MASSDEVICE ON CALL — Envoy Medical Corp.’s sales of its landmark hearing aid spiked 150 percent as a video of a patient hearing her own voice through the implant for the first time went viral on the internet.
In the short clip 29-year-old Sarah Churman, deaf from birth, cries as a clinician turns on the device for the first time. The video drew nearly 7.8 million views since late last month.
Churman received Envoy’s Esteem hearing aid, the first fully implantable device to treat hearing loss in the U.S. which won FDA clearance in March 2010.
The Esteem is located entirely in the ear. The system consists of a sensor, sound processor and driver. The sensor picks up vibrations from the ear drum and converts them into electric signals. The sound processor, a specially designed computer chip, cleans up the signals and boosts their power. Finally, the driver converts the signals back into mechanical vibrations and transmits them into the cochlea.
The video has garnered a lot of attention as well as a lot of skepticism, but CEO Patrick Spearman insists that the video is real and that Envoy had nothing to do with its appearance, MedCity News reported.
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