A Safety Study of the Auditory Brainstem Implant for Pediatric Profoundly Deaf Patients

August 25, 2025 updated by: Laurie Eisenberg

A Feasibility Study of the Placement, Use, and Safety of the Nucleus 24 Auditory Brainstem Implant in Non-Neurofibromatosis Type 2 (NF2) Pediatric Patients

Current treatment options for bilateral profoundly deaf children, diagnosed with inner ear anatomical abnormalities, are limited and, in the case of absent cochleas, non-existent. An auditory brainstem implant (ABI) places an electrode close to the auditory nucleus in the brainstem. Children aged 2 - 5 who are not candidates for a cochlear implant, or who did not demonstrate benefit from a cochlear implant, will be implanted with an ABI and followed for 1 year for safety and a total of 3 years for preliminary efficacy. This is a feasibility study to determine the safety of the ABI.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

The multichannel auditory brainstem implant (ABI) has now been used with some benefit in more than 1000 deaf patients worldwide who were not candidates for a cochlear implant (CI). For many years, the ABI was used primarily in adults deafened by Neurofibromatosis-Type 2 (NF2). During the past decade, ABI surgery has been safely performed on non-NF2 children outside of the United States, and results have shown great promise. The overall objective of this Phase I Clinical Trial grant is to evaluate safety in ten pediatric subjects who are not candidates for traditional cochlear implants due to cochlear nerve deficiency, cochlear aplasia, or cochlear ossification. These types of pathologies prevent normal transmission of auditory information between the cochlea and the brainstem. The University of Southern California, House Clinic, and Children's Hospital of Los Angeles are conducting a pediatric, non-NF2 ABI clinical with the Nucleus ABI device.

The Primary Aim is to describe the safety aspects of device implant surgery and 12-month use of an ABI in 10 pediatric patients (ages 2-6 years) with profound bilateral hearing loss not amenable to other treatments, such as hearing aids or cochlear implants. Surgical safety analysis is defined as no greater number of serious surgery-related adverse events than is commonly observed in non-NF2 adults undergoing craniotomy with or without an ABI and no more than four unexpected serious device-related adverse events for the 10 subjects during 12 months of follow-up. A Secondary Aim will determine whether or not the device provides patients with access to sound (thresholds of 50 dB HL) during a critical period for communication skills development. Efficacy is here defined as access to sound at a level and within the frequency range, known to be associated with speech.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

10

Phase

  • Phase 1

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • California
      • Los Angeles, California, United States, 90027
        • Children's Hospital Los Angeles
      • Los Angeles, California, United States, 90008
        • Keck School of Medicine of USC

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

2 years to 6 years (Child)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Bilateral profound deafness due to cochlear aplasia, cochlear nerve deficiency, or ossification secondary to meningitis
  • If previously received a cochlear implant, must demonstrate lack of benefit from that device

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Medical contraindication to craniotomy/intracranial surgery
  • Severe cognitive or developmental delays

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Device Feasibility
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Experimental
Device Implantation
Device: Auditory Brainstem Implant
Other Names:
  • Cochlear Corporation Nucleus 24

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Primary Endpoint
Time Frame: 12-months post-device (auditory brainstem implant) successful activation
Surgical Safety The number of subjects successfully implanted.
12-months post-device (auditory brainstem implant) successful activation

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Secondary Endpoint: Preliminary Efficacy
Time Frame: 3 years post-device activation
Access to sound at a level (dB HL) and with the frequency range (500-4000Hz), known to be associated with speech.
3 years post-device activation

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Laurie Eisenberg

Collaborators

University of Southern California
Children's Hospital Los Angeles
Huntington Medical Research Institutes

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Laurie S. Eisenberg, PhD, Keck School of Medicine of USC
  • Principal Investigator: Eric Wilkinson, MD, Huntington Medical Research Institute

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

March 1, 2014

Primary Completion (Actual)

April 6, 2021

Study Completion (Actual)

April 6, 2021

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

March 19, 2014

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 28, 2014

First Posted (Estimated)

April 2, 2014

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimated)

September 15, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 25, 2025

Last Verified

August 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • KSOM-ABI 001

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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