Fernando Linares He lives in Valladolid, although he was born eight years ago in the Dominican Republic. He was just over a year old when he was detected with a severe hearing impairment and Two cochlear implants were placed.
Now He has devised an innovative device, which he has called 'the invisible implant', which exceeds the limits of his hearing aids and that has earned him one of the nine winners of the 'Ideas4ears' world contest.
In Babies and more Cochlear implants for babies with profound deafness, what are they and how do they work?Why an invisible implant?
Fernando has become accustomed to hearing device thanks to his implants, with which he leads a practically normal life, although he has limitations.
For this reason, this Valladolid grabbed his pencils and paintings and expressed on paper his idea of internal cochlear implant, without cables or flasks, that would allow him to surf, one of his favorite hobbies.
In Babies and more Families of children with deafness claim financial assistance to meet the costs of cochlear implantsThen, he made a model of the auditory pavilion, with a straw as an internal implant.
He called it 'the invisible implant', since "When going inside the ear, it is hidden and protected, avoiding losses, bumps or moisture."
In addition, explains its creator, being completely internal, "nobody looks at him, because he doesn't see", although he confesses that he does not feel any type of complex because he has cochlear implants.
Innovation Award
Fernando decided to send his idea to the technical team of MED-EL, an Austrian company responsible for the manufacture of hearing implants that recently launched the world contest 'Ideas4ears', which collects innovative children's projects for their devices.
Of the more than 430 projects received from 19 countries, only nine were selected to travel to the company's headquarters, in Innsbruck (Austria), to present their innovative ideas to scientists.
Among them is Fernando, who already counts the remaining days to explain his invention, which can help 34 million children in the world with some kind of hearing impairment.
Because there are certain barriers that this implant has not yet been able to cross, such as the moment of disconnection in which Fernando (or 'Chiqui', as his parents call him) has to bathe, sleep or run out of batteries.
