Cochlear implant pioneers receive coveted technology award

Med-El founders recognised for outstanding achievement in the research, development and commercialisation of the modern cochlear implant.

Provider of hearing implant systems, Med-El, has been awarded Eduard Rhein Foundation’s technology prize for the development and commercialisation of the world’s first multi-channel microelectronic cochlear implant.

The award goes to the compay’s co-founders Dr Ingebord Hochmair and Professor Erwin Hochmair for their work. Med-El advisor Professor Blake Wilson was also recognised for his research and development of an auditory coding strategy for cochlear implants named “Continuous Interleaved Sampling” (CIS) which improved speech recognition without visual cues in the 1980s.

Over 500,000 people have received the cochlear implant and the developers continue to collaborate on new research. The implants are now used in combination with acoustic amplification, implanted bilaterally and are CE-marked for single-sided deafness and asymmetric hearing loss.

Professor Steffen Leonhardt, RWTH Aarhen and member of the Eduard Rhein Foundation board of curators commented on the device’s importance saying: “The introduction of a device that restores hearing was a significant breakthrough in improving the quality of life of the many thousands of people living with a hearing impairment worldwide.”

“We are immensely proud to be recognised by the Eduard Rhein Foundation,” said Dr Ingeborg Hochmair, co-founder and CEO of Med-EL. “Opening the world of sound to people who live in silence is what has been driving us from the start as individuals and as a company. Helping people to overcome hearing loss, learn how to speak, understand language and appreciate music is an achievable goal and life changing gift.” 

Despite cochlear implants being adopted by people around the world there remains a need for improved awareness of hearing loss and the technology available to people living with the condition.

While the adoption of cochlear implants continues to expand around the world, there remains a great need for improved awareness of hearing loss and the advanced technology available to people living with the condition.

“Currently it is estimated that about 25 in a million people receive a cochlear implant each year in Central Europe,” said Professor Erwin Hochmair. “However this is still fewer than 10% of the people living with severe hearing loss who could benefit from cochlear implants, so our mission continues. We hope such prestigious recognition of our work and technology encourages decision makers to recognise the importance of this technology and to make it available to more people worldwide.”