A cochlear implant is a small electronic device that helps those with severe to profound hearing loss or individuals who no longer benefit from hearing aids to interpret sounds and understand speech. They do not restore hearing, nor do they work in the same manner as hearing aids do. If you are struggling to hear even while wearing appropriately fit hearing aids for your hearing loss, particularly when in noisy situations, a cochlear implant may be the next solution. Cochlear implants use internal and external components working together to bypass the damaged part of your hearing system and directly stimulate the auditory nerve. They help you regain access to the sounds and speech you are missing, ultimately yielding a clearer sound and improved speech understanding.

We perform cochlear implant evaluations for adults, work in partnership with your cochlear implant surgeon, and do the initial activation and all subsequent programming and mapping in our office. There is no need to drive to your surgeon’s office for every cochlear hearing need, as we can help you right where you started: with us, your hearing healthcare partners.

How Do Cochlear Implants Work?

Cochlear implants require both surgery and intense therapy in order to be effective.

The implant itself is made up of four different parts, both external and internal:

External:

  • A microphone to pick up sounds from the environment
  • A speech processor (computer) that creates sound signals and sends them to a transmitter
  • A transmitter worn above the ear that sends the signal to the surgically implanted internal receiver/stimulator

Internal:

  • A receiver/stimulator that receives signals from the processor and converts them into electric impulses
  • An electrode array that takes the signals and sends them to the auditory nerve, stimulating it; from there the transmitted information is sent to the brain to interpret the signals into meaningful information

Who Gets Cochlear Implants?

Children (12 months and older) and adults can benefit from cochlear implants if:

  • They have moderate (understanding speech is difficult in background noise) to profound hearing loss (only some loud noises can be heard) in both ears
  • They have profound hearing loss in one ear
  • Hearing aids are found to be ineffective
  • They score 65% or less on sentence recognition tests done by a hearing professional