Cochlear Implants

A cochlear implant (CI) is a surgically implanted electronic device that can provide a sense of sound to someone who is profoundly deaf or severely hard of hearing.

In 2009, approximately 188,000 people worldwide received cochlear implants. A growing number of recipients now have bilateral implants (one implant in each cochlea). As a general rule, only those people with profound sensorineural hearing loss are considered as candidates for cochlear implantation. It’s important to realize that the cochlear implant is a permanent procedure. Once the implant is put into place, sound no longer travels via the ear canal and middle ear, but is transmitted by a microphone and sent through the device’s speech processor to the implant’s electrodes inside the cochlea