Implantable Devices

Cochlear Implants

• Designed for patients with moderate to profound hearing loss for which hearing aids are no longer providing adequate speech understanding. With moderate to profound hearing loss, the tiny hair cells in the inner ear do not transmit information properly to the auditory nerve and brain, making it difficult to understand speech.  The cochlear implant is designed to skip over this damaged portion of the system and stimulate the auditory nerve directly and with auditory training, can improve speech understanding ability
• There are two components:
  • Internal component that is implanted by the surgeon
  • External processor that is programmed by the audiologist
• The internal device converts acoustic information into electrical stimulation that is sent to the auditory nerve; the brain can learn to decipher this information
• The external processor is responsible for processing the incoming sound and sending the signal to the internal device.
• Learning to understand speech with a cochlear implant is a process, similar to learning a new language. It is not an immediate, overnight improvement.  The user has to be dedicated to learning and practicing in order to ensure success!