Cochlear implants boosted by gene therapy plus tiny LEDs
        
            By Clare Wilson, 
                New Scientist
             | 07. 07. 2016
        
                    
                                    
                    
                                                                                                                                    
                                                                            
                              
    
  
  
    
  
          
  
      
    
            Can light restore hearing in deaf people? Researchers hope that through optogenetics, they can use micro-LED lights to make better cochlear implants than those used by deaf people today.
Standard cochlear implants function by stimulating nerves using an electrode placed inside the   cochlea, a tiny spiral cavity inside the ear. These work, but sounds are   distorted and muffled.
That’s because people who aren’t deaf can normally discriminate   between about 2000 different sound frequencies, whereas cochlear   implants allow only about a dozen to be distinguished. As a result,   these implants make human speech sound a bit like that of a dalek, and music can be unpleasant.
Continue reading on New Scientist 
Image via Flickr/Jessica Merz
 
       
 
  
 
    
    
  
   
                        
                                                                                
                 
                                                    
                            
                                  
    
  
  
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