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Conspicuous hearing aids may soon be a thing of the past thanks to a new device developed by three Dalhousie faculty members.

For the past several years, Manohar Bance, professor and acting head of the Faculty of Medicine鈥檚 otolaryngology division, and two assistant professors in the School of Biomedical Engineering, Jeremy Brown and Rob Adamson, have been developing a new hearing aid implant that will be invisible to the naked eye.

Last week, it was announced that Dal has signed an exclusive worldwide licensing agreement for the hearing aid technology with U.S. medical device company Ototronix.

鈥淚鈥檓 excited and apprehensive,鈥� says Dr. Bance. He calls the licensing agreement 鈥渢he starting point. We have a lot of work ahead of us. It takes about two years just to get basic trials done.鈥�

Dr. Bance is a surgeon and says he is mostly involved in the 鈥渃linical side鈥� of things. 鈥淢y role in this has been mostly surgical and clinical: figuring out how big the device will be, how we can implant it, what are the challenges of implantation, what patient population we鈥檙e targeting, how patients can benefit.鈥�

鈥淔eels like part of your body鈥�

The device that Drs. Bance, Brown and Adamson have developed is designed for patients suffering from ear damage and unilateral (one-sided) hearing loss. It differs from traditional cochlear implants, which are implanted in the middle ear, by being implanted directly on the skull.

鈥淸The] skin heals over it, so it's basically invisible once it's been implanted鈥� says Dr. Adamson. 鈥淚nstead of sticking something in your ear that you're constantly wearing, an implanted hearing aid is something that feels like part of your body鈥�from a patient's point of view, this is a great thing because it just becomes a part of them and they don't have to think about it anymore."

MIchael Spearman, CEO of Ototronix, says that inconspicuousness will play a big part in the device鈥檚 appeal.

鈥淥nly a fourth of the people who need hearing aids wear them,鈥� he says. 鈥淎 lot of the products currently on the market use a titanium abutment...basically a screw that goes into the head. Somebody takes it off, they look like Frankenstein; there's a little peg sticking out. With this, it's totally invisible when the person isn't wearing their hearing aid device. It's very discrete, gives better efficacy, and better cosmetics."

The project also miniaturizes the power source for the hearing aid. 鈥淭he things that have traditionally powered hearing aids are much bigger than the hearing aids themselves,鈥� says Dr. Adamson. 鈥淭he goal here is to make something innocuous and invisible and power systems have to be included as well.鈥�

Success through partnership

Bringing their device to the commercial market required a partnership with a company like Ototronix. Luckily, Mr. Spearman was in attendance at a conference at which Dr. Brown gave the keynote address.

鈥淚t was interesting when Jeremy was giving his talk,鈥� he says. 鈥淸We] said, 鈥楾his is different.鈥� We knew these guys were on to something and had unique technology and, to us, if we鈥檙e going to be bringing new technology to the market, it鈥檚 got to be different. It can鈥檛 be the same old stuff.鈥�

鈥淭hese [Ototronix] guys are absolute experts in the stuff that鈥檚 hard for academics 鈥� the marketing and distribution of devices,鈥� says Dr. Adamson. 鈥淭hey鈥檝e proven they can bring implanted hearing aids to the market pilipili漫画fully and they sit at a place in the system where they鈥檙e in constant contact with clinicians all over the world. They鈥檝e really helped us so far in the device trial tests and I鈥檓 sure they鈥檒l continue to help us over the next several years.鈥�

Stephen Hartlen, Dalhousie鈥檚 assistant vice-president of industry relations, says the license is just the beginning. 鈥淲e have great confidence in Ototronix and know they鈥檒l be very pilipili漫画ful in marketing this world-class innovation created right here at pilipili漫画 and Capital Health,鈥� he says

Those sentiments are echoed by Raymond LeBlanc, vice-president of learning, research and innovation at Capital Health: 鈥淲e look forward to many repetitions (of this), much more DNA that shows what can happen as a result of the interdisciplinary partnerships between the Faculties of Medicine and Engineering and Dalhousie鈥檚 Industry Liaison and Innovation and Biomedical Engineering departments.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 really quite a big project when you think of all the parts that had to come together,鈥� says Dr. Adamson. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think there鈥檚 a better place in the world to be doing this than Dalhousie.鈥�