MOSAICS · Hearing Matters: European Industrial Doctorate to train experts in auditory implants for minimised outcome spread and maximized participation in society

Hearing Matters: European Industrial Doctorate to train experts in auditory implants for minimised outcome spread and maximized participation in society

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), over 5% of the world’s population requires rehabilitation to address their disabling hearing loss. It is estimated that by 2050 over 700 million people – or one in every ten people – will have a disabling hearing loss. Therefore, in 2021 the WHO issued the first WHO Report on Hearing calling for “Integrated people-centered ear and hearing care”. The MOSAICS H2020 MSCA EID project is supporting this call. For the higher degrees of bilateral hearing loss, hearing aids are no longer providing sufficient benefit, and cochlear implants (CI) are the only effective therapy. Cochlear implants are the most successful brain-machine interface devices so far, bridging the gap in the auditory pathways created by the loss of inner hair cells in the inner ear. They do this by direct electrical stimulation of the auditory nerve. However, adoption by adults who would benefit from a CI is low, around 5%. There are many reasons for non-adoption, the variability of hearing outcomes being a major one. Although implants have been proven to be very effective at the group level, there is insufficient consistency of hearing outcomes at the individual level, raising concerns and doubts among patients and additional caution in counseling among clinicians. Hearing outcomes with a CI are the result of a multi-stage process, involving candidate selection, surgery, device fitting, and effective auditory training. At any stage, a variety of factors may limit performance. Patient-related factors include the degree of ear-level damage, cognition, and supportive environment. Surgical ones relate to the placement of the intracochlear electrode and the atraumaticity of the surgery. The audiologist fits the sound processor and the brain must adjust through training to maximize the use of the new electrical hearing modality – an effortful learning process helped by rehabilitation assisted by a speech and language therapist. In summary, hearing outcomes depend on both the patient’s personal capabilities and the expertise of several professionals. The current state of the art is that the root causes for the variability in performance among CI recipients are poorly understood, with only 25% explained by current clinical prediction factors. Clinicians tend to accept poorer outcomes, not knowing well enough what diagnostics or treatments to propose. MOSAICS has the ambitious goal to augment our understanding of the root causes, propose effective diagnostics, and explore personalized intervention in device fitting and rehabilitation, using a holistic and multidisciplinary approach.

Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз