A video clip of a young American woman enabled by the first fully implantable hearing aid to hear her own voice clearly for the first time has become famous online.

Sarah Churman, aged 29, from Texas, was born profoundly deaf and has grown up using external auditory devices to provide partial hearing ability.

The surgical implantation of an Esteem device from Envoy Medical behind each ear resulted in her experiencing much clearer hearing.

Churman’s emotional reaction to her greatly improved hearing was filmed and uploaded to YouTube, where it became a massive hit despite user comments that showed ignorance about her condition.

The Esteem device is the first fully implantable hearing aid, with no microphone or speaker. Based on pacemaker technology, it is implanted under the skin behind the ear. Two leads extend into the middle ear from the device to sense the vibrations of the eardrum and auditory ossicles.

Churman commented that conventional hearing aids had never given her good discrimination of sounds or a sense of their distance: “With my hearing aids everything is jumbled, just white noise.”

Now, she added, voices were clear for the first time: “I could hear my two daughters’ words rather than having to read their lips.” In addition, she said, she was able to hear the sounds of rain, thunder and birdsong.

Each medical device and its implantation would cost nearly £20,000 in the UK, and is not available from the NHS.

Envoy Medical is based in Minnesota, USA.

Global medtech corporation Medtronic has completed the acquisition of two companies that specialise in technologies for energy surgery: PEAK Surgical and Salient Surgical Technologies.

PEAK Surgical is a leader in the new field of advanced energy surgical incision. Its PlasmaBlade cutting technology has been approved for use in a range of applications, including Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) surgery and reconstructive surgery.

Medtronic has acquired PEAK for a total of $120 million, including an existing ownership stake of $15 million. PEAK’s revenue is currently $20 million per annum and shows rapid growth.

Salient Surgical Technologies is a pioneer in the use of energy techniques for haemostatic sealing of soft tissue and bone. Its Transcollation technology has approval for use in a wide range of surgical applications including orthopaedic, spinal, open abdominal and thoracic procedures.

Medtronic has acquired Salient for a total of $525 million, including an existing ownership stake of $45 million. Salient’s revenue is currently $100 million per annum and shows rapid growth.

Chris O’Connell, EVP and President of Medtronic’s Restorative Therapies Group, said the acquisitions would enable Medtronic to “focus on offering a more broad portfolio of innovative surgical products”.

He noted: “Together, these acquisitions represent Medtronic’s commitment to innovation across the entire surgical continuum from incision to closing, and represent entries into new areas such as plastic/reconstruction, electrophysiology, oncology and large bone orthopaedics.”

FDA approval has been issued to Intersect ENT’s implant offering controlled drug delivery for patients with chronic sinusitis.

The system prevents obstruction of the ethmoid sinus following surgery, reducing the need for additional surgical procedures and systemic steroids that can have serious side effects.

David W. Kennedy, Professor of Otorhinolaryngology at the University of Pennsylvania Health System in Philadelphia, USA, said that the combination of minimally invasive techniques and local drug delivery will be “the wave of the future in sinus treatment”.

Propel, a mometason furoate implant, uses advanced corticosteroid with anti-inflammatory properties. It is inserted following endoscopic sinus surgery to stop the condition returning.

The spring-like implant expands to prop open the sinus and gradually delivers the medicine directly to the sinus tissue.

Chronic sinusitis often requires a combination of surgical and medical treatments.

It is a common condition where patients’ sinuses become swollen and inflamed, leading to difficulty in breathing, facial pain or headache, and reduced sense of smell and taste.

Each year, 500,000 US patients undergo sinus surgery to treat the condition, but the majority of patients experience recurrent symptoms within a year of surgery.

The FDA approval is based on results from three prospective clinical trials involving 205 patients in the US.

Intersect ENT is a company based in Palo Alto, California, and focuses on developing treatment alternatives to improve quality of life for ear, nose and throat patients.