What is cochlear implant ? is it possible for profound hearing impaired ?!
Question:
What is cochlear implant ? is it possible for profound hearing impaired ?
Answers:
Cochlear implants have been approved by the FDA in the United States since the 1980s. They can provide severely to profoundly hearing impaired individuals the ability to have an alternate pathway for stimulating the auditory nerve to simulate hearing. This is accomplished through an electrode implanted in the cochlea, since with profound hearing impairment there is always some type of cochlear malfunction (either loss of hair cells or structural malformation).
The surgery, by itself, does not magically turn your hearing back on. It can be a long rehabilitation process to be able to develop open-set word recognition, that is, the ability to repeat back a random list of words without the context of sentences to guess or lip-reading.
I know hundreds of people with cochlear implants who have had varying degrees of success with them. Adults who have been deaf for a long time have the longest rehabilitation process, however, even they can do quite well after a substantial amount of rehabilitation, therapy, and training after the surgery. Children or adults who have had progressive hearing losses or worn hearing aids make larger gains with their implants faster.