Approximately 32.5 million American adults report some degree of hearing loss and three out of every 1000 children are born deaf or hard of hearing each year, according to the National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. For some, cochlear implants may be the only way to learn and interpret speech and other sounds.

A cochlear implant provides a sense of sound to a person who is profoundly deaf or severely hard-of-hearing. Unlike a traditional hearing aid, the implant does not amplify sound but directly stimulates functioning auditory nerves with electric impulses. Now a new implant system, Maestro, is taking hearing technology to the next level.

The system consists of the thinnest and lightest internal implant and an externally worn speech processor, allowing people to hear in "High Definition" for the first time. Advanced technology offers users greater sound detail and clarity, especially for music enjoyment and difficult listening environments like busy restaurants. The implant is also future ready and designed to implement upgrades and enhancements without needing a new device.

A questionnaire of patients who participated in the Fine Structure Processing clinical trial showed:

• 91% of the subjects reported that, in general, music sounds pleasant with their cochlear implant
• 82% report listening to music every week, if not every day