Cochlear Ltd., maker of the world’s best-selling hearing implant, posted a 19 percent gain in full- year profit on demand for its newest product. Net income climbed to A$155.2 million ($142 million) in the 12 months ended June 30, from A$130.5 million a year earlier, Sydney-based Cochlear said today. Analysts projected profit of A$154.6 million, according to the average of nine estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Sales rose 6 percent to A$734.8 million.  Sales of the latest Nucleus 5 cochlear device and new implant software to be available toward the end of 2010 will support growth in the current fiscal year, Cochlear said. Unit sales of implants increased 13 percent in the previous 12-month period, led by the Nucleus 5.

Cochlear fell 2 percent to close at A$69.86 in Sydn\ey trading, compared with a 1.2 percent decline for Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index.

“The result was solid but it was largely expected,” said Andrew Goodsall, an analyst at UBS AG in Sydney. “I just don’t think that the results are going to draw out new buyers at this point” for the stock, he said.

Cochlear’s implants require a trained surgeon to install and help restore hearing to people with severe to profound hearing loss. A processor behind the ear picks up sounds and converts them into digital signals it sends to a receiver implanted in the cochlea, a hollow bone in the shape of a snail shell in the inner ear. That stimulates the auditory nerve and the brain perceives the signals as sound.