Cochlear Awareness Network
The Cochlear Awareness Network is a group of Volunteers each of whom have lived deaf but have had their hearing returned through either a Cochlear Implant or a Baha. They have chosen to be members of the Cochlear Awareness Network to tell their stories, raising awareness for these wonderful changes in their lives. All members are available to discuss their experiences.
What is a Cochlear Implant?
Partial Transcript of article Submitted to Disability Exchange 23/1/08 by Felicity Bleckly
View article - What is a Cochlear Implant?
For some people, a Cochlear Implant is the only way they can hear. It is not an alternative to wearing a hearing aid and is only an option if you cannot effectively use conventional hearing aids. It is not a high powered hearing aid and does not amplify sound. Having a Cochlear Implant is a considered decision, one which is only taken after many tests for suitability and all other avenues for hearing are explored.
The type of hearing loss an implant works best for is sensorineural deafness where the hair cells in the cochlea have died or are damaged. For people with this kind of deafness, it doesn't matter how loud a sound is, it cannot be heard. If the cochlea hair cells are the missing, then the connection, which changes sound vibrations into electrical impulses so the brain can interpret sound, is missing and a cochlear implant provides this connection.
A cochlear implant consists of two parts and you need both parts in order to hear. The first part is internal and is inserted under routine surgery, generally 2-3 hours. The internal implant is basically a radio transmitter with 22 electrodes inserted into the cochlea.
The second part is the external speech processor. While it looks a bit like a hearing aid it is actually four small computers which, through microphones, receive sounds and convert them to electrical impulses. These electrical impulses are transmitted to the internal implant radio transmitter which sends them to the electrodes in the cochlea. The electrodes are the connectors and take the place of those missing hair cells stimulating the hearing nerve with electrical impulses. The electrical impulse received in the brain is much the same as anyone with normal hearing experiences.
This means the sound a cochlear implantee hears is usually very close to the sound they remember. One implantee told me that a few weeks after her processor activation she took a phone call and was able to identify the speaker by voice alone. This tells me the sound she now gets must be very similar to what she had before she went deaf.
Our population is aging and since sensorineural deafness is often age related, this means there will be many more people with hearing loss in the coming years. A cochlear implant could provide a solution for some of these people.
End partial transcript
