Otologics active middle ear implants

Abstract

This article describes outcomes for the Otologics active middle ear implant for the semi-implantable and fully implantable (Carina, Otologics LLC, Boulder, CO) devices. Inclusion and exclusion criteria are reported in detail for surgical and audiologic management. Results from the clinical trial demonstrated no change for unaided air and bone conduction thresholds and no significant change in monosyllabic word scores or sentences in noise. Experiments are reported for conductive and mixed types of hearing losses in animal and human cadaveric models. These devices are in their infancy, and further study is needed to better identify candidates and develop appropriate expectations.

Keywords: Active middle ear prosthesis; Carina; Cochlear; Middle ear transducer; Otologics.