Health Sciences · Temerty Faculty of Medicine
A grey plastic clamshell case contains three components of a modern cochlear implant system. The sides of the case are bright red. The interior surfaces have a carbon fibre pattern. Magnetic depressions retain the following elements:
2026.med.58.1: A demonstration example of a CONCERTO PIN cochlear implant is contained in a clear case. The top surface of the case pivots in such a way as to permit the implant to be removed. The implant is covered in a soft casing made of transparent silicone. The main body of the unit consists of a circular element, the receiving coil with a magnet at its centre. The magnet is used to attach an external component, the external RF coil, to the skin opposite the implanted element.
Adjacent to the receiving coil on the implanted element is an internal stimulator, housed in a titanium case. This performs signal processing and transmits electrical pulses to the electrode array. Elements of the receiving coil and stimulator are blue in colour. A long, thin silicone-covered electrical element emerge from the internal stimulator. An array of electrodes is visible at the tip of this element.
2026.med.58.2: The RONDO audio processor component is housed in a brown (ebony), teardrop-shaped plastic case. This external element is designed to attach magnetically to the implant. The receiver has a set of controls at its rear and a battery compartment that opens on its bottom surface.
2026.med.58.3: A “FineTuner” wireless audio controller. This is a small, rectangular element that permits the user to adjust the settings of the implant system. This is grey in colour and has several rows of membrane push buttons.
Accession Number: 2026.med.58
Alternative Name:
Primary Materials: Plastic, Silicone, Titanium
Engraving on the casing of the internal stimulator: “NOT FOR// HUMAN USE// Mi1000 DEMO// MED-EL”.
Lettering on base of the FineTuner wireless audio controller also identifies it it as a demo unit.
Case: Height = 4.5, Width = 18, Length = 24.5.
Cochlear implants are used for severely to profoundly deaf patients for whom acoustic amplification offers no benefit. A cochlear implant stimulates the auditory nerve tissue directly using electrical signals in order to create a sensation of hearing.
A cochlear implant consists of two primary components: an internal element with an electrode array implanted within the cochlea, and an externally worn component. The external element contains such things as a microphone, a battery, a sound processing system, and a transmitter that sends the sound signal and power to the implant. This example also includes a wireless controller that permits the user to adjust its settings.
This is a demo sample of a RONDO cochlear implant system. Released in 2013, the sound processor was the world’s “first single-unit processor”. This means that the control-unit (including the microphone), the battery pack, and the coil, are incorporated into a single small enclosure that can be directly attached to the implant magnetically across the skin barrier. This demonstration set also includes a non-functional Mi1000 CONCERTO PIN implant. This was also introduced in the early 2010s.
This demonstration set is complete and without significant damage. The finish on the plastic clamshell case is lightly worn at the edges.
Associated Instruments:
MED-EL Elektromedizinische Geräte GmbH. Innsbruck, Austria.
Date of Manufacture: Early to mid-2010s
Provenance:
Vladislav Kuzovkov, Serafima Sugarova, and Yuri Yanov (2016) “The Mi1000 CONCERTO PIN Cochlear Implant: An Evaluation of Its Safety and Stability in Adults and Children.” Acta Oto-Laryngologica 136, no. 3: 236–40.
MED-EL was founded in 1990 based on the work of a group that had been developing cochlear implants at the Technical University of Vienna beginning in the 1970s.
The CONCERTO PIN implant introduced in 2022, an update to the CONCERTO implant introduced in the early 2000s.