Auditory brainstem implant

Okay kiddo, so have you ever heard of cochlear implants? They are devices that help people with hearing problems hear better by directly stimulating their inner ear nerves.

Now, sometimes people's inner ear doesn't work at all and cochlear implants won't help. This is where auditory brainstem implants (ABIs) come in.

ABIs are devices that help people hear by bypassing their inner ear and directly stimulating their brainstem, which is where sound signals are processed in the brain.

To get an ABI, doctors first make a small hole in the person's skull and then attach an electrode array directly onto their brainstem. The array has tiny electrodes that stimulate the brainstem cells in response to sounds picked up by a microphone on the person's ear.

Now, it can take some time and practice for people with ABIs to learn how to interpret these signals and understand speech, but it can really improve their ability to communicate and interact with the world around them.