FDA Approves Hearing Device

Food and Drug Administration officials announced they had approved a device that gives some people with a rare type of hearing loss the ability to detect some sounds and speech. The device is designed to treat patients with a condition called neurofibromatosis type 2, in which tumors grow on nerves in the brain. Removing the tumors requires severing the auditory nerve, leading to total hearing loss. About 1 in 40,000 Americans has the genetic condition, according to device maker Cochlear Corp. The device, which surgeons implant in the brain, can give patients the ability to detect certain sounds and speech but does not restore normal hearing.