Rami Banna, Principal Systems Engineer and Project Manager with Cochlear speaks to Open Forum’s Kate Williamson about the Cochlear Nucleus 5 System; winner of an Australian International Design Award 2010.
What was the impetus behind the Cochlear Nucleus 5 System?
In 2005 Cochlear released a new system called the Nucleus Freedom. We received a range of feedback from that launch.
Then in 2006, we conducted an industry leading study which took a voice of the customer approach. This gave us the fantastic detail about what our customers wanted at all levels; surgical; clinical and from the recipients themselves. All of that became our baseline to determine how to design and develop a new system. Why we make the decisions we make and why we prioritise certain features were a result of listening to the voice of the customer every day. We sought to exceed our customer’s expectations in every way with the development of the next system.
We took in as much of that feedback as we could. The most crucial learnings were hearing performance: our recipients wanted to hear brilliantly, and aesthetics: recipients didn’t want to standout – but they wanted to wear something that looked wonderful.
The Nucleus 5 implant (CI512) is the world’s thinnest cochlear implant and surgeons were amazed at how the outside appearance was minimised. Recipients responded to the Nucleus 5 CP810 Sound Processor with joy, describing it as ‘gorgeous‘, ’sexy‘, and ’biomedical bling’.
What about the risks involved?
There had to be risk. If there is no risk, there is no reward. Throughout the design process, there was extensive testing conducted, certainly. But sometimes we had to make decisions based on experience, instinct and vision – and that’s key for real innovation.
What does the future hold?
The Nucleus 5 System was officially launched in the UK in June 2009 in Cambridge. It was then rolled out across the globe and has been rolling out ever since. The System is currently available in over 40 countries. Hearing performance studies have shown improvements in certain environments that traditionally have been challenging for recipients, and recipients are very happy with the appearance and comfort of the sound processor.
In the future we want to continue to deliver the most advanced technology that helps our users hear better and delight our customers.
A big challenge for us is access: right now less than 5% of people who could benefit from the product actually get one. This means there is a massive group that we are not reaching. Imagine if only 5% of short-sighted people had glasses? The challenge from an engineering perspective is to build products that truly support new ways of accessing those in need. It’s a wonderful challenge.
Rami Banna is Principal Systems Engineer and Project Manager with Cochlear. Rami studied electrical engineering at the University of New South Wales. Upon graduating in 2003 he was awarded the University Medal. He has previously worked with Alcatel, Telstra, and Agere Systems along with others in the telecommunications sector. In 2007 he joined Cochlear to pursue an interest in the biomedical industry. In 2008, Rami was highly commended in the Young Engineer of the Year category at the Engineers Australia Excellence awards and is now a judge at the awards. He is also a representative on the Embedded Systems Australia industry cluster and a former chairman of Institution of Engineering Technology NSW.
