Aussie IP
Cochlear's Bionic Ear
Bionic Ear Patent
Melbourne University Australian Patent 519851 applied for on 25 Oct 1978
The Cochlear bionic ear implant is a device designed to help the hearing impaired and the profoundly deaf who are unable to benefit from traditional hearing aids. The device is used by over 10,000 people world wide. It consists of two parts: a head set consisting of a 22-channel stimulator in a titanium capsule with platinum electrodes which is implanted inside the skull behind the ear, close to residual nerve fibres; and a pocket speech processor. It was developed over 10 years by the team from the University of Melbourne led by Dr.Graeme Clarke. Cochlear Pty Ltd has over 180 patents in 7 countries protecting key features of the implant. The University of Melbourne and the Commonwealth also hold patents covering early research which has been licensed to Cochlear. Manufacturing of the Cochlear implant is done entirely in Australia with exports making up 95% of their sales. The University and the Commonwealth have earned over $8 million in royalties from their intellectual property.
The full specification for the patent illustrated has 25 pages and 11 figures.
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