Cochlear Implant
What is a cochlear implant?
A cochlear implant is a small electronic medical device that does the work of damaged parts inside the inner ear. Unlike hearing aids which make you sound louder a cochlear implant helps provide sound signals to the brain.
How does it work?
A cochlear implant has two parts, an eternal part which is the cochlear implant and a external part called the speech processor. When there is sound the speech processor uses two small microphones to pick up the sounds then turns these sounds into signals and sends those signals to the transmitter. Once the sound has reached the transmitter, the transmitter sends them through the skin to the internal cochlear implant, the internal implant then converts the sound picked up into coded signals then turns those signals into electrical energy and sends them as a electrode array, this stimulates the nerve fibers in the cochlear and the signals are recognized by the brain as a sound allowing those who have these implants to hear.
A cochlear implant is a small electronic medical device that does the work of damaged parts inside the inner ear. Unlike hearing aids which make you sound louder a cochlear implant helps provide sound signals to the brain.
How does it work?
A cochlear implant has two parts, an eternal part which is the cochlear implant and a external part called the speech processor. When there is sound the speech processor uses two small microphones to pick up the sounds then turns these sounds into signals and sends those signals to the transmitter. Once the sound has reached the transmitter, the transmitter sends them through the skin to the internal cochlear implant, the internal implant then converts the sound picked up into coded signals then turns those signals into electrical energy and sends them as a electrode array, this stimulates the nerve fibers in the cochlear and the signals are recognized by the brain as a sound allowing those who have these implants to hear.
1. The sound processor
2. The cochlear implant
2. The cochlear implant
Who can benefit from a cochlear implant?
A cochlear implant can help those who:
A cochlear implant can help those who:
- Have hearing loss in both ears
- Have lost hearing in one ear but still have an average amount of hearing in the other
- If a hearing aid isn't helping you hear as much as it should help
- Score less than 65% on a sentence recognition test