An iPhone compatible in-ear implant for people with hearing loss, which Tim Cook hailed as “accessibility breakthrough,” has been released in Australia, and will launch elsewhere around the world over the coming months.

The device is a collaboration between Apple and Cochlear, and is called the Nucleus 7 Sound Processor. It allows people who wear it to make phone calls, listen to podcasts, watch videos, or use their Apple device as a microphone, all using the implant.

The Nucleus 7 Sound Processor is the first implant sound processor certified to work with the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. Sound processors work differently to hearing aids because they are implanted in the skin behind a wearer’s ear, thereby offering more of a long term solution for hearing loss.

The Nucleus 7 comes with an iOS app which allows users to change volume and equalizer settings, along with switching to different hearing programs depending on the environment. There’s also a “Find my iPhone” style “Find my Processor” feature, for a detachable portion of the Nucleus 7 device.

Apple’s Accessibility drive

News of the in-ear implant was first shared in the middle of this year. An article written by tech journalist Steven Levy shared the story of 49-year-old Mathias Bahnmueller, a man who suffers from hearing loss, who was involved in testing the new tech.

“Now that he has the implant, he can hear his daughter the first time she speaks,” Levy wrote. “Using his new device, he listens to audiobooks streamed directly to his skull. And when he recently went to a noisy brewpub on date night with his wife, he pulled out his phone, changed the settings, and focused only on what she said. Everyone else in the place was probably shouting to be heard. But the guy with the implant could hear his wife’s voice very clearly.”

Accessibility has been a big drive of Tim Cook’s during his time as Apple CEO, although it has long been an area Apple has focused on. For a history of Apple’s work in this domain, check out my colleague Charlie Sorrel’s article “How the iPhone made accessibility accessible to everyone” here.

Via: Gizmodo Australia