OPTOCODE · In vivo assessment of the optical cochlear implant performance: coding strategy optimization

In vivo assessment of the optical cochlear implant performance: coding strategy optimization

Hearing loss affects millions of people worldwide, significantly impacting communication, quality of life, and social inclusion. Traditional cochlear implants (CIs), which electrically stimulate the auditory nerve, provide substantial benefits for individuals with severe hearing loss. However, electrical stimulation spreads across a broad area of the auditory nerve, limiting the number of perceptual channels and reducing the resolution of complex sounds such as speech in noisy environments. This constrains pitch perception and speech understanding in challenging listening conditions. Optogenetics offers an innovative solution to these limitations. Optical cochlear implants (oCIs) can stimulate auditory neurons with light, which can be confined more precisely than electrical currents. This allows for reduced spread of excitation, higher frequency selectivity, and potentially a greater number of perceptual channels. Consequently, oCIs have the potential to improve sound resolution, pitch perception, and speech understanding, addressing key unmet needs in hearing restoration. The OPTOCODE project aimed to advance the development of oCIs by optimizing their coding strategies. The project’s original objectives were: O1: Develop a non-invasive method to determine the frequency mapping of implanted oCIs in animal models. O2: Optimize the encoding strategy of the optical cochlear implant. Specifically, the OPTOCODE project aimed to implement a cross-modal optimization framework to decipher the optical coding strategy for oCIs. This approach was designed to combine predictive models of acoustic-evoked and optical-evoked responses in the inferior colliculus (IC) to ultimately map sound waveforms to the optical emitters of the oCI and derive optimized stimulation strategies. The expected impacts of the project are both scientific and translational. By establishing a framework for optimizing optical stimulation of the auditory nerve, OPTOCODE aims to advance the development of oCIs with higher spectral resolution, potentially improving pitch perception, speech understanding in noisy environments, and overall quality of life for CI users. Strategically, the project aligns with European priorities for innovation in neurotechnology and medical devices and addresses societal challenges related to sensory impairments.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union