with a choice of two speech processors (OPUS 1 or OPUS 2), providing the best possible solution for each individual case, according to the company. The OPUS Speech Processors offer two new sound coding strategies that are engineered to make hearing the fine details of sound a reality for people who are profoundly deaf.
“The MAESTRO has created a tremendous capacity for patients to hear, they can filter out certain noises, and they can exist in environments that used to be not really well tolerated by people with cochlear implants. The new system has enabled recipients to hear much better than in the past,” said Harold C. Pillsbury, MD, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Source: Med-El
