Cochlear Implant

A cochlear implant is a surgically implanted electronic device that provides a sense of sound to a person who is profoundly deaf or hard of hearing. The first implant was created in 1969 by Doctor William House. The first successful invention of the implant was in 1978 when the University of Melbourne implanted the first person with a cochlear implant. On October 5, 2005, the first three recipients were implanted with a totally implantable cochlear implant in Melbourne, Australia.

Currently, there are three companies that make cochlear implants. Cochlear Limited, Australia MED-EL and Advanced Bionics US are all available to people in the US.

After 1-4 weeks of surgery, the implant is turned on and activated. After some therapy and training to be able to hear using it, a lot of the time people can hear and use it regularly. Other times, the cochlear implant works slightly and only allows you to hear vibrations or mumbling or sometimes not at all and the procedure may have to be reversed due to bacteria or a disease caused by the operation. You can get cochlear implants in either one or both ears, but it is a costly operation.

Receiving a cochlear implant does not cure deafness or hearing impairment, it is simply a prosthetic substitute for hearing. Some recipients find them highly effective, and others hear and see no difference. For people already functional in spoken language who lose their hearing, cochlear implants can be a great help in restoring functional comprehension of speech, especially if they have only lost their hearing for a short time. Adults who have grown up deaf can find the implants ineffective or irritating.

There are many criteria needed to be met in order to receive an implant. This is a risky procedure, as is all operations, something can always go wrong. Some of the criteria include having severe to profound sensorineural hearing impairment in both ears, having a functional auditory nerve, having lived a short amount of time without hearing, having good speech, language and communication skills, desire to live in the hearing world, and not benefiting enough from other types of hearing aides already tried and used. It has been estimated that in 2002 that around 10,000 children in the US alone received cochlear implants plus an additional 49,000 people worldwide have received cochlear implants. Research shows that children who receive cochlear implants at a young age (less than 2 years) have better success with them than children who receive them at a later age. By the end of 2007, it is estimated that 120,000 people worldwide will receive cochlear implants. A battery