Dr. Raymond van de Berg of the Maastricht UMC+ talks about the artificial balance organ (the vestibular implant).
For English subtitles, click on the subtitle button in the bottom-right of the video.
The goal of the vestibular implant (or artificial balance organ) is to replace a balance organ that stopped working. The vestibular implant, also referred to by the abbreviation “VI”, consists of three main parts: the sensors, the processor, and the electrodes. The electrodes are implanted inside the balance organ, very close to the vestibular nerves. The sensors and the processor stay outside of the body. The sensors are attached to the head where they measure what a normal vestibular organ would “sense”: head movements. This information is then sent to the processor where it is transformed into electrical pulses. Via a wireless connection between the processor and the electrodes, the electrical pulses which carry the information about the head movement are forwarded to the electrodes. As the electrodes are very close to the nerves inside the balance organ, they can stimulate these nerves with the electrical pulses and give the information on the head movement to the brain. In the brain, this information can then be processed just like the information which would be given by a healthy balance organ. This means, the vestibular implant can partially restore balance and stabilize vision during body movement.
Currently, 4 research groups worldwide are investigating a vestibular implant. These groups are the Geneva-Maastricht group, two groups in the United States (Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and the University of Washington in Seattle) and a European group coordinated from Spain (Las Palmas). Below, more information is given about the research which is being performed by the Geneva-Maastricht group. For more information about the other research groups, we recommend visiting their own websites (which can be accessed by clicking on the names of the groups above).
The Geneva-Maastricht group
Dr. Raymond van de Berg of the Maastricht UMC+ talks about the research which is being done in the Geneva-Maastricht group.
For English subtitles, click on the subtitle button in the bottom-right of the video.
The vestibular implant which is currently being used within the Geneva-Maastricht group. This device is purely made for research purposes, and it is not intended for market release.
In 2007, the Geneva-Maastricht group in collaboration with MED-EL, was the first research group in the world that surgically implanted a fully functioning investigational vestibular implant in humans. This device was a modified cochlear implant, used daily for hearing restoration, and the vestibular electrodes were only activated briefly within the clinical environment, under full supervision. Today, 13 patients have been implanted with such devices by our consortium. This is the largest patient group with a vestibular implant in the world, and it is expected to increase with a series of investigational devices in the next couple of years. These patients, also being severely deaf on the implanted ear, have received or will receive an implant combining two functions: the function of a cochlear implant (CI) and the function of a vestibular implant (VI). Therefore, this investigational implant functions both as an artificial hearing organ (cochlear implant, CI) and as an artificial balance organ (vestibular implant, VI). The artificial hearing organ part restores hearing in a deaf ear. It works exactly like a regular artificial hearing organ (cochlear implant, CI). If you want to learn more about artificial hearing organs and how they work, click on this link. Due to European regulations, and to ensure the safety of the volunteers, the artificial balance organ can currently only be used during extended laboratory tests within the hospital. The safety and efficacy of the implant must be further explored before it can be decided whether patients will be able to use the vestibular implant components at home.
Since there is a risk of damaging the patient’s hearing during surgical implantation of the artificial balance organ, the Geneva-Maastricht group currently only implants patients who are deaf in the ear to be implanted. This is also the reason why the Geneva-Maastricht group uses a combined device (cochlear implant + vestibular implant). By using a combined device, the patient will always benefit from the surgery: The patient will be able to hear again on the implanted side. At the same time, the Geneva-Maastricht group is also performing research to improve the surgical techniques in order to reduce the risk of hearing loss during surgery. In the future, the vestibular implant might therefore also be suitable for people who do not have severe hearing loss.