Shedding light on optical cochlear implant progress

Electrical cochlear implants (CI) currently lack the frequency and intensity resolution to allow detection of complex sounds in background noise. The use of microscale optoelectronics in conjunction with optogenetics provides a promising direction in CI technology to allow improvements in spectral resolution, providing a richer soundscape for users. The present work offers the first instance of using multi‐channel μLED‐based optical CI to demonstrate optogenetic activation of auditory neurons. Graphical Abstract Kitcher and Weisz highlight implantable optogenetic cochlear implants (oCI) that demonstrate small scale μLED‐based light sources that successfully evoke activity in auditory neurons with the ability to encode sound intensity, and improved spectral selectivity.