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The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Washington, January 29, 2007
Pictures: Experimental surgery at UW offers a new remedy for hearing loss
---
Experimental surgery at UW offers a new remedy for hearing loss
By CHERIE BLACK
P-I REPORTER
Howard Davis was draped with white blankets and strapped to a table in
Operating Room 2 at the University of Washington Medical Center. The only
exposed parts of his body were his right ear and the right side of his face.
Asleep under anesthesia, Davis, 61, had hoped to awaken to a chance at
better hearing. He has suffered decades of gradual hearing loss attributed
by doctors to the loud drills he has been using for years in his dental
practice.
He has low-frequency hearing, meaning he can hear vowels, but has lost his
high-frequency hearing, meaning he can't hear consonants. Understanding
people when they talk to him is nearly impossible.
Of the nearly 30 million Americans who are hearing-impaired, about 50
percent to 60 percent fall into this category of hearing loss in which the
two most common remedies aren't viable options, said Dr. Bruce Gantz, head
of the Department of Otolaryngology -- Head and Neck Surgery at the
University of Iowa.
Hearing aids are inadequate because they just make the muddling sound
patients hear louder, not clearer. The traditional cochlear implant -- which
less than 5 percent of the hearing-impaired qualify for -- would damage
whatever hearing the patients have left.
So Davis underwent an experimental surgery last week to implant a hybrid
auditory device in his right ear as part of a newly approved Food and Drug
Administration study.
The UW Medical Center is one of 20 sites in the United States and Europe
involved in a clinical trial performing a total of 100 surgeries. So far 90
people have undergone the surgery worldwide. The UW performed three in
January, Davis being the third.
First established at the University of Iowa, the hybrid auditory implant
uses a shorter version of the traditional cochlear implant electrode.
Surgeons and researchers hope to restore hearing without damaging the
low-frequency hearing, which would happen with a traditional, longer
cochlear implant.
For Davis, who said he avoids conversations and never does business for his
dental practice over the phone, the chance at better hearing was worth any
possible side effects.
"My children have learned to look at me when they talk so I can read their
lips and I've just faked conversations before," he said. "I've gotten by and
I don't want to do that anymore."
Dr. Jay Rubenstein, director of the Virginia Merrill Bloedel Hearing
Research Center at the UW, who performed the three surgeries there, called
the hybrid idea "revolutionary" because, customarily, opening up the inner
ear, as with this surgery, means destroying it. But in this case, because of
the shorter implant and extreme caution, surgeons are able to "get away with
it," he said.
The surgery's success could open doors for other potential surgical remedies
for inner ear problems such as balance difficulties or ringing in the ear,
he said.
During Davis' three-hour surgery, Rubenstein drilled into an area behind his
right ear and implanted the device into a part of the cochlea that responds
to high frequencies. The deliberate care in how far and where to drill
consumed most of the surgery time.
Once the surgery is finished, patients are tested to see if their existing
hearing is intact. All three patients who underwent the surgery at the UW
still have their hearing, Rubenstein said, and the implant will be turned on
in about three weeks, once healed from surgery. All 100 patients will be
tracked for one year to determine long-term success or failure.
Of the 90 patients implanted with the new device, three have been removed
after patients lost hearing between three months to two years after surgery
and weren't happy with the results, Gantz said. Six patients lost hearing,
but are using hearing aids with the implant and still hear better than they
did before surgery, he said.
In most patients, the surgery has been successful, with a patient's average
word understanding increasing from 20 percent to more than 70 percent after
having the implant for a year, he said.
"It's pretty impressive to take these patients and add the implant and all
of a sudden they're in a hearing world," Gantz said.
Six-month data on 100 patients and one-year data on 40 or 50 patients will
be ready to present to the FDA in six to eight months, Gantz said.
"This is in response to a frustrating group of patients," Rubenstein said.
"To be able to offer an improvement to this group of patients is
remarkable."
Pictures: Experimental surgery at UW offers a new remedy for hearing loss
---
Experimental surgery at UW offers a new remedy for hearing loss
By CHERIE BLACK
P-I REPORTER
Howard Davis was draped with white blankets and strapped to a table in
Operating Room 2 at the University of Washington Medical Center. The only
exposed parts of his body were his right ear and the right side of his face.
Asleep under anesthesia, Davis, 61, had hoped to awaken to a chance at
better hearing. He has suffered decades of gradual hearing loss attributed
by doctors to the loud drills he has been using for years in his dental
practice.
He has low-frequency hearing, meaning he can hear vowels, but has lost his
high-frequency hearing, meaning he can't hear consonants. Understanding
people when they talk to him is nearly impossible.
Of the nearly 30 million Americans who are hearing-impaired, about 50
percent to 60 percent fall into this category of hearing loss in which the
two most common remedies aren't viable options, said Dr. Bruce Gantz, head
of the Department of Otolaryngology -- Head and Neck Surgery at the
University of Iowa.
Hearing aids are inadequate because they just make the muddling sound
patients hear louder, not clearer. The traditional cochlear implant -- which
less than 5 percent of the hearing-impaired qualify for -- would damage
whatever hearing the patients have left.
So Davis underwent an experimental surgery last week to implant a hybrid
auditory device in his right ear as part of a newly approved Food and Drug
Administration study.
The UW Medical Center is one of 20 sites in the United States and Europe
involved in a clinical trial performing a total of 100 surgeries. So far 90
people have undergone the surgery worldwide. The UW performed three in
January, Davis being the third.
First established at the University of Iowa, the hybrid auditory implant
uses a shorter version of the traditional cochlear implant electrode.
Surgeons and researchers hope to restore hearing without damaging the
low-frequency hearing, which would happen with a traditional, longer
cochlear implant.
For Davis, who said he avoids conversations and never does business for his
dental practice over the phone, the chance at better hearing was worth any
possible side effects.
"My children have learned to look at me when they talk so I can read their
lips and I've just faked conversations before," he said. "I've gotten by and
I don't want to do that anymore."
Dr. Jay Rubenstein, director of the Virginia Merrill Bloedel Hearing
Research Center at the UW, who performed the three surgeries there, called
the hybrid idea "revolutionary" because, customarily, opening up the inner
ear, as with this surgery, means destroying it. But in this case, because of
the shorter implant and extreme caution, surgeons are able to "get away with
it," he said.
The surgery's success could open doors for other potential surgical remedies
for inner ear problems such as balance difficulties or ringing in the ear,
he said.
During Davis' three-hour surgery, Rubenstein drilled into an area behind his
right ear and implanted the device into a part of the cochlea that responds
to high frequencies. The deliberate care in how far and where to drill
consumed most of the surgery time.
Once the surgery is finished, patients are tested to see if their existing
hearing is intact. All three patients who underwent the surgery at the UW
still have their hearing, Rubenstein said, and the implant will be turned on
in about three weeks, once healed from surgery. All 100 patients will be
tracked for one year to determine long-term success or failure.
Of the 90 patients implanted with the new device, three have been removed
after patients lost hearing between three months to two years after surgery
and weren't happy with the results, Gantz said. Six patients lost hearing,
but are using hearing aids with the implant and still hear better than they
did before surgery, he said.
In most patients, the surgery has been successful, with a patient's average
word understanding increasing from 20 percent to more than 70 percent after
having the implant for a year, he said.
"It's pretty impressive to take these patients and add the implant and all
of a sudden they're in a hearing world," Gantz said.
Six-month data on 100 patients and one-year data on 40 or 50 patients will
be ready to present to the FDA in six to eight months, Gantz said.
"This is in response to a frustrating group of patients," Rubenstein said.
"To be able to offer an improvement to this group of patients is
remarkable."
but I have loss in both of low and high frequencies so I wouldn't be a candidate for that hybrid :|