It's a cosy morning. The wind gently blows whooshing through an opening of the window. The rain taps on the glass. Abruptly, an alarm goes off then an arm reaches out from the blanket. The hand tapping on the side table, searching for the source of the sound. It grabs the phone inside the blanket, the sounds stop.
Approximately ten minutes later, it rings again but only for a moment. Indra peers out of the blanket, hoisting his body upwards and sits on the side of the bed. He rubs his eyes, stretch and yawns.
Indra starts his day contemplating if he should go to work but today was different, with the progress he made yesterday, he is excited to go. Afterwards, he would put on the coffee maker and get ready. He would put his coffee in a flask to drink on the way.
Today he must take a taxi to work since his car is still at the workshop. On the way, he is fixated on work. Indra is considering the possibilities of progress with his research. His is developing the next generation of cochlear implants.
Cochlear Implant in the present is sizeable and noticeable. It have both external and internal components which makes the wearer self-conscious and attaches a stigma onto them. Indra is trying to incorporate the external components into the internal components of it which solves both problems and makes the wearer felt normal.
The Medical Research building comes into view. Indra readies himself for work, pays the driver and get out of the car. He makes his way through the building and to his department. Along the way, he greets the security guards and colleagues. He enters office and read up on yesterday's report on his table. At 10.00 a.m. he makes his way to the Research and Development workshop where he begins working on his research.
His assistant greets him
"Morning boss. I'm almost done with the battery data. I'll show it you later."
Indra nods, he went around the workshop checking up on each assistant. He asked them about the progress and ideas. All his assistant doesn't mind him breathing over their shoulder, he is open to new ideas and if things doesn't work, he proposes solutions or try to discuss with them a solution.
"Mr. Indra, we're ready for you in the presentation room." One of his assistants informs him.
He acknowledges message and hurries to the room.
Indra enters the presentation room, all the senior researchers collaborating with him assembled there. He sits and says "Let us begin our monthly review of the Totally Implantable Cochlear Implant"
His senior assistant presents the research. The meeting is to review the data and evidence so that their research grant will not be taken away, but it is also a fantastic opportunity for his peers to share ideas and improvement on the research. This monthly meeting was a fruitful one because they have made major progress.
The one component that was a hindrance to them was the battery. They were waiting for battery technology to catch up with what they are aiming to do.
For a Totally Implantable Cochlear Implant to work, it must have a small and rechargeable battery and that was almost achievable with traditional battery, but it provides a huge risk to the wearer. With the advent of new battery technologies, they are now able to shrink it into a size of a coin whilst having a high capacity. It would mean a cochlear implant that are discreet and long lasting.
The meeting ended with them agreeing to a possible application stage where they could test it on real people. Indra seems eager but he must be cautious and develop it further until he feels safe to test in on real humans.
He goes back to his office and the battery data that his assistant had sent over is on his desk. He reviews the data. They have evaluated different kinds of batteries and their feasibility. He reads the report thoroughly, flipping through each page digesting each information.
He comes across an interesting data, a battery technology that can last longer than traditional ones and it's much safer, solid-state batteries. It is also small only about the size of a coin, which would be perfect for an implant. He highlighted the section and rushes to the workshop.
"Where's the solid-state battery?" He asked the room.
One of the assistant points to it. He goes to examines it. He grabs it and goes to the surgery department. There he meets Dr. Erka, head of surgery. Unfortunately, she's in the middle of consultation and he seems to have interrupted her.
She looks to him
"Hello Indra, Miss Nuri..Indra and Indra....Nuri." she speaks.
She gets up and walks to him.
"What is it?" She talks in a soft voice not to let her patient overhears her.
"Oh, I want to discuss with you about the TICI (Totally Implantable Cochlear Implant). I may have found something, and I would like for us to discuss it over lunch." Indra states
"Lunch at 12.30, the cafeteria." Erka answers.
"Great. Meet you there." He responds and walks out of the room, raising his hand as a gesture of apology to the patients.
It's lunchtime and Indra walks into the cafeteria, he scans for Dr. Erka, she's nowhere. He finds an empty table, sits, and puts a battery on the table. He watches the battery, ponders on the possibilities.
Dr. Erka place her food tray onto the table and slides into the cafeteria seat.
"What's up?" she asks
"Alright, so, the only thing that's been hindering my research is that I couldn't found a suitable battery to be implanted. I may have found an answer with this." He states while showing the battery at her.
"What's that" she asks.
"It's a solid-state battery. I can last twice as long than normal ones and it's safer." He states.
Dr. Erka pause for a moment, she chews while wiggling the spoon, digesting both the food and info. "Give me your proposal schematics and I'll discuss it to my surgery team."
"It will be on your desk by the end of this week." Indra remarks enthusiastically.
Indra goes to the food counter and picks out his food. He joins Dr. Erka for lunch. It was a quite lunch, the only talking that they did was at the beginning. They eat in silence and adjourn carrying on with their day.
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General FictionA musician gone deaf because of an ear infection. Lost all hope in life. He decided to end it, but a fateful encounter with someone stops him. That someone is a researcher to give deaf people hearing. Will Luthfe recover his hearing? Is it a sign or...
