Auricle

Auricle is developing an investigational neurostimulation implant to restore the ability to understand speech in patients with debilitating hearing loss.

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Why it matters

I can hear, but I can't understand.

People tend to lose high frequency hearing first. Patients with severe-to-profound high-frequency hearing loss often complain they can hear but cannot understand, even with the most powerful hearing aids. That is because they have lost the ability to hear the sounds that are vital to understanding speech.

Hear the sounds

Current treatments for hearing loss leave a gap

Hearing aids

Hearing aids provide acoustic amplification, making sound louder, and can work well for mild to moderate hearing loss.

With severe or profound sensorineural hearing loss, hair cells inside the cochlea may be too damaged to convert mechanical vibrations into neural signals effectively. Making sound louder may no longer be enough.

THE GAP

Cochlear implants

Cochlear implants bypass damaged or dysfunctional hair cells to electrically stimulate auditory neurons within the cochlea.

Implantation typically involves drilling through the mastoid bone behind the ear to access the cochlea and insert an electrode array.

The procedure can cause significant, permanent loss of residual hearing in the implanted ear. Some patients retain useful natural hearing, while others lose it entirely.

For patients that fall in the gap

Everyday conversations become harder

For some people with severe high-frequency hearing loss, hearing aids offer limited benefit, leaving everyday speech difficult to understand.
Cochlear implants may help, but concerns about surgery and losing remaining hearing can make people reluctant to proceed.
The ongoing struggle can be isolating. Hearing loss is associated with depression and an increased risk of dementia.

Sources

The opportunity

Our goal: restore what's missing, preserve what's left

A novel approach to hearing restoration

Auricle is developing a minimally invasive neural implant with the goal of restoring high-frequency hearing with minimal risk to residual hearing.

By avoiding disruption of the internal structure of the cochlea, our extracochlear approach aims to be significantly less invasive and reversible.

Potential impact

Our compass: helping people understand speech again

Experience what it's like to have high-frequency hearing loss and how extracochlear stimulation has the potential to help.*

High-frequency hearing loss

Hear speech with severe-to-profound high-frequency hearing loss and remaining low-frequency hearing.

Illustrative audiogram

With 1 channel of stimulation

Hear the same speech with one simulated electrical channel added. Can you understand the words?

Illustrative audiogram

With 4 channels of stimulation

Now compare four simulated channels. Is the speech easier to understand?

Illustrative audiogram

Full-frequency reference

Listen to the original recordings with all speech frequencies intact.

Illustrative audiogram

Illustrative hearing profiles. Electrode positions are schematic, not predicted hearing thresholds; the lights follow speech in each audio channel.

* Illustration only. Not the Auricle® System, and not a clinical result.

Auricle

Auricle is a neurotechnology company based in Mountain View, California. The company is building a minimally invasive brain-computer interface (BCI) to restore hearing. Founded out of Stanford Biodesign, incubated at Stanford Medicine, backed by Y Combinator and located at Fogarty Innovation.