by Jamie Schwartz

Audiology Online: What’s New for the Cochlear™ Nucleus® 7 System

July 26, 2018

New Audiology Online course: What’s New for the Cochlear™ Nucleus® 7 System

Wednesday, Aug 1, 2018 at 12:00 pm EDT

Course: #31457

Level: Intermediate

1 Hour

Register NOW!

One year after launching the Nucleus 7 Sound Processor, Cochlear has expanded the features available to recipients. Clinicians working with this device will learn about these new features in order to serve their current patient population; and counsel candidates considering cochlear implantation.

Presented by: Janet Clarke, Professional Education Manager

Dr. Clarke is a Professional Education Manager for Cochlear Americas. She joined Cochlear in 1998 and has been in various Clinical or Learning roles throughout her career at Cochlear.

She has been an audiologist since 1992, working with cochlear implants since 1993 and Baha since Cochlear’s acquisition of Entific in 2005. Prior to joining Cochlear, Janet worked at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Dr. Clarke has her Au.D. from the University of Florida, and did her undergraduate & graduate degrees at Purdue University.

Upcoming Live Webinars

Wed, Aug 1, 2018 at 12:00 pm EDT

CEUs/Hours Offered: AAA/0.1 Intermediate; ACAud/1.0; ASHA/0.1 Intermediate, Professional; BAA/1.0; CAA/1.0; IACET/0.1; IHS/1.0; Kansas, LTS-S0035/1.0; NZAS/1.0; SAC/1.0

Register for the course today!

Author

Jamie Schwartz

Jamie is the Associate Marketing Manager in the Product and Professional Marketing Department at Cochlear Americas. Jamie is responsible for ProNews blog content as well as professional social posts and calendars. If you are interested in being a guest author for the ProNews blog please contact Jamie by email at jschwartz@cochlear.com.

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Clinical Application and Resources for Cochlear™ Bone Conduction Solutions

June 16, 2023

Bone conduction solutions are a well-established treatment option for patients with conductive hearing loss, mixed conductive-sensorineural hearing loss, and single-sided deafness. Options such as the Cochlear™ Osia® System^*, Baha® Start or Baha® System^** are predictable and cost-effective solutions that provide excellent hearing outcomes.¹ With the introduction of Cochlear’s Candidacy, Evaluation and Fitting Protocol for Bone Conduction Solutions, clinics looking to begin or expand treating patients with a bone conduction solution, like the Osia System, have a roadmap to help them establish a consistent and evidence-based treatment practice.²

The Osia System revolutionized clinical treatment for patients by applying digital piezoelectric stimulation to become the world’s first active osseointegrated steady-state implant (OSI). The Osia System first received FDA approval in December 2019, and Cochlear recently celebrated the 10,000th Osia System recipient!

Incorporating bone conduction solutions into clinical treatment protocols

Justyn Pisa, AuD, and the team at the Surgical Hearing Implant Program in Manitoba provided insights into integrating bone conduction solutions into a medical portfolio of treatment options.

“Bone conduction options are part of our treatment course for conductive or mixed hearing losses (provided bone conduction thresholds are within acceptable limits).

We do prefer to see bone conduction thresholds of 45 dB or better in mixed losses, but not every potential candidate presents with ideal circumstances, so we try to match them with the best potential option on a case-by-case basis.

In general, we have our patients trial conventional amplification prior to receiving a bone conduction solution. However, in cases where hearing aids are not an option, we will look at a bone conduction solution first, either on a headband or implant.

We have fairly good communication between surgeons and audiologists on new referrals and potential candidates prior to surgery. In many cases, new patients are referred for assessment by our surgeon Dr. Garber or other public health audiologists in Canada who encounter patients with long-standing/permanent conductive hearing loss.

I try to ensure everyone is up to date on new candidates and will assist the scheduling clerk on medical assessment appointments once they’ve been cleared by audiology.

We have begun quarterly team meetings to review program needs, new technology, and our wait list for surgery. We generally use this time to discuss specific patients and potential outcomes with different implant options.”

Clinics looking to start offering Osia or Baha Systems into their treatment protocols, just like Justyn Pisa, AuD, and the Surgical Hearing Implant Program in Manitoba have done, have several clinical resources available to help them get started. These include Cochlear’s Candidacy, Evaluation, and Fitting Protocol for Bone Conduction Solutions, as well as including Otologic Management Services Insurance Support, our expert insurance and reimbursement team.

References

Evans AK, Kazahaya K. Canal atresia: “Surgery or implantable hearing devices? The experts question is revisited” Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology 2007; 71, 367-374
OSI140 ISS1 FEB23 Bone Conduction Protocol Whitepaper
de Wolf MJ, Hendrix S, Cremers CW, Snik AF. Better performance with bone‐anchored hearing aid than acoustic devices in patients with severe air‐bone gap. Laryngoscope. 2011;121:613-616.

*In the United States, the Osia 2 System is cleared for children ages twelve and older. In Canada, the Osia 2 System is approved for children ages five and older

**In the United States and Canada, the placement of a bone-anchored implant is contraindicated in children below the age of five.

***In the United States and Canada, the Nucleus System for single-sided deafness is approved for children ages five and older.

Cochlear welcomes landmark WHO report calling on governments and societies to prioritize hearing health

March 3, 2021

Lone Tree, Colo. (March 3, 2021) —Cochlear has joined people with hearing loss, hearing care experts and advocates in welcoming the World Health Organization’s (WHO) landmark World Report on Hearing, which calls upon governments and societies to prioritize hearing health.

To access the report, click here.

The report, titled “Hearing care for all – screen, rehabilitate, communicate,” also calls upon member states of the WHO to integrate ear and hearing care into primary health care programs. The report affirms the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of cochlear implants.

Launched on World Hearing Day (March 3), the WHO’s first ever World Report on Hearing contains a roadmap for governments to adopt hearing screening, treatment and rehabilitation into primary health care systems to help curtail a worldwide rise in hearing loss.

It comes as new WHO figures reveal that globally, 1.5 billion people live with some degree of hearing loss. This includes around 60 million people who live with severe to complete hearing loss.¹

In response to the rapidly rising prevalence of hearing loss, the report sets out hearing care actions for all societies and age groups, including babies, children and adults. It follows a 2017 World Health Assembly resolution (WHA70.132), which reinforced that hearing loss is a significant public health issue, requiring all governments to make it a higher priority and develop national action plans.

The world’s youngest Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and advocate for education and girls’ equality, Malala Yousafzai, who has experienced hearing loss, opened the WHO report by expressing her hopes for world leaders to work together to implement its recommendations.

“With access to health care, rehabilitation and technology, people with disabling hearing loss can participate equally in education, employment and their communities,” Yousafzai said.

Dig Howitt, CEO and President of Cochlear said, “The numbers of people living with disabling hearing loss is continuing to rise year-on-year. This landmark report shows how hearing care leaders and policy makers can step up now to tackle this significant global public health challenge.

“This report should place hearing loss on the agenda of policy makers so that government and communities can improve hearing care over the coming years through government and societal action.”

“It is significant that the WHO has affirmed evidence supporting the clinical and cost effectiveness of cochlear implants. This important step reinforces the need to make access to cochlear and other implants more accessible to adult and children with disabling hearing loss,” Howitt said.

Cochlear is an active supporter and member of the WHO’s World Hearing Forum, a global network promoting ear and hearing care worldwide. Members of this advocacy network are committed to facilitating implementation of the World Health Assembly resolution WHA70.13 on “Prevention of deafness and hearing loss” and support Member States in this regard.

“For years, research has shown hearing loss is a sizable public health issue including in the United States and Canada, and over the last year, the pandemic has only amplified that impact,” said Patricia Trautwein, MA, AuD, Vice President, Market Access & Reimbursement, Cochlear Americas. “More people–aging adults, parents, caretakers of loved ones–need to be educated about and have access to the full continuum of hearing solutions, which includes hearing implants. We applaud the WHO’s commitment to hearing health, and Cochlear will continue our work on the prioritization of hearing health, including hearing loss prevention, screening and monitoring for all ages, ensuring those who need a referral for hearing implant technology are getting them as soon as they qualify and securing access to proper ongoing rehabilitation and care.”

About Cochlear Limited (ASX: COH)

Cochlear is the global leader in implantable hearing solutions. The company has a global workforce of more than 4,000 people and invests more than AUD$180 million each year in research and development. Products include cochlear implants, bone conduction implants and acoustic implants, which healthcare professionals use to treat a range of moderate to profound types of hearing loss.

Since 1981, Cochlear has provided more than 600,000 implantable devices, helping people of all ages, in more than 180 countries, to hear. www.cochlear.com/us

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References

World Report on Hearing, World Health Organization. WHO: 1 in 4 people projected to have hearing problems by 2050
World Health Assembly, 70. (‎2017)‎. Prevention of deafness and hearing loss. World Health Organization. https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/275682