cochlear implant

Cochlear Implant

A cochlear implant is a device that can help someone with hearing loss perceive sound. You may see the term “cochlear implant” abbreviated as CI. Getting a cochlear implant requires surgery. Part of the implant have to place inside ear and another part have to worn on the outside of head. These parts work together to help you notice sound; however, a cochlear implant does not lead to "normal" hearing. Cochlear implants can be used in one or both ears.

How a cochlear implant works: Some types of hearing loss involve damaged hair cells in inner ears. These hair cells cannot send sound to your auditory nerve. A cochlear implant bypasses the hair cells and sends sound right to the auditory nerve.

The part of the cochlear implant worn on the outside of your head has a microphone to pick up sound. The sound is sent to the speech processor, which looks like a hearing aid worn behind the ear (or attached to clothing). The speech processor turns the sound into a digital signal. This digital signal goes from the speech processor to the transmitter (on the outside of your head) and then to the receiver under your skin. The receiver sends the sound signal to electrodes placed in your inner ear, or cochlea. The electrodes trigger the auditory nerve and let your brain notice incoming sounds.

Cochlear implants may be recommended most often for individuals who

If there is significant hearing loss in one or both ears,
are not helped enough by hearing aids, and
If there are no other medical problems which can make surgery risky.

How well a cochlear implant works for you depends on many factors, including

your age when you get the implant,
whether you had started to talk before you lost your hearing,
your motivation and support system, and
whether you get treatment to work on hearing skills./li>

Process

The process starts at a cochlear implant center. At these centers, a team of professionals will work with you from start to finish. Team members usually include

an audiologist;
an ear, nose, and throat doctor or surgeon;
a psychologist or counselor; and
a speech-language pathologist, or SLP.

You will have testing to make sure that you can use a cochlear implant and that surgery is a good option for you. The team is there to answer all of your questions and provide needed information to help decide if a cochlear implant is right for you. You will learn about how cochlear implants work and what an implant can and cannot do to help you. It is important to understand what you will need to do to get the most out of your cochlear implant.

Surgery:

Some people need to stay overnight for surgery. Others can leave the same day. The surgeon will implant the receiver and electrodes. You will need time to heal before the implant is turned on and used.

An implant has the following parts:

A microphone- helps to picks up sound from the environment.
A speech processor- this selects and arranges sounds by the microphone.
A transmitter and receiver/stimulator- This receive signals from the speech processor and convert into electric impulses.
An electrode array- this is a group of electrodes which collects the impulses from the stimulator and sends them to different regions of the auditory nerve.

An implant does not restore normal hearing. Simultaneously this implant can also give a deaf person a useful representation of sounds in the surroundings and help him/her to understand the speech.

Bone conduction devices : Bone conduction device helps to convert sounds into vibrations and sent directly into the inner ear via bones in the ear. These devices can help to bypass the outer ear and the middle ear. There are active and passive bone conduction devices. With an active device, the skin stays intact.

Middle ear implants : A middle ear implant (MEI)helps to pick the sounds in environment and converts them into vibrations and sent to the middle ear and further into the inner ear.

Auditory brain stem implants : An auditory brainstem implant (ABI) is an implant which converts sounds of surroundings into signals and then sent directly to the brain, bypassing the non-functioning auditory nerve.

Surgery often needed : Most types of cochlear implants require a minor surgery or minor operation. But bone conduction devices can be worn and used without any operation/surgery.