Cochlear Implants

A cochlear implant is a small electronic device that can help improve the hearing of people with severe, irreversible hearing loss. A surgeon places the implant in the inner ear, and it is activated by a component worn outside the ear.

Although cochlear implants don’t fully restore hearing, they can allow a person to hear and understand more sounds than what a hearing aid makes possible. For a child who is deaf or hard of hearing, having cochlear implants could provide them with the opportunity to go to school alongside hearing students and develop listening and speech skills. For an adult with moderate to profound hearing loss, cochlear implants can improve their quality of life by allowing them to keep up with conversations and hear alerts and alarms.

In normal hearing, parts of the inner ear, or cochlea, convert soundwaves into electrical impulses. These impulses travel to the brain, which recognizes them as sound.

In most people who develop hearing loss, the hairs in the cochlea have become damaged or missing, usually as a result of aging and repeated exposure to loud noises, or for genetic reasons. That disrupts the efficient transmission of electrical signals to the brain, resulting in hearing loss. A cochlear implant bypasses damaged parts of the cochlea and stimulates the auditory nerve directly.

The Cochlear Implant System

A cochlear implant consists of three primary parts.

• Microphone and transmitter: The transmitter, worn outside the ear, is approximately the size of a quarter. It picks up sounds, which then travel to a speech processor.
• Speech processor: A person with a cochlear implant wears their speech processor externally, either hooked to a belt like a badge or behind their ear like a hearing aid, to convert sound into a digital code that gets transmitted to an implanted stimulator.
• Implanted stimulator: The implanted stimulator is a small component placed under the skin behind the ear. It receives information from the speech processor and sends it to the auditory nerve. The brain interprets this signal and recognizes it as sound.

A magnet coupled to the implanted stimulator holds the transmitter in place on the wearer’s head, behind the ear where the implanted stimulator is located.

How Does the Cochlear Implant Work?

Cochlear implants allow people to hear by receiving and processing sounds and speech. The internal and external devices work together to change sound into electrical signals that stimulate the hearing nerve.

• First, the microphone on the external device picks up the sound energy. The speech processor then filters, analyzes and converts the soundwaves into a digital code.
• That signal travels through the cable to the headpiece, which transmits it across the skin to the internal receiver via radio frequencies.
• Then, the internal receiver sends the signal to the electrodes implanted inside the cochlea.
• The electrodes transmit small electrical pulses that stimulate the auditory nerve, which attaches to the cochlea. By triggering the auditory nerve directly, the cochlear implant circumvents the damaged parts of the cochlea that lead to hearing l​oss.
• The auditory nerve then carries the electrical signals to the brain, which interprets them as sound. This entire process occurs so quickly that the listener will hear speech and other sounds without any noticeable time lag.

Cochlear Implant Candidates

To determine if you or your child are qualified for cochlear implant surgery, you will need to meet with an audiologist who will evaluate the degree of hearing loss and ask you questions about you or your child’s health history. Surgeons can implant these devices in babies as young as a year old, depending on factors such as the cause of their hearing loss. However, cochlear implants can also benefit older adults with severe hearing loss who find that hearing aids are no longer sufficient to help them hear the world around them.

In general, the best candidates for cochlear implants share these characteristics:

• Being in good overall health
• Having realistic expectations for the results of their surgery
• Experiencing profound hearing loss in both ears
• Are no longer benefiting from conventional hearing aids
• No medical conditions that would make surgery too risky
• A willingness to participate in listening and speech therapy

Learn More About Cochlear Implants

If you or your child is experiencing profound hearing loss and hearing aids are no longer benefiting you, cochlear implants might be right for you. Contact us at the Atlanta Institute for ENT today to learn more about how our expertise can help you. We have two convenient locations: Atlanta and Alpharetta.

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