Health Sciences · Hospital for Sick Children
A blue fabric case with a loop for attachment to a belt contains a small, light grey grey plastic electronic device with rounded edges. The plastic device has button controls on the front face whose surfaces are covered in a flexible grey membrane. There is an opening in the fabric case to allow the user to access the buttons. At the top of the enclosure is a small LCD readout and a jack for attaching a corded earpiece element.
The earpiece element consists of a brown-and-tan, behind-the-ear component to which is attached a flesh-coloured, moulded element that fits within the ear canal. A circular, dark brown transmitting coil is attached to the earpiece by a short cord.
The bottom cover of the case may be removed to reveal space for two AAA batteries.
Accession Number: 2025.sk.53
Alternative Name:
Primary Materials: Plastic, Metal
The grey maker’s label inside the battery compartment includes the CE (Conformité Européenne) emblem beside the number “0197”, as well as the number IP44.
The letters “FJS” are moulded into the plastic of the battery compartment.
Red lettering on the moulded earpiece begins with a letter that is likely a “K”, followed by a letter or symbol that is difficult to decipher, followed by “00035”
Height = 8.5, Width = 2, Length = 4.5; Corded element is about 55 cm in length.
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. This is fourth-generation system released alongside the CI24RE cochlear implant in 2005.
This artifact appears complete with no major damage. The membrane covering the controls on the face of the enclosure is heavily worn.
Associated Instruments:
Manufacturer: Cochlear Pty, ltd. Sydney, Australia
Date of Manufacture: Mid-to-late 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).
This body-work controller was part of the fourth-generation cochlear implant released by Cochlear in 2005. In addition to the body-worn controller, the highly modular system also supported a fully BTE (behind the ear) arrangement.