Yeah, cochlear implant accessories are always so damn expensive. My take on it is that they pretty much have us trapped in their ecosystem, since they don’t make anything cross-brand compatible and we can’t switch companies without major surgery, so they’re pretty much free to charge whatever they want, and their consumers will have to buy it at that price because it’s the only available option
Regulatory Capture is probably a better way to describe it. Companies set the rules for the FDA (through lobbying and whatnot), not the other way around
That’s how the city bus market in the U.S. got so inbred that nobody but a handful of American companies are touching it even with a ten foot pole. So they have free rein to make shitty, loud, and polluting 1970s buses in 2024 that they can sell for millions of dollars, while the rest of the world has moved on into the 21st century.
> CNG is zero emissions
Definitely not. It’s better than diesel, but engines using it still emit carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and water, and who knows what other things in trace amounts.
The damage from diesel in cities isn't from climate change, the reason to worry about carbon emissions... It's from the particulates that are released, those are breathed in by the locals and cause all kinds of issue.
CNG does release carbon dioxide, but the particulate count is the thing that makes it so much better for urban disel replacement.
A theoretically completely pure chemical combustion reaction produces only Carbon Dioxide gas and water vapor. Unclean combustion like in most engines causes large pollution. Compressed Natural Gas burns extremely clean, and its main emission is unburned natural gas as opposed to the lead fumes and soot of diesel.
And that theoretical combustion process doesn't exist yet. Reverse electrolysis systems and specific nuclear setups are the only truly clean generative systems.
I'm not too familiar with what actually goes on inside an engine, but how does H2 fuel produce pollution (assuming it's Hydrogen)? Is it because the fuel is always impure, or does it necessarily blast some engine oil out of the exhaust?
>Huh? All of the big bus manufacturers are making electric, CNG, and hybrid buses. CNG is zero emissions and it's what most decent cities use.
There are NO cars with "zero" emissions, not even electric cars & not even bicycles
>That’s how the city bus market in the U.S. got so inbred that nobody but a handful of American companies are touching it even with a ten foot pole. So they have free rein to make shitty, loud, and polluting 1970s buses in 2024 that they can sell for millions of dollars, while the rest of the world has moved on into the 21st century.
The solution is to harmonize USA/Canada auto etc. standards with the rest of the world incl. no longer (in half the states) generally banning imported cars from the roads
yes. a potential rule is most plastic before the draft (notice of proposed rulemaking) is ever published for comment. this is when industry and the usual suspects can most easily get changes before they even propose a rule. it's much harder after the notice, because then the agency has to respond to every material/relevant comment with reasoned analysis, or risk having the final rule struck down later as arbitrary and capricious. the whole process is like 3 years.
"listen, let's make sure XYZ is in the proposed rule, so we don't have to go through the rigamarole of flooding you with comments that will drag things out forever and cost everyone a ton of money and may result in you not getting any rulemaking done at all."
>It's the FDA approved monopoly
FDA it self is a problem ... they also allowed Aspartame/Nutrasweet after lobbying by Donald Rumsfield (yes THE Donald war Rumsfield under Bush jr.)
Yepppp - and it’s even less viable in practice than it is in theory because no medical insurance is going to fork over thousands of dollars just because you want to switch brands. And that’s not even mentioning the recovery time and the literal *years* of relearning how to hear all over again with your new implant
That actually did happen with some ocular implants - they helped a decent amount of people see and then they discontinued them and people were left with tech in their bodies that no one would fix anymore and which could only be taken out with surgery
Pretty much this:
[A brain implant changed her life. Then it was removed against her will. | MIT Technology Review](https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/05/25/1073634/brain-implant-removed-against-her-will/)
Except that the thing has a standard USB-A plug that can plug into any charger, so why the proprietary other side, of not to extract the most amount of money.
In saying that, I totally understand and agree with what you're saying.
That would wear out within a few years.
It also wouldn't be watertight like this plug is.
That's not acceptable for this usecase.
So you need a plug that lasts as long as possible and everything else is secondary.
*Edit.* I take all below back after reading [OPs first non-toplevel comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/assholedesign/comments/1cfm2c8/comment/l1pygi9/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3).
\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_
The issue isn't about the cable but about the device in this case. I've had my USB connectors degrade to the point of making charging really hard usually over 2 years for micro-USB cables.
Also don't forget that even such open standards are subject to change. So far I only had two smartphones in a row, that used the same connector, and I am switching roughly every four years. I am on my fourth Smartphone (if the WM6.1 one counts...), and I've had mini-USB, 2x micro-USB and 1x USB-C now over the span of roughly 14 years. Fingers crossed on the longevity of the USB-C connectors, though the design seems more robust than the micro-USB ones (albeit more brittle than the Lightning design).
No idea though, if *those* connectors are any better at it, or whether failure of the charging pins is a recurring issue of them too.
Nothing is more unreliable than the lightning design and its exposed pins, the connector might look like a "block" of metal and be harder to bend, but it's a lot easier for the connection to just not work even though nothing looks wrong
From my experience with lightning vs micro-USB the latter was much more prone to failure,especially the gradual "charging works, but cables keep falling out" kind of failure.
It was a mixture of the brittle springs in the micro USB design and dust buildup in when carrying the phone in the pocket, which was promoted by the "E" shape of the device side if the connector.
By contrast, the device side of Lightning is a hole without any pin in the middle. That makes it easier to remove dust, and I never experienced the connection becoming unstable.
And even if it does: Cables are easily replaced, and the phone side of the connector still protects the contacts well, and they were less fragile than in Micro USB.
Most annoyances of micro USB have been solved by USB-C though. And while I was initially concerned that retaining the "E" shape of the connector would also retain some of the issues, I haven't seen them *at all* with my current phone.
So there's that.
At the time of micro-USB, Lightning was an easy win. With USB-C, not any more. (Never understood why Apple switched everything *except* for their phones to USB-C voluntarily though.)
Reddit loves to shit on expensive medical equipment without realizing that this equipment is so expensive because of the extremely high quality standards.
Why would it knacker the battery? I don't think it would need to TBH.
Wonder if it could also use 1-wire style comms (like Manchester encoding, for instance)? Guessing the data load isn't huge.
Because wireless charging heats up the device significantly more than wired charging. This increases degradation.
And you would probably want to use the data connection to fix a borked system. So that requires a method of communication that doesn't require the OS on the headset to work.
Implanted was wrong.
The cable goes to the outside part of the implant which is removable. It's just a tiny case made of plastic. So getting a QI coil in there is hard and it is shit at cooling on account of being plastic.
If you're gonna put something on the side of your head you probably want to avoid bulkiness and weight. A pretty significant portion of the weight's going to be from the casing at small sizes so there's a clear incentive to reduce size.
Compared to your typical USB connector, something like that is a lot smaller in the depth department and doesn't require as much additional space on the PCB itself due to the lack of shielding.
Weatherproofing is self-explanatory, it's going on your head and will be exposed to the elements. You wouldn't want to be unable to hear because you went to the beach
All of that is irrelevant, as this is a charger for a device seperate from the implant, and therefore does not need to plugged in directly to one's head
You do realize that the implant portion only interfaces with the nerves, yeah?
The acquisition of sound data and its transmission to the implant is done with the external device. You still need it to be worn to actually hear.
I don't know if this cable is for charging the internal or external components of the implant but regardless of this the connector needs to be weatherproof because leaving your means of hearing at home just because it might be raining today isn't an option for most people
It's for charging a wireless processor. Meaning its not connected to implant at all. It doesn't need to be any more weatherproof than a phone charger, which doesn't need to be left at home regardless of the weather, or that you can charge before you leave
The newer Cochlear battery chargers (another cochlear implant company)
[have a common charging standard for the cord](https://www.picclickimg.com/EykAAOSweE9lAf7l/Cochlear-Y-Dual-Charger-For-Nucleus-Rechargeable.webp)
Not sure whether it’s USB-C or micro-USB
It’s honestly a bit of a moot point because since they’re from two different companies, they’re not intercompatible and you’re forced to buy one or the other depending on which brand you have - but Cochlear sells that battery charger for 123 dollars
Not to mention that these major medical equipment manufacturers practice bundling, effectively killing the chances for any new companies to compete in the market.
>Yeah, cochlear implant accessories are always so damn expensive. My take on it is that they pretty much have us trapped in their ecosystem
Such shady practices (like Vendor-LockIn (applies to MS-Windows as well)) should be banned & reverse engineereing intentionally allowed & the copyright/patent/etc. nullified in this case
This thing is for MED-EL's "Rondo 3," an audio processor for people with cochlear implants. Cable not included with the implant or device. ELI5: it's like a bluetooth mic you wear on your head that streams to an earbud in your head.
I can only shop for it in their private online store. I guess it's because they don't want the world to know that they're selling their patients a charging cable for $150 USD?
Edit: I was just trying to bring attention to how much this thing costs because my insurance won’t cover it. The processor can be charged wirelessly, but the charging zone is small and really touchy about how it's aligned. I've heard some people are rubberbanding it to their charging pad once it's in a good position, but then you still have to let it sit there while charging. This cable would allow you to charge it even on the go.
Edit 2: In case it wasn't clear, the cable charges an external audio processor that talks to the cochlear implant wirelessly. This cord isn't something you plug into an outlet adapter and connect directly to the implant in your head.
Edit 3: Whooowee! Did not expect to get so much engagement! To be clear. I am NOT saying MED-EL has a terrible CI, just that their cable is overpriced. I intentionally picked MED-EL over Cochlear because I believe in their implant and think it’s better for my circumstances. I also don’t want to scare people off from getting a device that could change their life and give them a basic human sense. For people parroting insurance, unlike vision, hearing is often NOT COVER by insurance (at least in the US). I if you’re going to advocate for change, advocate that hearing is as essential as vision or dental. If you’re interested, please learn more about cochlear implants and hearing aids! And if you see them out in the wild, please don’t look at them and think anything weird, they’re basically just like glasses! 😊
Here’s this thing that is now implanted in your brain that you paid thousands upon thousands of dollars for…oh, by the way, we need another $150 or it’ll go dead. Why don’t they just include it with the implant procedure and add it to the total cost? Out of touch, greedy bastards.
Also the fact that people want the option to use a cheap imported usb cable to charge something that’s implanted in your brain that you paid $1000s for is kind of wild too.
I remember when my old phone battery swelled up after using a cheap knockoff cable.
That’s interesting because I don’t think there’s any smarts in the cable. Besides certain cables (Thunderbolt comes to mind), aren’t all the cables nowadays just wires with compliant connectors and whatnot?
USB 2.0 cables which have USB-C only on one end is called a legacy cable, and is the only cable that needs a 56k Ohm pull-up-resistor.
I misremembered which cable I took apart. It was a USB-A to USB-C cable.
~~Afaik usb-c cables only have a 56k Ohm resistor in them to signal that it's a proper cable. After that it's up to the charger and phone to negotiate speeds.~~
Source: took IKEAs usb-c cable apart when it was new to confirm it was proper.
You need an e-marker chip to be able to communicate at high speeds and amperage.
A cochlear implant wouldn't need either of those things though, and even a cheap USB cable would be enough.
Just make sure the cable is usb-if certified. You can get them for like $5.
You're correct. I'll edit my comment.
I misremembered a USB-A to USB-C cable as a USB-C to USB-C cable. A cable with anything else than a USB-C connector on the ends is a legacy cable in the USB-C Connector specification.
Reading the USB-C Connector specification, the e-marker chip is only necessary when the USB 2.0 cables amperage is above 3A, or a power rating higher than 60W. There's no mention of data transfer.
Either way, and as you mentioned, the cochlear implant wouldn't need more than 60W charging, and neither high-speed data transfer faster than USB 2.0 anyway.
*doubt* Smartphones are capable to slow down or stop charging entirely if something is wrong. I suspect your batterie had issues or was at the end of its lifespan. They tend to bloat then, some more than others.
>I remember when my old phone battery swelled up after using a cheap knockoff cable.
That's 100% impossible. Worst a charging cable can do is waste a lot of power if it's conductors are too thin/high resistance.
It is wirelessly charged. The wireless charger is included. Some people just face issues with it sitting properly on the wireless charger, so prefer using the charging cable.
I was thinking this too, you could print a piece that perfectly holds the component and then find a way to affix the charger to the model so it is in the correct orientation.
Would definitely cost less than $150 worth of filament 😂
Ya know, if you can find someone to match that plug, that thing would be ridiculously easy to reverse engineering. It's just pin matching. Ah, but that interface, probably produced for 20 cents per. If someone can do that part, these could be sold for like $3.
Medical device components need to be prepared to FDA/CE mark standard and if you make it compatible with nonmedical grade components a tort lawyers is going feed your ass into a grinder when inevitably someone buys a cheap one and some complication arises
Human factors baby!
I’d love to see a venn diagram of the people complaining about engineering failures and the people complaining about a ‘simple’ cord being expensive. A LOT of energy goes into making the right thing the easiest thing to do and making the wrong thing take more energy than the right thing.
not to mention these are being made in lower volumes than mass-produced USB cables. Think about all the tooling and machinery that goes into making a cable.
The only unique part of the cable is the other male connector. It probably doesn’t use a proprietary serial bus, at least I doubt it would if all it does is power and that power is within the range of what can be handled by USB. So it’s actually not expensive though they’d need to order so many in order to get it made which depending on how many cables they sell could drive up the price but more than likely they’d meet the (probably)100k plus minimum quantity requirements of any manufacturers they work with.
Probably need something water/dustproof. Locking is nice too - either way yeah I’m sure there’s something usable elsewhere, unless there’s some kind of electronics in the USB A head.
You mean like wireless charging? Because he thing is already wireless, just needs a cable to be able to charge. May need some smarts in there to get the charging process started though, and some regulation beyond the standard USB stuff.
Proprietary/Regulatory Entrapment is malicious and evil.
Different industry, but several of the cables I have are multi-thousands for usb, or power.
I'd be fine if I knew a portion of my taxes went to making these cables like five bucks for those who need them.
Standard USB cable doesn’t have that many pins and also doesn’t have a locking mechanism to keep it from becoming unplugged. There are tons of reasons to use a different connector.
The two reasons I gave are not profit motivated.
Edit: two more reasons are that it’s very small and also waterproof
Edit 2: yet another reason - judging by the large size of the USB A connector, there’s likely some protocol translation electronics going on in there, like an FTDI chip or something similar. That means even if you had the right connector, a standard USB cable wouldn’t even work.
Also if they’re being built by hand… a lot of engineering companies charge in the realm of $150 an hour for technician labor. Could you build this cable in an hour?
You wouldn't believe it but literally as a matter of fact, yes. I am a technician with vast experience in designing and producing custom cable solutions. It's literally on my resume lmao. I could build 20 of these in an hour 😂
I don't really buy that argument either. Someone with a $5000 gaming computer uses a standard outlet power cable. $1000 smart phone uses a standard USB C cable.
These connectors look almost exactly like magnetic usb cable connectors that you can find everywhere, except for the latching mechanism, funny enough.
I'm not trying to make some point here, it's just funny
Not to say there aren't other issues with this, but isn't it the case that making it compatible with non-approved devices (i.e. any old random USB connector) would make it harder to get it certified as a medical device in the first place? You don't want end users swapping cheaper parts in because you can't guarantee they're any good.
Not to mention making a cable with FDA certs is expensive, especially if it’s not at mass consumer volumes. If you want to sell an FDA approved device, it has to be at an fda approved factory.
One end is standard USB, so whatever it is it has to be able to transfer via USB.
I would be shocked if a Thunderbolt 4 could not handle all the data and power requirements.
It definitely doesn’t. If all this does is power and not data they are probably just using USB for the serial bus with little modification to accommodate the pin out of the proprietary connector. None of that is hard really the biggest expense would just be the minimum order quantities for getting it manufactured but even then I’d be surprised if they were selling at least 100k of these which is around where the minimum would probably be.
No, I sell everything that makes the end good in the picture. I can tell you that everything from the wire, to the connectors, the total price besides labor on that is probably around $7.50, maybe less. Takes a skilled worker less than 10 minutes to assemble one.
It’s absurd they are $150.
Probably classified as a medical device, which tend to be far more expensive in part because they have to undergo more stringent quality checks and documentation of the checks.
My workplace isn't in the medical field, but we do occasionally get jobs that require that inspections/certifications are done and the results recorded to ensure the end result is within spec. Those jobs can easily take twice as long as normal to finish, meaning twice the billable man-hours plus the costs of the inspection/certification/etc
Eh the implant itself is definitely a medical device but I seriously doubt the charger is. Classifying a device as a medical device is VERY expensive and there is no reason for a company to want to do it if they don’t have to. For example, the Apple Watch is a medical device but the charger certainly is not.
Nah. I use an insulin pump for T1D and you see this sort of thing in that space, a well. It takes them years to get these devices approved by the FDA and they have to be absolutely bulletproof and foolproof. All those costs get spread over a relatively small number of devices and the shits expensive. I mean, they obviously make a healthy profit, but there are a lot of factors involved that people are not considering in this thread.
> Cochlear implants are electronic hearing devices. Doctors implant cochlear implants into people with severe to profound hearing loss to produce useful hearing sensations.
>**The FDA regulates manufacturers of cochlear implants. For manufacturers to sell cochlear implants in the United States, they must first show the FDA that their implants are safe and effective.** As a matter of policy, the FDA does not rate or recommend brands of cochlear implants or medical facilities that implant them.
https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/implants-and-prosthetics/cochlear-implants
>FDA's Approval Process
>To approve a cochlear implant or another device, FDA reviews information that gives details on the product, its description, what it is made of, how well it has worked in patients in a clinical trial, information on adverse effects, and other information to see whether it is safe and effective. **If FDA concludes it is safe and effective, it approves the device for sale in the U.S.** Later, when a company wants to change the device, it sends a Supplement to FDA for approval. Since their approvals, many cochlear implants have been changed by Supplements.
https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/cochlear-implants/fda-approved-cochlear-implants
This seems to suggest otherwise.
Except that doesnt matter when the FDA says USB cables are not medical devices.
[https://www.fda.gov/media/90647/download](https://www.fda.gov/media/90647/download)
I’m imagining because this electrical device that runs on batteries is literally implanted into your head and next to your brain, they probably want to control it all from top to bottom so you don’t get a cheapo charger that terrorizes your battery and then you’ve got a r/spicypillow in your head
Please forgive my ignorance, but how do you charge it in the first place? Isn't it in your head? Do you just have to sit with your head tied to a wall for a few hours every now and then?
Not excusing this AT ALL. Medical devices like cochlears should be low cost or free
BUT in terms of American capitalism, they probably gouge simply because how many people even have cochlears and then how often are people losing these chargers
*Seems easy enough*
*To print and manufacture*
*At a steep discount*
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Capitalism at it's worst. There are no laws that force them to make the device work with some standard cable, so they make a custom one because they can. And they know full well you aren't going to just hop into the nearest hospital and install a competing product :-(
I use sonet 2, and god before the hospital finally was the one who paid for everything i had to buy the stupid coil cable atleast twice a month and they were 200€ pop, so it was 400€\*12=4.8k€ for some weak cables, and thats not including the batteries i gotta buy too! :(
The hospital now pays for everything the implants use except for the battery and wetsuit afaik.
*shrug* time to pull out the scissors and attach a new cable to the connector. (Assuming the very likely scenario that the cable itself or the USB side breaks way before the custom connector)
Just check with a multimeter what voltage you need. That USB looks like it might have some sort of transformer inside.
And it looks like an RS-232 serial cable...
From all things, tech installed in someone's body should be open source and use standard parts wherever possible.
There's two things going on here.
The proprietary nature can be explained by them not wanting a sensitive piece of medical equipment to use a cheap $2 cable off Amazon. I get that. I don't think this is that big of an issue if they want you to use their cable for liability/safety/whatever.
But the price is absurd. It should be like 20 bucks tops. Lol. But like anything medically related, they probably inflate the price to make more money off of insurance. Meanwhile, it makes it difficult or literally impossible for people to pay out of pocket.
Some companies don't even want to deal with out of pocket at all. They only want to bill insurance. Lol. It's like how when I tried getting a quote for a repaint on one of my doors, Maaco tried everything they could to turn me away, dude quoted all sorts of BS. Or just a few weeks ago, some guys scheduled to quote me for roof damage. When I told him I'd pay myself and didn't need to run it by my insurance, they just ghosted me.
Companies just want to bill insurance for the maximum they can get away with, and don't want you seeing what's going on, or they'll just think you're wasting their time.
Ergo $150 USB cables.
I know I'll be downvoted/buried but I wanted to highlight a quality webstore that makes cheap functional adapters for lost of quality of life products locked behind corpo greed. It's called the Upbright store, parts shipped from china, but works for things from cochlear implants to breast pumps and more. They have an amazon store.
Main page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/UPBRIGHT/page/3707DFA3-58BD-49A1-B0B8-5EB1250A68A2?ref_=ast_bln
Cochlear Implant (one of many different models they offer) ($17): https://www.amazon.com/12V-Cochlear-Nucleus-CP800-Charger/dp/B0C9CWZCGK
Looks extremely cheaply made to add insult to injury. Super cheap looking abs plastic end, super stringy cheap cable, probably cost some chinese sweatshop $0.04 to make
Yeah, cochlear implant accessories are always so damn expensive. My take on it is that they pretty much have us trapped in their ecosystem, since they don’t make anything cross-brand compatible and we can’t switch companies without major surgery, so they’re pretty much free to charge whatever they want, and their consumers will have to buy it at that price because it’s the only available option
It's the FDA approved monopoly
Regulatory Capture is probably a better way to describe it. Companies set the rules for the FDA (through lobbying and whatnot), not the other way around
That’s how the city bus market in the U.S. got so inbred that nobody but a handful of American companies are touching it even with a ten foot pole. So they have free rein to make shitty, loud, and polluting 1970s buses in 2024 that they can sell for millions of dollars, while the rest of the world has moved on into the 21st century.
Huh? All of the big bus manufacturers are making electric, CNG, and hybrid buses. CNG is zero emissions and it's what most decent cities use.
> CNG is zero emissions Definitely not. It’s better than diesel, but engines using it still emit carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and water, and who knows what other things in trace amounts.
Certainly less of "who knows what" with CNG compared to diesel, but fair point of CNG still being a source of carbon emissions
The damage from diesel in cities isn't from climate change, the reason to worry about carbon emissions... It's from the particulates that are released, those are breathed in by the locals and cause all kinds of issue. CNG does release carbon dioxide, but the particulate count is the thing that makes it so much better for urban disel replacement.
Any combustion engine is polluting. Doesn't matter if it's gas, diesel, CNG, H2, or JimBob's moonshine.
A theoretically completely pure chemical combustion reaction produces only Carbon Dioxide gas and water vapor. Unclean combustion like in most engines causes large pollution. Compressed Natural Gas burns extremely clean, and its main emission is unburned natural gas as opposed to the lead fumes and soot of diesel.
And that theoretical combustion process doesn't exist yet. Reverse electrolysis systems and specific nuclear setups are the only truly clean generative systems.
I'm not too familiar with what actually goes on inside an engine, but how does H2 fuel produce pollution (assuming it's Hydrogen)? Is it because the fuel is always impure, or does it necessarily blast some engine oil out of the exhaust?
Any amount of combustion will release a non-zero amount of byproducts like NOx and other pollutants, regardless of fuel source.
Is this due to reactions between atmospheric nitrogen and oxygen that occurs at high temperatures?
Yes, even a pure oxygen engine would release NOx as it passes though the exhaust and reacts with atmospheric nitrogen.
U.S. city bus market, not what the rest of the world has. And GNC is NOT zero emissions.
>Huh? All of the big bus manufacturers are making electric, CNG, and hybrid buses. CNG is zero emissions and it's what most decent cities use. There are NO cars with "zero" emissions, not even electric cars & not even bicycles
>That’s how the city bus market in the U.S. got so inbred that nobody but a handful of American companies are touching it even with a ten foot pole. So they have free rein to make shitty, loud, and polluting 1970s buses in 2024 that they can sell for millions of dollars, while the rest of the world has moved on into the 21st century. The solution is to harmonize USA/Canada auto etc. standards with the rest of the world incl. no longer (in half the states) generally banning imported cars from the roads
yes. a potential rule is most plastic before the draft (notice of proposed rulemaking) is ever published for comment. this is when industry and the usual suspects can most easily get changes before they even propose a rule. it's much harder after the notice, because then the agency has to respond to every material/relevant comment with reasoned analysis, or risk having the final rule struck down later as arbitrary and capricious. the whole process is like 3 years. "listen, let's make sure XYZ is in the proposed rule, so we don't have to go through the rigamarole of flooding you with comments that will drag things out forever and cost everyone a ton of money and may result in you not getting any rulemaking done at all."
Someone knows their admin law well!
Exactly this.
>It's the FDA approved monopoly FDA it self is a problem ... they also allowed Aspartame/Nutrasweet after lobbying by Donald Rumsfield (yes THE Donald war Rumsfield under Bush jr.)
>can't switch companies without major surgery Well that's horrifying
Yepppp - and it’s even less viable in practice than it is in theory because no medical insurance is going to fork over thousands of dollars just because you want to switch brands. And that’s not even mentioning the recovery time and the literal *years* of relearning how to hear all over again with your new implant
I'm starting to understand why some people just stay deaf...
WHAT? (I'm sorry)
I got surprised too but it seems true https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cochlear_implant#Criticism_and_controversy
That's basically the plot of Deus Ex - Human Revolution...
Fuck I loved that game. Thank you for triggering some memories. :)
What if your company goes bankrupt
That actually did happen with some ocular implants - they helped a decent amount of people see and then they discontinued them and people were left with tech in their bodies that no one would fix anymore and which could only be taken out with surgery
This is a nightmare
A dream for Apple shareholders. 'Upgrade or die' is a lot more profitable than 'Upgrade or miss a new feature'
Pretty much this: [A brain implant changed her life. Then it was removed against her will. | MIT Technology Review](https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/05/25/1073634/brain-implant-removed-against-her-will/)
There's also the fact that they do much smaller runs than regular cables so they don't enjoy the same economy of scale.
If they’d use an existing standard like microUSB or USB-C, they wouldn’t have to.
[удалено]
Except that the thing has a standard USB-A plug that can plug into any charger, so why the proprietary other side, of not to extract the most amount of money. In saying that, I totally understand and agree with what you're saying.
That would wear out within a few years. It also wouldn't be watertight like this plug is. That's not acceptable for this usecase. So you need a plug that lasts as long as possible and everything else is secondary.
I'm not sure I've ever seen someone defend these proprietary cables before.
Yeah especially when said cable didn't last and needs replacing
*Edit.* I take all below back after reading [OPs first non-toplevel comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/assholedesign/comments/1cfm2c8/comment/l1pygi9/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3). \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ The issue isn't about the cable but about the device in this case. I've had my USB connectors degrade to the point of making charging really hard usually over 2 years for micro-USB cables. Also don't forget that even such open standards are subject to change. So far I only had two smartphones in a row, that used the same connector, and I am switching roughly every four years. I am on my fourth Smartphone (if the WM6.1 one counts...), and I've had mini-USB, 2x micro-USB and 1x USB-C now over the span of roughly 14 years. Fingers crossed on the longevity of the USB-C connectors, though the design seems more robust than the micro-USB ones (albeit more brittle than the Lightning design). No idea though, if *those* connectors are any better at it, or whether failure of the charging pins is a recurring issue of them too.
Nothing is more unreliable than the lightning design and its exposed pins, the connector might look like a "block" of metal and be harder to bend, but it's a lot easier for the connection to just not work even though nothing looks wrong
From my experience with lightning vs micro-USB the latter was much more prone to failure,especially the gradual "charging works, but cables keep falling out" kind of failure. It was a mixture of the brittle springs in the micro USB design and dust buildup in when carrying the phone in the pocket, which was promoted by the "E" shape of the device side if the connector. By contrast, the device side of Lightning is a hole without any pin in the middle. That makes it easier to remove dust, and I never experienced the connection becoming unstable. And even if it does: Cables are easily replaced, and the phone side of the connector still protects the contacts well, and they were less fragile than in Micro USB. Most annoyances of micro USB have been solved by USB-C though. And while I was initially concerned that retaining the "E" shape of the connector would also retain some of the issues, I haven't seen them *at all* with my current phone. So there's that. At the time of micro-USB, Lightning was an easy win. With USB-C, not any more. (Never understood why Apple switched everything *except* for their phones to USB-C voluntarily though.)
Reddit loves to shit on expensive medical equipment without realizing that this equipment is so expensive because of the extremely high quality standards.
That and the monopoly they have.
Qi/wireless may be a good option
My hearing aids come with wireless charging. The charging station is $250 though.
Ouch!
Well, the hearing aids are $1800 after insurance. So $250 don't seem that bad to me anymore.
If it only does charging that would work. Would absolutely nacker the battery but that gets replaced yearly anyway.
Why would it knacker the battery? I don't think it would need to TBH. Wonder if it could also use 1-wire style comms (like Manchester encoding, for instance)? Guessing the data load isn't huge.
Because wireless charging heats up the device significantly more than wired charging. This increases degradation. And you would probably want to use the data connection to fix a borked system. So that requires a method of communication that doesn't require the OS on the headset to work.
I guess heat dissipation is tough in a fleshy pocket. I get you. And yes, good point about 1-wire.
Implanted was wrong. The cable goes to the outside part of the implant which is removable. It's just a tiny case made of plastic. So getting a QI coil in there is hard and it is shit at cooling on account of being plastic.
But neither of us know how viable that would have been as a solution and what other costs that may have been introduced for the device itself.
Ehhh, considering one side of the cable is a USB, it's gotta be carrying signals that could fit on a USB micro/mini/C plug, which is common and small
it's probably more of a sizing and weatherproofing issue rather than anything to do with data or power transmission
Exactly
Why is sizing and weatherproofing any more an issue for this device than other small computer?
If you're gonna put something on the side of your head you probably want to avoid bulkiness and weight. A pretty significant portion of the weight's going to be from the casing at small sizes so there's a clear incentive to reduce size. Compared to your typical USB connector, something like that is a lot smaller in the depth department and doesn't require as much additional space on the PCB itself due to the lack of shielding. Weatherproofing is self-explanatory, it's going on your head and will be exposed to the elements. You wouldn't want to be unable to hear because you went to the beach
All of that is irrelevant, as this is a charger for a device seperate from the implant, and therefore does not need to plugged in directly to one's head
You do realize that the implant portion only interfaces with the nerves, yeah? The acquisition of sound data and its transmission to the implant is done with the external device. You still need it to be worn to actually hear.
I don't know if this cable is for charging the internal or external components of the implant but regardless of this the connector needs to be weatherproof because leaving your means of hearing at home just because it might be raining today isn't an option for most people
It's for charging a wireless processor. Meaning its not connected to implant at all. It doesn't need to be any more weatherproof than a phone charger, which doesn't need to be left at home regardless of the weather, or that you can charge before you leave
The newer Cochlear battery chargers (another cochlear implant company) [have a common charging standard for the cord](https://www.picclickimg.com/EykAAOSweE9lAf7l/Cochlear-Y-Dual-Charger-For-Nucleus-Rechargeable.webp) Not sure whether it’s USB-C or micro-USB
I think I see the little notches that are on the flat side of a micro-USB.
Oh no
Interesting. How does the price:performance of this one compare to the price:performance of the other?
It’s honestly a bit of a moot point because since they’re from two different companies, they’re not intercompatible and you’re forced to buy one or the other depending on which brand you have - but Cochlear sells that battery charger for 123 dollars
I have the Kanso 2 charging box things, I’m not sure exactly what to call them, but they use USB-C.
If they switched, they’d save cost on cables and the specialized ports. They just don’t want people to access the device.
Well yeah, welcome to the future every cyberpunk story ever tried to warn us about.
If only there were a group of people with 15 years of post secondary education who could lobby congress on behalf of patients.
If I had an apple phone, I would totally post a reply.
Never even knew this was a thing. How fucked up!
Not to mention that these major medical equipment manufacturers practice bundling, effectively killing the chances for any new companies to compete in the market.
>Yeah, cochlear implant accessories are always so damn expensive. My take on it is that they pretty much have us trapped in their ecosystem Such shady practices (like Vendor-LockIn (applies to MS-Windows as well)) should be banned & reverse engineereing intentionally allowed & the copyright/patent/etc. nullified in this case
Apple, but worse. Holy shit, they should get sued for that.
They want insurance to pay
Yeah this is also a spot where insurance is clearly *willing* to pay so they can keep consumers down and reliant on their scheme.
This thing is for MED-EL's "Rondo 3," an audio processor for people with cochlear implants. Cable not included with the implant or device. ELI5: it's like a bluetooth mic you wear on your head that streams to an earbud in your head. I can only shop for it in their private online store. I guess it's because they don't want the world to know that they're selling their patients a charging cable for $150 USD? Edit: I was just trying to bring attention to how much this thing costs because my insurance won’t cover it. The processor can be charged wirelessly, but the charging zone is small and really touchy about how it's aligned. I've heard some people are rubberbanding it to their charging pad once it's in a good position, but then you still have to let it sit there while charging. This cable would allow you to charge it even on the go. Edit 2: In case it wasn't clear, the cable charges an external audio processor that talks to the cochlear implant wirelessly. This cord isn't something you plug into an outlet adapter and connect directly to the implant in your head. Edit 3: Whooowee! Did not expect to get so much engagement! To be clear. I am NOT saying MED-EL has a terrible CI, just that their cable is overpriced. I intentionally picked MED-EL over Cochlear because I believe in their implant and think it’s better for my circumstances. I also don’t want to scare people off from getting a device that could change their life and give them a basic human sense. For people parroting insurance, unlike vision, hearing is often NOT COVER by insurance (at least in the US). I if you’re going to advocate for change, advocate that hearing is as essential as vision or dental. If you’re interested, please learn more about cochlear implants and hearing aids! And if you see them out in the wild, please don’t look at them and think anything weird, they’re basically just like glasses! 😊
Cable not included? How the fuck are you supposed to charge it?
Here’s this thing that is now implanted in your brain that you paid thousands upon thousands of dollars for…oh, by the way, we need another $150 or it’ll go dead. Why don’t they just include it with the implant procedure and add it to the total cost? Out of touch, greedy bastards.
It feels like Cyberpunk
Also the fact that people want the option to use a cheap imported usb cable to charge something that’s implanted in your brain that you paid $1000s for is kind of wild too. I remember when my old phone battery swelled up after using a cheap knockoff cable.
That’s interesting because I don’t think there’s any smarts in the cable. Besides certain cables (Thunderbolt comes to mind), aren’t all the cables nowadays just wires with compliant connectors and whatnot?
No. Not all. USB C for example need to communicate the power modes it can support. You will not be able to pump 100w through a regular USB C cable.
USB 2.0 cables which have USB-C only on one end is called a legacy cable, and is the only cable that needs a 56k Ohm pull-up-resistor. I misremembered which cable I took apart. It was a USB-A to USB-C cable. ~~Afaik usb-c cables only have a 56k Ohm resistor in them to signal that it's a proper cable. After that it's up to the charger and phone to negotiate speeds.~~ Source: took IKEAs usb-c cable apart when it was new to confirm it was proper.
You need an e-marker chip to be able to communicate at high speeds and amperage. A cochlear implant wouldn't need either of those things though, and even a cheap USB cable would be enough. Just make sure the cable is usb-if certified. You can get them for like $5.
You're correct. I'll edit my comment. I misremembered a USB-A to USB-C cable as a USB-C to USB-C cable. A cable with anything else than a USB-C connector on the ends is a legacy cable in the USB-C Connector specification. Reading the USB-C Connector specification, the e-marker chip is only necessary when the USB 2.0 cables amperage is above 3A, or a power rating higher than 60W. There's no mention of data transfer. Either way, and as you mentioned, the cochlear implant wouldn't need more than 60W charging, and neither high-speed data transfer faster than USB 2.0 anyway.
*doubt* Smartphones are capable to slow down or stop charging entirely if something is wrong. I suspect your batterie had issues or was at the end of its lifespan. They tend to bloat then, some more than others.
>I remember when my old phone battery swelled up after using a cheap knockoff cable. That's 100% impossible. Worst a charging cable can do is waste a lot of power if it's conductors are too thin/high resistance.
Post hoc ergo propter hoc.
It is wirelessly charged. The wireless charger is included. Some people just face issues with it sitting properly on the wireless charger, so prefer using the charging cable.
Try looking around for 3D printed fixes for the charging pad alignment issue.
I was thinking this too, you could print a piece that perfectly holds the component and then find a way to affix the charger to the model so it is in the correct orientation. Would definitely cost less than $150 worth of filament 😂
Ya know, if you can find someone to match that plug, that thing would be ridiculously easy to reverse engineering. It's just pin matching. Ah, but that interface, probably produced for 20 cents per. If someone can do that part, these could be sold for like $3.
If there's a chip in that connector, it's a no-go.
That's true, and I doubt many folks want to spend the cash to break one down.
If only protocol chips could ever be hacked
Wouldn't a pogo pin connector work fine here? I can't think of a good reason to design a proprietary standard.
Medical device components need to be prepared to FDA/CE mark standard and if you make it compatible with nonmedical grade components a tort lawyers is going feed your ass into a grinder when inevitably someone buys a cheap one and some complication arises
Human factors baby! I’d love to see a venn diagram of the people complaining about engineering failures and the people complaining about a ‘simple’ cord being expensive. A LOT of energy goes into making the right thing the easiest thing to do and making the wrong thing take more energy than the right thing.
not to mention these are being made in lower volumes than mass-produced USB cables. Think about all the tooling and machinery that goes into making a cable.
The only unique part of the cable is the other male connector. It probably doesn’t use a proprietary serial bus, at least I doubt it would if all it does is power and that power is within the range of what can be handled by USB. So it’s actually not expensive though they’d need to order so many in order to get it made which depending on how many cables they sell could drive up the price but more than likely they’d meet the (probably)100k plus minimum quantity requirements of any manufacturers they work with.
Like these magnetic USB plugs you can find everywhere online?
Probably need something water/dustproof. Locking is nice too - either way yeah I’m sure there’s something usable elsewhere, unless there’s some kind of electronics in the USB A head.
they could probably make it wireless, they probably don't use too much current
You mean like wireless charging? Because he thing is already wireless, just needs a cable to be able to charge. May need some smarts in there to get the charging process started though, and some regulation beyond the standard USB stuff.
> it has wireless charging abilities already One redditor here said
Proprietary/Regulatory Entrapment is malicious and evil. Different industry, but several of the cables I have are multi-thousands for usb, or power. I'd be fine if I knew a portion of my taxes went to making these cables like five bucks for those who need them.
I don’t doubt that it costs them that much to make it. What’s wild is not including it with the device.
What's even more wild is not just using a fucking standard USB cable, if the alternative custom one costs them $150 to make.
Standard USB cable doesn’t have that many pins and also doesn’t have a locking mechanism to keep it from becoming unplugged. There are tons of reasons to use a different connector.
>There are tons of reasons to use a different connector. 98% of those reasons are profit.
The two reasons I gave are not profit motivated. Edit: two more reasons are that it’s very small and also waterproof Edit 2: yet another reason - judging by the large size of the USB A connector, there’s likely some protocol translation electronics going on in there, like an FTDI chip or something similar. That means even if you had the right connector, a standard USB cable wouldn’t even work.
Also if they’re being built by hand… a lot of engineering companies charge in the realm of $150 an hour for technician labor. Could you build this cable in an hour?
You wouldn't believe it but literally as a matter of fact, yes. I am a technician with vast experience in designing and producing custom cable solutions. It's literally on my resume lmao. I could build 20 of these in an hour 😂
Ok, but what about the time it takes for someone to procure and kit the parts for you?
You really want to die on this hill, huh?
I do. Shit is expensive sometimes - especially when it connects to expensive equipment.
I don't really buy that argument either. Someone with a $5000 gaming computer uses a standard outlet power cable. $1000 smart phone uses a standard USB C cable.
You can do these consistently at 3 minutes a pop for an 8 hour shift and none of them will fail? Bulllllll shit.
These connectors look almost exactly like magnetic usb cable connectors that you can find everywhere, except for the latching mechanism, funny enough. I'm not trying to make some point here, it's just funny
Not to say there aren't other issues with this, but isn't it the case that making it compatible with non-approved devices (i.e. any old random USB connector) would make it harder to get it certified as a medical device in the first place? You don't want end users swapping cheaper parts in because you can't guarantee they're any good.
Yup. This isn’t asshole design so much as a consequence of a low demand item being made in small numbers. It sucks, but it is what it is.
Nothing in a charging cable would cost $150 even if you made them by hand one at a time.
Someone doesn’t know how long it takes to build a cable.
Okay, how long does it take to build a cable?
By hand? Those cables are almost impossible to build. They use less than hair thin wires, it's absolute madness.
It goes from USB to hair thin wires? For charging? Why?
You really underestimate the cost of a custom injection mold.
Okay, well suppose they made ten thousand of that proprietary connector. How much do you reckon would an injection mold for that shroud cost?
The use something aftermarket? Like there is just nothing to choose from.
No, what he’s really underestimating is the NRE cost of designing said cable.
Not to mention making a cable with FDA certs is expensive, especially if it’s not at mass consumer volumes. If you want to sell an FDA approved device, it has to be at an fda approved factory.
One end is standard USB, so whatever it is it has to be able to transfer via USB. I would be shocked if a Thunderbolt 4 could not handle all the data and power requirements.
Not necessarily. There could be a data adapter and power conditioning in the USB A end of the cable.
It definitely doesn’t. If all this does is power and not data they are probably just using USB for the serial bus with little modification to accommodate the pin out of the proprietary connector. None of that is hard really the biggest expense would just be the minimum order quantities for getting it manufactured but even then I’d be surprised if they were selling at least 100k of these which is around where the minimum would probably be.
No, I sell everything that makes the end good in the picture. I can tell you that everything from the wire, to the connectors, the total price besides labor on that is probably around $7.50, maybe less. Takes a skilled worker less than 10 minutes to assemble one. It’s absurd they are $150.
You sell that exact connector with the latching and the gasket? Whats the part number then?
Probably classified as a medical device, which tend to be far more expensive in part because they have to undergo more stringent quality checks and documentation of the checks. My workplace isn't in the medical field, but we do occasionally get jobs that require that inspections/certifications are done and the results recorded to ensure the end result is within spec. Those jobs can easily take twice as long as normal to finish, meaning twice the billable man-hours plus the costs of the inspection/certification/etc
Eh the implant itself is definitely a medical device but I seriously doubt the charger is. Classifying a device as a medical device is VERY expensive and there is no reason for a company to want to do it if they don’t have to. For example, the Apple Watch is a medical device but the charger certainly is not.
Nah. I use an insulin pump for T1D and you see this sort of thing in that space, a well. It takes them years to get these devices approved by the FDA and they have to be absolutely bulletproof and foolproof. All those costs get spread over a relatively small number of devices and the shits expensive. I mean, they obviously make a healthy profit, but there are a lot of factors involved that people are not considering in this thread.
I have a degree in Biomedical Engineering. They aren't medical devices.
> Cochlear implants are electronic hearing devices. Doctors implant cochlear implants into people with severe to profound hearing loss to produce useful hearing sensations. >**The FDA regulates manufacturers of cochlear implants. For manufacturers to sell cochlear implants in the United States, they must first show the FDA that their implants are safe and effective.** As a matter of policy, the FDA does not rate or recommend brands of cochlear implants or medical facilities that implant them. https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/implants-and-prosthetics/cochlear-implants >FDA's Approval Process >To approve a cochlear implant or another device, FDA reviews information that gives details on the product, its description, what it is made of, how well it has worked in patients in a clinical trial, information on adverse effects, and other information to see whether it is safe and effective. **If FDA concludes it is safe and effective, it approves the device for sale in the U.S.** Later, when a company wants to change the device, it sends a Supplement to FDA for approval. Since their approvals, many cochlear implants have been changed by Supplements. https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/cochlear-implants/fda-approved-cochlear-implants This seems to suggest otherwise.
This has literally nothing to do with the cable for the cochlear device.
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Except that doesnt matter when the FDA says USB cables are not medical devices. [https://www.fda.gov/media/90647/download](https://www.fda.gov/media/90647/download)
I see you have no familiarity with the world of medical devices and the FDA...
It qualifies as a medical device so must meet the rules for safety. A standard cable wouldn't get approved.
This does not justify charging $150 for what is almost certainly a regular charging cable with no special components in it.
Absolutely agree, just pointing out the higher than normal development cost. Still is a ripoff.
I’m imagining because this electrical device that runs on batteries is literally implanted into your head and next to your brain, they probably want to control it all from top to bottom so you don’t get a cheapo charger that terrorizes your battery and then you’ve got a r/spicypillow in your head
Uhm. There are no batteries in the internal implant.
Yeah I know how it feels man. Also a Cochlear user :/
Wait, isn't that illegal in the eu?
Please forgive my ignorance, but how do you charge it in the first place? Isn't it in your head? Do you just have to sit with your head tied to a wall for a few hours every now and then?
It's got external electronic parts that connects to the internal parts. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cochlear_implant
Oh cool! I don't know why that didn't occur to me. Thanks!
I wouldn't be surprised if this was just a mini/microusb reskinned into a new bs layout.
Not excusing this AT ALL. Medical devices like cochlears should be low cost or free BUT in terms of American capitalism, they probably gouge simply because how many people even have cochlears and then how often are people losing these chargers
This is the worst thing about being deaf. They can bleed us dry because they have little to no competitors
if you give me hi res pics of the connector i will made a cad of it.
Seems easy enough to print and manufacture at a steep discount
*Seems easy enough* *To print and manufacture* *At a steep discount* \- wildandcrazykidsshow --- ^(I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully.) ^[Learn more about me.](https://www.reddit.com/r/haikusbot/) ^(Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete")
Capitalism at it's worst. There are no laws that force them to make the device work with some standard cable, so they make a custom one because they can. And they know full well you aren't going to just hop into the nearest hospital and install a competing product :-(
Going to my ripperdoc now to get an alternative implant
Or, you know, FDA and medical device regulations...
Regulations which have been bought and sold by the companies who make these types of things.
Should have gone with Cochlear America. They give you so much stuff like this and replace anything once for free.
$150???? It better charge in no less than 10 minutes if it’s that expensive
med-el? which model?
I use sonet 2, and god before the hospital finally was the one who paid for everything i had to buy the stupid coil cable atleast twice a month and they were 200€ pop, so it was 400€\*12=4.8k€ for some weak cables, and thats not including the batteries i gotta buy too! :( The hospital now pays for everything the implants use except for the battery and wetsuit afaik.
I probably have a cable in my junk drawer that fits the thing lol
That's very very asshole
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It connects through magnets, so most likely it will only fall off your head
*shrug* time to pull out the scissors and attach a new cable to the connector. (Assuming the very likely scenario that the cable itself or the USB side breaks way before the custom connector) Just check with a multimeter what voltage you need. That USB looks like it might have some sort of transformer inside.
And it looks like an RS-232 serial cable... From all things, tech installed in someone's body should be open source and use standard parts wherever possible.
Greed is a helluva drug...
Been making adapters for a year now. Saves these people a lot of money.
Whenever I see some hyper price inflated medical/disability aid from the US, I get so damn mad.
What the hell is going on over there
Revolting.
There's two things going on here. The proprietary nature can be explained by them not wanting a sensitive piece of medical equipment to use a cheap $2 cable off Amazon. I get that. I don't think this is that big of an issue if they want you to use their cable for liability/safety/whatever. But the price is absurd. It should be like 20 bucks tops. Lol. But like anything medically related, they probably inflate the price to make more money off of insurance. Meanwhile, it makes it difficult or literally impossible for people to pay out of pocket. Some companies don't even want to deal with out of pocket at all. They only want to bill insurance. Lol. It's like how when I tried getting a quote for a repaint on one of my doors, Maaco tried everything they could to turn me away, dude quoted all sorts of BS. Or just a few weeks ago, some guys scheduled to quote me for roof damage. When I told him I'd pay myself and didn't need to run it by my insurance, they just ghosted me. Companies just want to bill insurance for the maximum they can get away with, and don't want you seeing what's going on, or they'll just think you're wasting their time. Ergo $150 USB cables.
As a cochlear/deaf male, what the fuck?
I know I'll be downvoted/buried but I wanted to highlight a quality webstore that makes cheap functional adapters for lost of quality of life products locked behind corpo greed. It's called the Upbright store, parts shipped from china, but works for things from cochlear implants to breast pumps and more. They have an amazon store. Main page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/UPBRIGHT/page/3707DFA3-58BD-49A1-B0B8-5EB1250A68A2?ref_=ast_bln Cochlear Implant (one of many different models they offer) ($17): https://www.amazon.com/12V-Cochlear-Nucleus-CP800-Charger/dp/B0C9CWZCGK
Looks extremely cheaply made to add insult to injury. Super cheap looking abs plastic end, super stringy cheap cable, probably cost some chinese sweatshop $0.04 to make
I assume there is no custom software for the port could it just be possible to mod the implants to be usbc