Health Sciences · Hospital for Sick Children
A white cardboard case consists of an outer box and an inner cardboard cradle that contains a small electronic device, tan in colour. This is the behind-the-ear component of a cochlear implant.
The case includes only the speech processor component itself. The collection of the Archie’s Cochlear Implant Lab included a matching battery, which is shown in the photographs of this catalogue entry.
This example does not include a transmitting coil that would normally be attached to the earpiece by a short cord.
Accession Number: 2025.sk.56
Alternative Name:
Primary Materials: Plastic, Metal.
A circular green label on one side of the outer cardboard box has the following written in black ink: “N6-13”
A white label on one side of the outer cardboard box has a small QR code and the following information: “(01)09321502029797// (10)A(21)1010118941176”.
The cardboard insert in which the BTE component is housed as a white label with two small QR codes and the following information: “MAIZE” [possibly the colour option]// “Z285969RA// 1010118941176”.
Printed on the inside curve of the earpiece element: “#101011” and “8941176A”
(Box) Height = 9.2, Width = 2, Length = 9.2
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 a recent generation of entirely behind-the-ear (BTE) speech processors. The Nucleus 6 speech processor was released in 2013.
This item is in excellent condition. It does not include include a transmitting coil.
Associated Instruments:
Manufacturer: Cochlear Pty, ltd., Sydney, Australia
Date of Manufacture: c. 2014
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.)