Listening and Communicating with Optogenetic and Electrical Cochlear Implants in Marmo-sets (B04)

• Subject Area: Cognitive, Systems and Behavioural Neurobiology ; Otolaryngology, Phoniatrics and Audiology ; Medical Physics, Biomedical Technology
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 528760423

Over 5% of the global population suffer from profound hearing loss. Partial restoration of hearing is possible with electrical cochlear implants (eCIs), which suffer from poor frequency resolution. This project will investigate the potential of optogenetic cochlear implants (oCIs) to overcome this limitation. In marmoset monkeys, we will employ behavioral and electrophysiological approaches to investigate the processing of multichannel optogenetic cochlear stimulation and cochlear implant-coded vocalizations. The overarching goal is to com-pare the hearing restoration capabilities of eCIs and oCIs in complex listening and communication settings.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 1690: Disease Mechanisms and Functional Restoration of Sensory and Motor Systems
• Applicant Institution: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
• Project Head: Dr. Marcus Jeschke