Cochlear Implants
On average, my commute to and from work takes 2.5-3 hours. To save me from going crazy with the traffic and the same four songs on each radio station, I listen to audio books. Most recently, I have been enjoying "I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban" by Christina Lamb and Malala Yousafzai. This book is about an inspiring young advocate for education who was brutalized by the Pakistani Taliban. She was shot in the head for her beliefs. Fortunately for the world, she survived the attack. Due to her injuries, Malala was left deaf in her left ear and needed surgery to reconstruct her skull. She was fitted with a cochlear implant.
A cochlear (co-clear-er) implant is an electronic device which allows a person with significant hearing loss to perceive the sensation of sound. Some people think cochlear implants are similar to hearing aids but they actually perform very differently. While hearing aids are simply placed into the ear or resting behind it, a cochlear implant is surgically implanted and must include extensive therapy. The implant consists of two components: an external piece which sits behind the ear and an internal portion which is surgically embedded under the skin of the head. Cochlear implants circumvent the damaged sections of the auditory system and activate the nerve directly. Once the nerve is stimulated the signals produced by the implant are sent to brain. The brain will learn to recognize these signals as sound. Normal hearing is not restored; rather the person is able to have cues which represent sounds within the environment. Both adults and children can be candidates for a cochlear implant depending on the severity of the hearing loss.
The entire process takes time and money. The decision to implant is not made lightly; a team of medical specialists must work to determine candidacy and likelihood of success. A host of evaluations will be performed which include audiological testing, psychological assessment, x-rays and MRIs. Factors such as the age of the patient at the time of implantation, whether the hearing loss is prelingual or postlingual, and the emotional support system of the patient may influence success.
Contact your audiologist for more information.
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