Ingeborg Hochmair — BrandWiki

Ingeborg Hochmair

Overview

Ingeborg J. Hochmair-Desoyer

birth date	1953
birth place	Vienna, Austria
fields	Electrical engineering
occupation	MED-EL
workplaces	MED-EL
awards	Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award (2013)
spouse	Erwin Hochmair

Ingeborg J. Hochmair-Desoyer (born 1953) is an Austrian electrical engineer and the CEO and CTO of hearing implant company MED-EL.[1] Dr Hochmair and her husband Prof. Erwin Hochmair co-created the first micro-electronic multi-channel cochlear implant in the world. She received the Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award for her contributions towards the development of the modern cochlear implant.[2] She also received the 2015 Russ Prize for bioengineering.[3]

In 1989, she co-founded the medical device company MED-EL.[3]

Biography

Research & Other Work

In 1975, Ingeborg and Erwin Hochmair started the cochlear implant development at Technical University of Vienna with the overall goal of enabling the user not only to hear sounds but also to provide some speech understanding. Together they developed the world's first microelectronic multi-channel cochlear implant. This implant included a long, flexible electrode, which could, for the first time, deliver electric signals to the auditory nerve along a large part of the cochlea, the snail-shaped inner ear.[12] The new multi-channel device was implanted in December 1977 in Vienna by Dr Kurt Burian.[13]

Testing various sound processing strategies with this device, ranging from single-channel quasi-analog stimulation to more complex patterns, failed to produce open speech understanding. However, when a single broadband channel with analog-style stimulation was tried, the patient showed some rudimentary speech comprehension and lip-reading support. This finding changed the direction of their research program.[14] The Hochmairs decided that their approach in making complex microelectronic implants was premature, and they pivoted to researching simpler passive implants that were easier to construct and modify.[15]

In 1979, a passive transcutaneous four-channel implant developed by the Hochmairs allowed a woman to understand some open-set speech without lip-reading in a quiet environment. However, the speech coding strategy stimulated the best-performing single electrode rather than using multiple channels simultaneously, making this functionally closer to a single-channel approach.[16].

3M/Vienna single-channel cochlear implant

In 1981, the 3M Corporation entered into a licence and support agreement with the Vienna group involving the commercialisation of their cochlear implant system, and the device subsequently became known as the 3M/Vienna cochlear implant.[14] Clinical evaluations demonstrated that some patients could achieve substantial open-set word recognition without visual cues.[17] However, a redesign that replaced the intracochlear electrode with an extracochlear electrode resulted in diminished speech performance, and 3M's commercial involvement ultimately ended.[14] Comparative studies found that, while the Vienna single-channel implant provided meaningful auditory benefit, multi-channel designs from other manufacturers generally allowed users to recognise more environmental sounds and understand speech more effectively in sound-only conditions.[18] The Vienna group subsequently founded MED-EL in 1990 in order to pursue a multi-channel design incorporating Blake Wilson's CIS-strategy.[14]

Publications

Ingeborg Hochmair has over 100 scientific publications in the field of Cochlear Implants, Medical Devices, Neuroprotheses, Audio & Speech Processing Technology. Among the most important ones are the following:

with E. Hochmair: Implantable eight-channel stimulator for the deaf. In: Proc. European Solid State Circuits Conf. (ESSCIRC) 77. Ulm, BRD Sept. 1977, S. 87–89.
Verfahren zur elektrischen Stimulation des Hörnervs und Multikanal Hörprothese zur Durchführung des Verfahrens, (1978).[25]
Multifrequency system and method for enhancing auditory stimulation and the like, (1979).[26]
with E. S. Hochmair: Design and fabrication of multi-wire scala tympani electrodes. In: Annals of the New York Academy of Science. Band 405, 1983, S. 173–182.[27]
Technische Realisierung und psychoakustische Evaluation eines Systems zur chronischen Mehrkanalstimulation des Nervus acusticus. Dissertation. TU Vienna, 1981, ISBN 3-85369-491-8.[28]
with E. S. Hochmair und K. Burian: Four years of experience with cochlear prostheses (invited). In: Med. Prog. Technol. 8, 1981, S. 107–119.[29]
with E. S. Hochmair und H. K. Stiglbrunner: Psychoacoustic temporal processing and speech understanding in cochlear implant patients. In: R. A. Schindler, M. M. Merzenich: Cochlear Implant. Raven Press, New York, 1985, ISBN 0-88167-076-6, S. 291–304/.
with C. Zierhofer und E. S. Hochmair: New hardware for analog and combined-analog-and-pulsatile sound-encoding strategies. In: Progress in Brain Research. Vol. 97, Elsevier Science Publishers, 1993, S. 291–300.[30]
with W. Arnold, P. Nopp, C. Jolly, J. Müller und P. Roland: Deep electrode insertion in Cochlear implants: Apical Morphology, electrodes and speech perception results. In: Acta Otolaryngol. 123 (5), 2003, S. 612–617.[31]
with P. Nopp und C. Jolly u. a.: MED-EL Cochlear implants: State of the art and a glimpse into the future. In: Trends in Amplification. 10(4), Dez 2006, S. 201–219.[32]
The importance of being flexible. In: Nat Med. 19 (10), Okt 2013, S. 1240–1244.

1999 Structure, method of use, and method of manufacture of an implanted hearing prosthesis
1999 Device and method for implants in ossified cochleas
2003 Implantable fluid delivery apparatuses and implantable electrode
2003 Implantable device with flexible interconnect to coil
2006 Implantable fluid delivery apparatuses and implantable electrode
2006 Implantable fluid [housing] apparatuses and implantable electrode
2007 Tinnitus Suppressing Cochlear Implant
2007 Implanted system with dc free inputs and outputs
2008 Cochlear Implant Power System and Methodology
2008 Moving Coil Actuator For Middle Ear Implants
2008 Implant Sensor and Control
2009 Demagnetized Implant for Magnetic Resonance Imaging
2009 Implantable device with flexible interconnect to coil
2009 Demagnetized implant for magnetic resonance imaging
2010 Low power signal transmission
2010 Low Power Signal Transmission (part 2)
2010 Tinnitus Suppressing Cochlear Implant (updated)
2010 Moving coil actuator for middle ear implants
2010 Implantable fluid delivery apparatuses and implantable electrode (part 2)
2011 Implantable Fluid Delivery Apparatuses and Implantable Electrode (part 3)
2011 Implanted system with DC free inputs and outputs
2013 Low power signal transmission (part 3)
2013 Low power signal transmission (update 4)
2013 Implant sensor and control
2014 Implant sensor and control
2015 Implantable Fluid Delivery Apparatus and Implantable Electrode (part 4)
2015 Cochlear Implant Electrode Insertion Support Device
2015 Deployable and Multi-Sectional Hearing Implant Electrode
2015 Deployable and Multi-Sectional Hearing Implant Electrode
2016 Implantable Fluid Delivery Apparatus and Implantable Electrode
2016 Implantable fluid delivery apparatus with micro-valve
2017 Implantable fluid delivery apparatus and implantable electrode (part 5)
2017 Implantable Fluid Delivery Apparatus and Implantable Electrode (part 6)
2019 Implantable fluid delivery apparatus and implantable electrode (part 7)
2020 MRI-Safe and Force-Optimized Implantable Ring Magnet System with an Enhanced Inductive Link
2022 MRI-Safe and Force-Optimized Implantable Ring Magnet System with an Enhanced Inductive Link (part 2)

Ingeborg Hochmair

Biography

Research & Other Work

3M/Vienna single-channel cochlear implant

Publications

Awards and honours

Personal life

External links

References