§ Mr. Ernie Rossasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will make a statement on the progress of trials of cochlea implants for the profoundly deaf.
§ Mr. William SheltonI have been asked to reply.
The Medical Research Council, which receives grant-in-aid from the Department, is presently supporting a trial involving cochlea implants that is being carried out at the department of phonetics and linguistics at University College, London. I understand that good progress has been made in the work so far.
The MRC also funds a considerable amount of basic research on hearing at its Institute of Hearing Research and through grant support of other researchers.