The brain stem, responsible for important jobs like regulating breathing and heart rate, is a delicate area to muck around in. But plug in the right kind of electrodes, and it becomes an excellent human-machine interface.
"I went from absolutely nothing to hearing what seems like everything," says Molly Brown, one of two deaf patients who've gone cyborg. Both women had tumors removed from their auditory nerves during treatment for a rare genetic disorder called neurofibromatosis type 2. To restore their hearing, the House Ear Institute in Los Angeles outfitted each with a penetrating auditory brain stem implant, a gadget that connects an external microphone to eight microscopically thin electrodes jacked directly into nerve tissue. Older auditory brain stem implants hugged the outside of the brain stem and provided less precise sound. (Cochlear implants, which stimulate auditory nerves in the inner ear, weren't even an option - the neurological damage was too far upstream.) Seven of the eight electrodes worked for Brown.
Early results bode well for other types of neurosurgery: "Microelectrodes will be used in the retina for visual stimulation, in the spinal cord for pain control, and to help alleviate paralysis in quadriplegics," says Bob Shannon, a biomedical engineer at the institute who hopes to implant at least 25 more of the experimental devices.
- Jesse Freund
START
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