A Chinese Hearing Implant Takes Aim at Cochlear

After suddenly going deaf at age 30, Ke Liu, a civil servant in China’s eastern Jiangxi province, didn’t have many options. A cochlear implant might’ve restored his hearing, but the imported device cost tens of thousands of dollars. In 2010, Ke learned about a clinical trial for an implant made by a Chinese company, Hangzhou Nurotron Biotechnology. That year he had one surgically implanted and has since recovered nearly all of his hearing. “I have my old life back,” says the 38-year-old.

Unlike hearing aides, which simply amplify sound, cochlear implants translate soundwaves into signals sent directly to the brain. Nurotron has received approval from China’s health regulators to sell its implant on the mainland. At 98,000 yuan ($16,000), the price of its devices is less than half that of imported implants, says Nisa Leung, a board member who is a partner at Qiming Ventures Partners, a venture capital firm and an investor in Nurotron.