Health Sciences · Hospital for Sick Children
A small electronic device, dark brown in colour, consisting of a behind-the-ear component and a circular transmitting coil that is attached to the earpiece by a short cord.
A cover on the lower portion of the earpiece can be removed to reveal recesses for two button cell batteries.
Accession Number: 2025.sk.55
Alternative Name:
Primary Materials: Plastic, Metal
A label on the central portion of the transmitting coil reads “DEMO”.
Blue lettering inside the battery compartment includes the CE (Conformité Européenne) emblem beside the number “0197”,
Dimensions (cm): Height = 5, Width = 1, Length = 16.5
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 separate 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 is an example of the external elements of a cochlear implant system. It represents an earlier generation of entirely behind-the-ear (BTE) speech processors. The ESPrit line of speech processors was first released in 1997.
This unit is intact and in excellent cosmetic condition with only very light wear to its surface.
Associated Instruments:
Manufacturer: Cochlear Pty, ltd., Sydney, Australia
Date of Manufacture: Late 1990s to early 2000s.
This is part of a small collection of artifacts, gathered by Archie’s Cochlear Implant Lab at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), that was photographed on 8 October 2025. The items represent various stages of the technology used since the lab’s founding in 1998.
These items remain on site and in possession of the Lab. They are used for teaching and demonstration purposes.
James F. Patrick, Peter A Busby, and Peter J Gibson (2006). “The Development of the Nucleus® FreedomTM Cochlear Implant System.” Trends in Amplification 10, no. 4: 175–200.
Cochlear, ltd. was founded in 1981 based on developmental research into cochlear implants by a group led by Dr. Graeme Clark at the University of Melbourne, Australia. This followed a decade of research in areas such as biocompatible materials and safe thresholds of electrical stimulation with the cochlea. The company’s first-generation cochlear implant system, based on the Cl22 implant, was commercially released for adults in 1985. (See Patrick, Busby, and Gibson 2006, 177.)