The mental impact of living with a chronic condition like tinnitus can take its toll. One of the most proven strategies for coping, experts say, is cognitive-behavioral therapy.
While hearing aids are the most commonly used solution for people with hearing loss, some people are better served by cochlear implants. Cochlear implants are complex medical devices that work differently than hearing aids. Rather than amplifying sound—which helps a person with residual hearing ability—a cochlear implant provides the sense of sound by stimulating the auditory nerve directly. Cochlear implants do not cure hearing loss or restore hearing, but they do provide an opportunity for the severely hard of hearing or deaf to perceive the sensation of sound by bypassing the damaged inner ear.
Cochlear implants do not cure hearing loss or restore hearing, but they do help people with profound or total hearing loss to perceive the sensation of sound. More: What is the difference between a hearing aid and a cochlear implant? The following are general guidelines; candidacy depends on many other factors, as well. To determine if you or a loved one might benefit from a cochlear implant, check with your audiologist , ENT doctor or hearing healthcare professional.
Children with hearing loss as young as 12 months old may be eligible for a cochlear implant. Experts recommend implantation as early as possible to expose children to sounds during the critical period of language acquisition. After implantation, they must undergo intense speech and language therapy to achieve the best possible outcome from the device.
Adults may qualify for cochlear implantation regardless of whether they lost their hearing before or after learning language. Those adults who developed language before losing their hearing postlingually deafened typically have greater success with cochlear implants than those who had not developed language before losing their hearing prelingually deafened.
Adult candidates are generally eligible for an implant if they:. Yes, older adults can absolutely get cochlear implants, too. In fact, the average age of a cochlear implant recipient is 65, but even seniors over years old can be candidates!
Read more: Older adults and cochlear implants. A cochlear implant operates using two main components: An external part that hooks over the ear or that's worn off the ear on the head , and a surgically implanted internal part. The two components are coupled using a powerful magnet. The external component of a cochlear implant contains a microphone, a speech processor and a transmitter. The microphone and speech processor are housed in a small unit that looks like a behind-the-ear hearing aid on some models.
Others are worn on the head. A small wire usually links them to the transmitter, which is positioned over the internal part of the device. The microphone picks up acoustic sounds and sends it to the speech processor.
The processor analyzes and digitizes the signal before sending it to the transmitter. The transmitter then codes the signals and sends them to the implanted receiver via the magnetic coupling. The internal part of a cochlear implant includes a receiver, which is located under the skin on the temporal bone, and one or more electrode arrays.
The receiver collects the signals from the transmitter and converts them to electrical pulses. It then dispatches the pulses to the electrodes that have been inserted deeply into the inner ear. These electrodes directly stimulate the auditory nerve throughout a portion of the cochlea and the brain then interprets these signals as sound.
Cochlear Implants provide a sensation of hearing to people who have permanent, severe to profound deafness, and cannot hear the full range of speech sounds with standard hearing aids. A Cochlear Implant is different from a hearing aid. It has two parts: one is worn like a hearing aid, behind the ear or clipped on to clothing, and the other is surgically implanted.
A Cochlear Implant turns sound into electrical signals. Instead of simply making sounds louder, like a conventional hearing aid would, the Cochlear Implant provides a sensation of hearing by directly stimulating the auditory nerve using electrical signals. How a normally hearing ear works. With a Cochlear Implant, sound is picked up by the microphone worn on or near the ear on the external processor. The sounds are then processed, changed into electrical signals and passed to a transmitter coil worn on the head and kept in place via a magnet.
The cochlea is a snail-shaped part of the inner ear. It turns sound vibrations into electrical signals that travel along the auditory hearing nerve. The brain translates these signals into recognizable sounds. Sound quality from a cochlear implant is different from that in normal hearing. That's because a limited number of electrodes take over the work of the thousands of hair cells in a normal cochlea.
The sounds a child hears won't be totally "natural. But cochlear implants let someone sense sound that they couldn't hear otherwise. Infants who never heard before soon will build new brain pathways to start to make sense of these sounds. With therapy and practice, all kids can learn how to interpret these sounds to better understand speech. Doctors consider cochlear implants for children under 12 months of age with profound hearing loss in both ears. Older children with serious hearing loss also may get cochlear implants.
A cochlear implant team will help decide if cochlear implants are a good option. This team includes an audiologist hearing specialist , an ear-nose-throat ENT doctor, a speech therapist, a psychologist, and a social worker.
Cochlear implant surgery is done under general anesthesia. The child will sleep through the surgery and not feel pain. Depending on a child's hearing, the doctor may recommend getting two cochlear implants, one for each ear. Researchers also are looking at the potential benefits of pairing a cochlear implant in one ear with either another cochlear implant or a hearing aid in the other ear. The NIDCD maintains a directory of organizations that provide information on the normal and disordered processes of hearing, balance, taste, smell, voice, speech, and language.
Use the following keywords to help you find organizations that can answer questions and provide information on cochlear implants:. Breadcrumb Home Health Information. Cochlear Implants. On this page: What is a cochlear implant? How does a cochlear implant work? Who gets cochlear implants? How does someone receive a cochlear implant?
What does the future hold for cochlear implants? Where can I find additional information about cochlear implants?
What is a cochlear implant?
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