Neuralink aims to restore hearing for deaf individuals by directly stimulating the auditory cortex, according to company co-founder Elon Musk.
Musk revealed the plans in a social media post in early April 2026, tying the hearing restoration effort to its Blindsight implant, which is designed to transmit visual information to the visual cortex. The shift reflects Neuralink’s scaling operations and the expansion of its clinical trials.
Previously, Musk indicated that the brain chip could assist both deaf individuals and those born without hearing by sending signals directly to the auditory processing center, bypassing the ear entirely. This approach parallels the mechanism of the Blindsight implant.
I am confident that Neuralink will restore hearing one day, just as we will restore vision with our Blindsight implant
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 4, 2026
The Blindsight device received FDA breakthrough designation in September 2024, and Neuralink plans to hold its first human trials for the device in 2026, pending regulatory approval. Musk has cautioned that initial visual quality will be low-resolution, akin to “Atari graphics,” but could eventually exceed natural sight capabilities.
As of January 2026, Neuralink reported 21 participants in its global trials, an increase from 12 in September 2025. The first recipient, Noland Arbaugh, who is quadriplegic, received the implant in January 2024 and has utilized it to play video games and browse the web, controlling a cursor with his thoughts. The company noted zero serious adverse device events across its trials.
On New Year’s Eve 2025, Musk announced plans for “high-volume production” of Neuralink’s devices in 2026, along with a streamlined surgical procedure that would reduce thread insertion times to 1.5 seconds. In June 2025, Neuralink raised $650 million in a Series E funding round, valuing the company at approximately $9 billion.
In early 2026, Neuralink also ventured into speech restoration. A patient named Kenneth received an implant designed to decode imagined speech and vocalize it. This device also earned FDA breakthrough designation in 2025. Neuralink is expanding its trials to cover movement, speech, vision, and hearing, positioning itself as a platform for neurological restoration, although each new application presents its own technical and regulatory challenges.
