HearLight – Towards optogenetic cortical implants for hearing impaired

In connection with the Horizon 2020 FET Open scheme for the development of emerging technologies, the European Union recently granted €3 million to the collaborative project HearLight, coordinated by the Hearing Institute, an Institut Pasteur center. The project was developed with the help of the Europe section in the Grants Office (goeurope@pasteur.fr).

HearLight involves six European partners, including the Swiss start-up Novagan, with the aim of developing a new technology to restore hearing in patients with hearing loss.

Hearing loss affects nearly half a billion people worldwide. The only treatment option available for profound hearing loss is cochlear implants, electrical stimulators placed in the ear. Cochlear implants restore hearing in some patients, but their limited performance severely affects patients' quality of life.

The aim of HearLight is to improve the precision of aural rehabilitation strategies for a wide range of hearing loss disorders, using a radically new approach that targets the brain instead of the ears. It combines bioelectronic and optogenetic techniques to apply precise stimulation patterns in the auditory cortex, a brain region that is crucial for auditory perception. To achieve its long-term goal, one of the tasks of HearLight will be to develop slim, flexible, biocompatible electrode and LED bars that can be inserted into the complex structure of the human auditory cortex.

The other task will be to test a variety of algorithms to turn sound information into brain stimulation models that can be perceived as precise sounds. If this approach to restoring hearing by targeting the brain considerably improves perception of the detailed structure of sounds, as the project aims to demonstrate, it could result in a technique that makes a huge difference in terms of perception for patients, for example by enabling them to hear music or conversations in a crowd, two sounds which are virtually impossible to hear with cochlear implants.

A dedicated website and communication strategy will be developed to inform the public and patient organizations about the project. The consortium will also take part in European events such as the national Open Science Days.

The HearLight project began on April 1, 2021.

Contact: hearlightproject@pasteur.fr

Coordinator: Brice Bathellier, Hearing Institute/Institut Pasteur