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IMAGE: Left: 3D microscopic image of an optical LED-based cochlear implant (blue LEDs in gray silicone encapsulation) with hair cells (orange) and auditory nerve (blue/green) in the cochlea of a. view more
Credit: Daniel Keppeler, UMG
Understanding spoken words, developing normal speech - cochlear implants enable people with profound hearing impairment to gain a great deal in terms of quality of life. However, background noises are problematic, they significantly compromise the comprehension of speech of people with cochlear implants. The team led by Tobias Moser from the Institute for Auditory Neuroscience and InnerEarLab at the University Medical Center Göttingen and from the Auditory Neuroscience and Optogenetics Laboratory at the German Primate Center - Leibniz Institute for Primate Research (DPZ) is therefore working to improve cochlear implants. The scientists want to use genetic engineering methods to make the nerve cells in the ear sensitive to light
. Claus Roll is a director of research and program development for OSA Europe.
In a recent article, we offered an overview of the general funding schemes in Germany, the European Union’s largest economy. We noted there that areas explicitly described as “optical technologies” received a total of €245.8 million of public funding in 2020 but that the total funding for optics and photonics is likely much larger, with much of it “hidden” in other domains like electronic systems, microsystems, nanotechnology and materials technologies.
The remaining articles in this series will drill down into funding via specific channels and agencies within that overall picture. In this story, we look at optics and photonics funding by the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, or DFG) an independent research-funding organization serving all branches of science and the humanities at universities and non-university research institutions.