Devices

The neural prosthesis that reached the most people: about 736,900 registered devices worldwide as of December 2019. From a 1957 nerve electrode in Paris, to the 1961 intracochlear electrode in Los Angeles, to multichannel devices in 1978.

Device — Other

Cochlear implant (history)

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auditory · cochlear implant · history · multichannel · Clark · House · academic · human

Cochlear implant (history)

One-line verdict: The reference case for every neural interface on this site: the one that went from a single wire in 1957 to hundreds of thousands of users.

Quick tags: Stimulation · Inner ear · Human · First clinical use 1957 to 1961

Overview

What it is: An implanted electrode array that stimulates the auditory nerve from inside the cochlea, driven by an external microphone and processor. It is the device an auditory brainstem implant is compared against. See the auditory brainstem implant entry.

Timeline (as reported in a 2013 JAMA Otolaryngology historical review):

  • 25 February 1957: Djourno and Eyries placed an electrode in contact with a segment of nerve during a facial nerve graft in a deafened patient, and the patient perceived sound sensations. The review notes this is not strictly a cochlear implant, because the electrode was at the nerve and not in the cochlea.
  • 9 January 1961: William House and neurosurgeon John Doyle implanted a single-channel electrode inside the cochlea in Los Angeles. The review calls this the first true cochlear implant.
  • 1964: Blair Simmons and Robert White at Stanford placed a 6-channel electrode through the promontory and vestibule into the modiolus.
  • 1970 and 1971: Robin Michelson, Robert Schindler and Michael Merzenich at UCSF ran the first clinical cohort experiments.
  • June 1973: first international conference on electrical stimulation of the acoustic nerve, San Francisco. The term “cochlear implant” was in the literature by then.
  • 1974: Michelson’s team implanted the multichannel single-wire electrode initiated by Simmons and White.
  • 1978: Graeme Clark implanted his first multi-electrode device. The review calls it the first successful commercialized multichannel cochlear implant, sold under the Cochlear/Nucleus name. Clinical results were first published in 1978, by Clark for two patients and by Michelson for one.
  • By the end of the 1980s: the review says cochlear implants were the predominant treatment for profound deafness in the US, Europe and Australia.

Regulatory and use today: NIDCD says the FDA first approved cochlear implants in the mid-1980s for adults, and since 2020 for eligible children from 9 months of age. As of December 2019, about 736,900 registered devices had been implanted worldwide, including roughly 118,100 in US adults and 65,000 in US children (FDA estimates from manufacturers).

Limits: This is a history entry. No single current device is specified here, so there are no electrode counts or dimensions and no 3D model.

Spec Card Grid

Identity

  • Class: cochlear implant, auditory nerve stimulation from within the cochlea
  • First intracochlear implant: 9 January 1961, House and Doyle
  • First commercial multichannel: Clark, first implanted 1978

Use

  • Registered devices worldwide: about 736,900 (December 2019)
  • US: about 118,100 adults and 65,000 children

Evidence and limits

  • Not covered here: current electrode counts and dimensions by manufacturer; no 3D model yet

References