Saturday, November 17, 2012

An Implant First

The world's first single unit processor for cochlear implants has gotten FDA approval. Med-El's Rondo will be available to users this coming Spring. The new design puts everything - the mic, battery and coil into a single processor. There's no ear hook and the coil and cable are connected together, rather than coming separately. There is also a remote control that adjusts the volume and other aspects of the sound collected by the devise. Med-El is an Austrian company founded in 1989 with U.S. offices in Durham, North Carolina. It's the third largest implant maker, behind Cochlear Limited of Australia and Advanced Bionics which is owned by a Swiss company, Sonova Holding. There's more information here.