Hearing Implants

Hearing implants, or cochlear implants, are electronic devices that are able to partially restore hearing loss to deaf individuals. They are nothing like a classic hearing aid; implants don’t simply make sounds louder or clearer like aids do. In certain types of hearing loss, the damage to the auditory system prevents individuals from hearing any sound, no matter how loud, and so a hearing aid would be useless. A cochlear hearing implant, on the other hand, reroutes sound around the damage and causes the auditory nerve to be directly stimulated; in this way, even people with serious hearing loss can hear sound.

This electronic device is implanted surgically beneath the skin, in the area behind the ear. The hearing implant is connected to something called an external speech processor that is most often kept in a pocket or on a belt. To capture sound, there is a headpiece worn behind the ear that contains a microphone. In order to allow a severely hearing impaired person to hear, first the speech processor converts sound into electrical signals, which travel up a very thin cable to reach the headpiece; they are then transmitted as radio waves through the skin to electrodes implanted in the cochlea of the ear. The nerve fibers in the cochlea are stimulated by these signals and subsequently send the information to the brain; when the auditory area of the brain is stimulated, it is interpreted as sound.

Children younger than 12 months are not eligible for hearing implants; the only exception is if the deafness is caused by childhood meningitis. Furthermore, if you are able to benefit from a classic hearing aid, you will most likely not receive approval for a hearing implant. If your audiologist believes you are eligible for an implant, he or she will send you to an otolaryngologist, or an ear, nose and throat specialist.

If your surgery is approved, you will be put under general anesthesia on the day of the operation, even for the smallest hearing aid implant; you will most likely be in surgery anywhere from between 2 to four hours. Many cochlear implant surgeries are done on an outpatient basis, while others will require a hospital stay that can range from overnight to several days; the details of any specific surgery will depend on the specific type of hearing aid implant, the bone structure of the patient’s inner ear area, and a handful of other things. You’ll have to wait one month after the hearing aid implant surgery to receive the signal processor, implant transmitter and microphone.

People who suffer from hearing impairment often experience hearing loss exhaustion. Cochlear implants can be a big help in relieving exhaustion; indeed, classic hearing aids or cochlear implants can be of use to people in this situation. There are both surgical hearing aid implants and non surgical cochlear implants; a hearing loss story of virtually any type can be treated with the options of a cochlear implant and a hearing aid.