Acute measurements of brainstem responses with intraneural stimulation of the human auditory nerve for the development of a novel electrical hearing Prosthesis: the Auditory Nerve Implant (ANI)

Introduction In cooperation with several institutes and medical device companies, we are currently developing an intracranial electrical hearing prosthesis that stimulates directly the auditory nerve: the Auditory Nerve Implant (ANI). Direct stimulation of the auditory nerve with a penetrating electrode array minimizes the distance between the electrode and the nerve. Lower thresholds can lead to more selective stimulation of the auditory nerve and improved channel separation.