MED-EL's new MAESTRO( Durham NC (July 9 2008) MED-EL Corp...)

Durham, NC (July 9, 2008) MED-EL Corporation announced today new data regarding FineHearingTM technology, available only with the MAESTRO Cochlear Implant System. In addition to hearing in "high definition" with FineHearing, MED-EL's MAESTRO system offers the smallest internal implant and the thinnest, lightest externally-worn speech processor available. The MAESTRO CI system presents surgeons with an option of two internal cochlear implants (SONATATI100 or PULSARCI100) and patients with an option of two speech processors (OPUS 1 or OPUS 2), providing the best possible solution for each individual case. The OPUS Speech Processors offer two new sound coding strategies that make hearing the fine details of sound a reality for people who are profoundly deaf.

"The MAESTRO has created a tremendous capacity for patients to hear, they can filter out certain noises, and they can exist in environments that used to be not really well tolerated by people with cochlear implants. The new system has enabled recipients to hear much better than in the past," said Harold C. Pillsbury, MD, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

A clinical investigation which evaluated MED-EL's FineHearing technology demonstrated remarkable improvements in music enjoyment and statistically significant improvements in hearing in noisy environments - two areas of hearing that have been challenging for cochlear implant users.₁ A questionnaire of patients who participated in the clinical trial showed that 65% reported improved enjoyment of familiar music, while 59% reported improved enjoyment of music that is unfamiliar. Remarkably, 91% of the subjects reported that, in general, music sounds pleasant with their cochlear implant and 82% reported listening to music every week, if not every day. Also, compared to their current processor, more than half reported improvement in sp
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