Domestic auditory brainstem implant for clinical trials under deal
A device developed by a Shanghai medical research team to help hearing-impaired people who can't use a cochlea implant is set to enter clinical trials under a deal with a local pharmaceutical company.
The auditory brainstem implant (ABI) was developed by a team led by Dr Wu Hao at Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital which announced the deal on Thursday.
As the first ABI to be developed in China, the device stimulates the cochlear nucleus to provide auditory sensation, and is destined for mass production under the deal. Two similar products are produced in Australia and Austria.
Congenital hearing impairment is one of the most common deformities in newborn babies, with an incidence of 1 to 3 in every 1,000 newborns. About one-third of these children suffer serious hearing loss and need hearing reconstruction.
Over 80 percent of newborn babies in China undergo hearing screening and about 8 percent of children with serious cochlea or hearing nerve defects can't use a cochlea implant.
Wu led the initial research and development of the ABI device and since February 2019 his team has successfully dealt with 34 patients, greatly improving the children's hearing and language abilities.
"With the technology, all people with congenital hearing impairment can forget about their deafness," he said.
The ABI device developed by the team at Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital.
