MED-EL Founder and CEO Dr. Ingeborg Hochmair to Receive Prestigious Lasker Award for Development of the Modern Cochlear Implant (BILD)

Innsbruck, Austria (ots) -

- Cross reference: Picture is available at
http://www.presseportal.de/galerie.htx?type=obs -

Worldwide hearing implant leader MED-EL Medical Electronics today
announced that Founder and CEO Ingeborg Hochmair, PhD, has been
selected to receive this year's prestigious Lasker-DeBakey Clinical
Medical Research Award for the development of the modern cochlear
implant, a device that restores hearing to individuals with
severe-to-profound deafness through electrical stimulation of the
auditory nerve. She will share the award with Graeme M. Clark
(Emeritus, Univ. of Melbourne, Australia) and Blake S. Wilson (Duke
University, NC, USA). This highly-respected scientific award honors
scientists whose contributions have improved the clinical treatment
of patients. The award ceremony will take place in New York City on
Friday, September 20, 2013.

Ingeborg Hochmair, a PhD in electrical engineering, is being
recognized for her early contributions to the field of cochlear
implants starting with the development of the world's first multi-
channel microelectronic cochlear implant that was implanted in Vienna
in 1977. This implant included a long, flexible electrode, which
could, for the first time, deliver electric signals to the auditory
nerve along a large part of the cochlea, the snail-shaped inner ear.
With a modified version of this device, the next milestone in
cochlear implant development was reached in 1979: the understanding
of words and sentences without lip-reading in a quiet environment via
a small, body-worn sound processor. The young recipient, a pioneer
herself because she devoted much of her time to cochlear implant
research, has enjoyed open speech understanding via a small processor
for the past 34 years. Intense and continuous innovation followed,
including the development of the world's first behind-the-ear (BTE)
cochlear implant audio processor in 1991.

The next major advancement was the development of a high
stimulation rate cochlear implant designed to faithfully implement a
new speech coding strategy developed by Blake Wilson. From 1994
forward, this device took its users to the next level of performance.
It became the first device with which the majority of postlingually
deaf adults achieved more than 50% monosyllabic word understanding
within 6 months after implantation as demonstrated in a multicenter
clinical trial. This meant that the majority of those implanted could
now have conversations over the phone about unknown topics with an
unfamiliar speaker.

Respect for the cochlea and its delicate structures have guided
Dr. Hochmair´s research and development activities towards a highly
flexible electrode array preserving the delicate structures of the
cochlea despite deep insertion into the cochlea.

During recent years, Dr. Hochmair and Wilson have collaborated on
current topics such as the benefit of bilateral implantation,
combined electric and acoustic stimulation, and of cochlear implants
for single-sided deafness.

The cochlear implant was, and remains, the first replacement of a
human sense, the sense of hearing. Dr. Hochmair's intellectual rigor,
pioneering spirit, and life-long drive toward excellence have
transformed the lives of nearly 100,000 individuals around the world.

"Many of these achievements were attained with the shared
commitment of my husband and closest collaborator, electrical
engineer Erwin Hochmair, and with other outstanding partners, such as
basic researchers, surgeons, clinicians, coworkers at MED-EL and,
ultimately, the end-users of the devices," said Dr. Hochmair.

Together with Prof. Erwin Hochmair, Ingeborg Hochmair founded
MED-EL with a vision that would ultimately bring cutting-edge
applications to life in more than 100 countries. The company is
privately held, and Ingeborg Hochmair remains at the helm. Being CEO
of MED-EL is not simply a job for Dr. Hochmair; it is her life.
Helping people overcome hearing loss as a barrier to communication
was a founding principle of MED-EL and remains her mission and her
passion. Improving the quality of life of patients continues to be a
personal and professional core value that is lived every day through
her leadership at MED-EL.

Dr. Hochmair and the entire MED-EL family extend congratulations
to her fellow Research Award recipients, Graeme M. Clark and Blake S.
Wilson.

"I am extremely gratified that our life's work is being recognized
in such a prestigious manner," said Dr. Hochmair.

"However, I am even more pleased that this award will raise
awareness for the entire field of cochlear implants and its
importance as a treatment for small children born with severe-to-
profound hearing loss, up to and including older adults who lose
their hearing later in life. In so many ways, our work has just
begun. Technological advances have accelerated our research at an
unbelievable rate. We are on the threshold of breakthroughs that
would have been considered dreams not long ago. After so many years,
hearing restoration continues to be a miraculous field, and I still
feel a sense of urgency to help improve the quality of life of deaf
people. I am honored to have been a part of the development of this
life-changing innovation, and look forward to continuing our strong
tradition of advancing our technological and scientific foundation in
the field of hearing implants for many years to come," she continued.

For more information about the Lasker Awards, visit
www.laskerfoundation.org.

About MED-EL

MED-EL Medical Electronics is a leading provider of hearing
implant systems worldwide. The company was founded by Austrian
scientists and industry pioneers Ingeborg and Erwin Hochmair, who
together developed the world's first microelectronic, multichannel
cochlear implant in 1977. In 1990, they laid the foundation for the
successful growth of the company when they hired their first
employees. To date, the privately held company now has more than
1,500 employees around the world.

The cochlear implant was and remains the first replacement of a
human sense, the sense of hearing. Today, MED-EL offers the widest
range of implantable solutions worldwide to treat the various degrees
of hearing loss, including cochlear, middle ear and bone conduction
implant systems as well as a system for combined electric and
acoustic stimulation.

MED-EL's mission is to overcome hearing loss as a barrier to
communication and quality of life. Individuals in approximately 100
countries enjoy the gift of hearing with a MED-EL Hearing Implant
System. www.medel.com

CONTACT:
Thomas Herrmann
MED-EL Medical Electronics
Fürstenweg 77a
A - 6020 Innsbruck
T: +43 (0) 512 28 88 89-182
press@medel.com