A newly-developed low-power chip that will be shown off later this week could help people with cochlear implants ditch the hardware they currently have to affix to the outside of their ear, further easing use of the hearing-restoring devices.

Current cochlear implants use small batteries, similar to the ones used in watches, that must be replaced or recharged periodically. The new chip works with a battery that recharges wirelessly in two minutes, which gives it enough juice to last for eight hours.

“The idea with this design is that you could use a phone, with an adapter, to charge the cochlear implant, so you don’t have to be plugged in,” MIT electrical engineering professor Anantha Chandrakasan said. “Or you could imagine a smart pillow, so you charge overnight, and the next day, it just functions.”

The research team, which is composed of scientists from the MIT Microsystems Technology Laboratory, Harvard Medical…