Illinois researcher earns NIH subaward to advance cochlear implant technology

Justin Aronoff, an associate professor in the Department of Speech and Hearing Science in the College of Applied Health Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, has received a subaward on a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research grant from the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. The project, led by Vortant Technologies, focuses on a novel approach called “spatially transparent binaural beamforming” that improves on noise reduction techniques in cochlear implant processors.

Cochlear implants have transformed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people worldwide, offering a sense of sound to individuals with severe to profound hearing loss. Yet despite their effectiveness, users often face significant challenges in noisy environments such as restaurants, classrooms or crowded public spaces. Traditional technologies designed to filter noise can unintentionally distort spatial cues—the subtle differences in sound loudness and timing that allow people to locate and separate sounds in space. This distortion makes it harder for cochlear implant users to orient themselves in noisy situations, diminishing the devices’ usefulness in the real world.

The newly funded collaboration between Aronoff’s research group at Illinois and Vortant Technologies aims to solve this problem by advancing a promising new strategy in signal processing. Beamforming, the core technology under study, works by amplifying sounds coming from a specific direction—typically the person a listener wants to focus on—while suppressing sounds from other directions. While beamforming is not new, most existing approaches compromise spatial awareness. Vortant’s innovation, however, is a “spatially transparent” beamformer, meaning it not only improves speech perception in noise but also preserves the spatial cues that are critical for natural hearing.

“Beamforming helps improve speech perception in noisy environments by allowing a microphone to focus on sound from a specific location,” Aronoff said. “The problem with most beamformers is that while they enhance speech, they distort spatial cues, making it difficult to tell where different sounds are coming from. Vortant has been developing a beamformer that overcomes this tradeoff, both improving speech perception and preserving spatial information.”

Aronoff’s lab will play a key role in testing this technology. As the Illinois subawardee, he is responsible for designing and conducting behavioral studies with cochlear implant users. These studies will assess whether the new algorithm delivers on its promise to improve speech understanding in noisy conditions while maintaining the ability to detect where sounds originate. All participant testing will take place in Aronoff’s laboratory at Illinois, where his team has extensive experience conducting similar research.

Vortant Technologies specializes in developing assistive technologies that increase accessibility for people with disabilities. Aronoff first connected with the company through Phil Schaefer, Vortant’s chief scientist, when the two served together on an NIH SBIR review panel. Their shared interest in advancing assistive hearing technologies led to discussions of collaboration, eventually resulting in this funded project. Alongside Aronoff’s group on the Urbana-Champaign campus, a second subaward was issued to Ryan Corey at the University of Illinois-Chicago, expanding the collaboration across campuses.

For Aronoff, the project builds on a long-standing line of research aimed at maximizing the benefits of binaural hearing—the use of both ears—in cochlear implant users. His laboratory has previously been supported by an NIH R01 grant from the NIDCD, now in its fifth year, which investigates how cochlear implant users process spatial hearing cues. That project has already generated four peer-reviewed articles, additional manuscripts under review, and presentations at major national and international conferences. A renewal application for the R01 is currently under consideration, demonstrating the momentum and sustained impact of his research program.

The new SBIR project represents an opportunity to translate fundamental scientific findings into real-world applications. By validating the effectiveness of Vortant’s beamforming algorithm in a controlled laboratory setting, Aronoff’s group will help lay the groundwork for technology that could ultimately be integrated into commercial cochlear implant processors. If successful, the innovation has the potential to make daily listening situations—such as following conversations in a busy café or hearing a teacher in a lively classroom—more manageable and less exhausting for cochlear implant users.

For Aronoff, the potential impact is deeply motivating. “Our ultimate aim is to improve speech perception in noise for cochlear implant users,” he said. “Being able to follow conversations in noisy environments is one of the biggest challenges they face, and we hope this technology can make a meaningful difference in their everyday lives.”

The NIH’s SBIR program is specifically designed to support early-stage research and development conducted by small businesses, often in collaboration with academic partners. By fostering these partnerships, the program seeks to accelerate the translation of innovative ideas into marketable products that can benefit patients and society. The Phase I award to Vortant Technologies and its collaborators at Illinois and UIC exemplifies this mission, advancing cutting-edge science with clear pathways toward clinical application.

As the project progresses, Aronoff and his team will collect data to determine whether the algorithm meets its dual goals of enhancing speech perception and preserving spatial hearing. If the Phase I studies are successful, the team hopes to pursue a Phase II SBIR award, which would provide more substantial funding to refine the technology and move closer to commercialization.

For cochlear implant users, the promise of better hearing in noise could be life-changing. For Aronoff and his collaborators, the new grant marks an important step toward bridging the gap between laboratory research and the lived experiences of people who rely on hearing technology.

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