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Gallery: The Bionic Human Circa 2011

Posted 8.18.11 at 3:10 pm 4 Comments

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Eardrum: A Cochlear Implant App for Smartphones

University of Texas at Dallas

Cochlear implants are widely available, though expensive--about 190,000 have been installed in the ears of people suffering from profound deafness. They have some serious limitations, some of which will take lots of time and effort to improve: the hearing restoration is very limited, for example (click here to hear what speech sounds like to someone with a cochlear implant). But the Cochlear Implant Lab at the University of Texas at Dallas is awaiting FDA approval for an idea that could dramatically improve the usability of cochlear implants right away: link them with smartphones.

The two main reasons to link a cochlear implant with a smartphone are simple: control and record. Current cochlear implants have very little in the way of flexibility, with the user mostly unable to adjust the implant to suit the sounds in the user's environment, but a smartphone app could fairly easily be written that would enable all sorts of controls, including volume and frequency modulations.

Also, doctors and researchers find it very difficult to get much data from cochlear implant patients--the space requirements are, as you'd imagine, very tight, so there's no room for a universal recording device. Smartphones could very easily record and store all sorts of data so doctors and researchers could better understand the way cochlear implants work, and the ways they could be improved.

Current status: Enmeshed in the FDA approval process.

Runners-up: There are four major manufacturers of regular (i.e. non-smartphone-compatible) cochlear implants: Cochlear, Advanced Bionics, MED-EL, and Neurelec.

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Read the article: State of the Bionic Art: The Best Replacements for My Flimsy Human Parts

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4 Comments

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Onihikage

08/23/11 at 5:16 pm

The picture in slide 13 isn't an iron lung, it appears to be either the lung-on-a-chip, or the actual bionic lung discussed in the information area.

The artificial heart that doesn't beat sounds great to me. I've been cursed with the ability to hear my own heartbeat ALL THE TIME, at least in my right ear. It's very distracting. If my heart ever starts to fail, I'd seriously consider this as an option.

That is, if Washington would ever begin to consider the welfare of the poor and unfortunate over the prosperity of the rich. Otherwise very few could afford such a thing.

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Dublin992233

08/23/11 at 6:11 pm

Has anyone studied to see if the other complementary limb provides information that can be used by the lost limb? For instance walking. If my left foot finds I'm walking on sand - and I know I'm walking on sand "I can say that I am" can the combined sets of information be used by the prosthetic? Obviously yes, just wondering if that's been rolled into the mix. Same goes with the height of stairs. If you wore a special sock or sensor on the other foot or maybe a special watch...maybe it could help transmit information such as distance to object, temperature, texture, give...anything. Just a thought. Fascinating advancements. Just fascinating - thank you all for your progress.

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TrulyVisionary

08/24/11 at 2:23 am

The seeker of knowledge who seeks to reach beyond the stars to go where no mans gone before to see things no man has seen and bring these experiences back for the whole world to hear and see.

I would cut my hands and heart and lungs in a heart beat lol
for that stuff the lack of where and tear on the body from old or not fully functioning body parts would mean my life span would increase 2 fold given no anomalies popup like cancer or aid's but yeah i would do it and the DARPA hand i love that thing it's so futuristic i want one now and the lung and heart combo would be a life saver to of the most needed organs virtually age proof

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djmc993150

09/02/11 at 11:20 am

With respect to the bionic lung. This sounds somewhat dangerous. Part of the lungs' function is also fighting airborne diseases. A synthetic blood/air interface that doesnt appear to allow any interaction with the immune system seems to allow unfettered access to the blood for any airborn disease.

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