World Music Day: MED-EL Puts Music at the Heart of Hearing Innovation

June 21, 2026 – (Innsbruck, Austria): Music is one of the most demanding challenges in hearing restoration – and one of the most important. On World Music Day, MED-EL is reinforcing its position as a leader in advancing music perception for people with hearing loss, combining scientific research, technology development, and targeted rehabilitation to deliver measurable improvements in how cochlear implant (CI) users experience sound.

• Music is a decisive factor in hearing satisfaction – and increasingly in device choice
• MED-EL translates decades of research into tangible improvements in music perception
• Rehabilitation and tools like Meludia accelerate real-world listening performance
  

“At MED-EL, music is not an afterthought – it is a key driver of innovation,” says Johanna Boyer. A musicologist, cochlear implant (CI) user, and expert in music perception at MED-EL, she has been advancing research in this field since 2012. “People do not just want to hear and understand speech – they want to experience sound fully, including music.”

Music Is a Performance Benchmark – Not a Feature

While the industry has traditionally focused on speech understanding, MED-EL treats music perception as a core indicator of hearing quality. The ability to perceive pitch, melody, and timbre directly impacts user satisfaction, emotional well-being, and social participation. “Music pushes the limits of hearing technology,” says Boyer. “If a system performs well for music, it performs well for real-world listening.”

Turning Research into Real Outcomes

Music perception is inherently complex, requiring the precise transmission of pitch, timing, and sound quality – areas where conventional approaches often fall short. MED-EL has spent decades addressing these challenges through extensive research and close collaboration with clinical and academic partners worldwide. These efforts directly inform product development and underpin MED-EL’s core philosophy of delivering hearing that is closest to natural hearing. This includes the use of long, flexible electrodes, the encoding of fine structure relevant for music signals, and advanced fitting strategies such as anatomy-based fitting (ABF), which recent research shows can enhance music perception, enjoyment, and sound quality.
In addition, MED-EL has developed evaluation tools like the Music and Cochlear Implant Questionnaire (MCIQ), designed to capture how users experience music in everyday life. “Our focus is not theoretical,” Boyer explains. “We translate research into solutions that improve what users actually hear.”

Better Hearing Requires More Than Technology

Technology alone does not define outcomes – what ultimately matters is how effectively users learn to interpret and engage with sound. MED-EL therefore places strong emphasis on active, structured rehabilitation as a critical factor in unlocking meaningful music perception.
Targeted listening training enables cochlear implant users to improve pitch discrimination, recognize instruments, and navigate complex sound environments with greater confidence. Rather than passive adaptation, this approach drives measurable progress, helping the brain build new auditory pathways and refine sound processing over time. 
Evidence and clinical experience increasingly show that music-based training not only enhances musical perception, but also strengthens broader auditory skills, including speech understanding, listening stamina, and cognitive processing. “Music is a powerful motivator,” says Boyer. “It motivates users to train consistently – and that directly translates into better, faster, and more sustainable outcomes.”

Purpose-Built Tools: From Training to Personalization

To turn this approach into consistent, real-world results, MED-EL provides dedicated, evidence-based tools that integrate music directly into rehabilitation and clinical practice.
These include:

• Meludia – an interactive, structured music training platform designed to systematically build listening skills
• Musical EARS® – a comprehensive program supporting auditory and cognitive development in children through music
• Next-generation digital solutions – combining hearing assessment with personalized music training pathways, enabling more precise and individualized rehabilitation

By embedding these tools into the care pathway, MED-EL is transforming music rehabilitation from an optional add-on into a standardized, scalable, and outcome-driven component of hearing care. The focus is shifting from generic training to data-informed personalization, ensuring that rehabilitation adapts to each user’s needs, progress, and listening goals.

A Decisive Factor for Users

Music is no longer a secondary consideration – it is increasingly shaping how users choose hearing solutions. Patients expect more than functional hearing; they expect high-quality sound that supports a full listening experience. Real-world evidence shows that access to music directly influences overall satisfaction, long-term device use, and perceived benefit. Solutions that perform well in music are more likely to deliver strong outcomes in everyday listening – and users are making choices accordingly. “Music matters more than many realise,” Boyer emphasizes. “For many users, regaining access to music is not a bonus – it is a priority, on par with understanding speech.”

Raising the Standard for Hearing Care

On World Music Day, MED-EL calls for a shift in how hearing outcomes are defined – moving beyond speech-only metrics to a more complete understanding of hearing. “Music connects, motivates, and defines quality of life,” says Boyer. “Our goal is clear: to ensure people with hearing loss do not just hear sound – but experience it.”

More information about MED-EL’s innovations in hearing and music is available on the MED-EL website. 

About MED-EL

MED-EL Medical Electronics, a leader in implantable hearing solutions, is driven by a mission to overcome hearing loss as a barrier to communication and quality of life. The Austrian-based, privately owned business was co-founded by industry pioneers Ingeborg and Erwin Hochmair, whose ground-breaking research led to the development of the world’s first micro-electronic multi-channel cochlear implant (CI), which was successfully implanted in 1977 and was the basis for what is known as the modern CI today. This laid the foundation for the successful growth of the company in 1990, when they hired their first employees. To date, MED-EL has more than 3,100 employees from around 90 nations and 30 locations worldwide.
The company offers the widest range of implantable and non-implantable solutions to treat all types of hearing loss, enabling people in 140 countries enjoy the gift of hearing with the help of a MED-EL device. MED-EL’s hearing solutions include cochlear and middle ear implant systems, a combined electric acoustic stimulation hearing implant system, auditory brainstem implants as well as surgical and non-surgical bone conduction devices. www.medel.com 

CEO

Doz. DI Dr DDr med. h.c. Ingeborg Hochmair

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