Cochlear Implants - Who Can Gain the Most
Cochlear Implants - Who Can Gain the Most?
Cochlear Implants - Who Can Gain the Most?
The ability to hear is one of the most crucial senses gifted to humans. Listening to good sounds, chatting and exchanging thoughts with family and friends are some of the precious moments of life. Unfortunately, with ageing, or some people with severe hearing disabilities, hearing loss can impair daily life. However, in the age of science and technology, extreme hearing loss no longer remains an untreatable condition.
Unlike hearing aids, which amplify a sound before it reaches the eardrum and is typically ideal for people with mild hearing loss, cochlear implants can be a godsend for those with severe hearing loss. Let’s know what a cochlear implant is and who gains the most from this surgery.
Cochlear implants
If you are an adult or have children with severe sensorineural hearing loss, then this is for you. A cochlear implant is a small surgically placed electronic instrument that partially restores hearing. Hearing loss typically involves damage to the tiny sensory hair cells in an inner part of the ear known as the cochlea. The job of the cochlea is to pick up the sound vibrations and transmit them to the brain via the auditory nerve. When these hair cells are damaged, the sound is unable to reach that nerve. A cochlear implant will bypass the hair cells and directly send signals to the hearing or auditory nerve.
Who gains most from Cochlear implants?
A cochlear implant certainly affects the quality of life right to some extent. According to WHO, about 63 million people in India suffer from profound auditory loss, and 4 out of 1000 children come under this category. And the consequences go beyond just physical disability, as a child born with hearing loss will be unable to develop speech and language abilities, which in turn, can create hurdles in acquiring quality education and developing a professional career. The lack of information has created numerous misconceptions, as in reality, the success rate of cochlear implants is high.
Children aged 6-12 months and adults can derive maximum benefit from cochlear implants. The most suitable candidates are the:
- One with profound hearing loss in one or both the ears
- One who is not benefitting from hearing aids
- One who has no underlying condition that could increase the risk of surgery
Many people who opted for cochlear implants reported improvement in:
- The ability to hear speech without any need for visual hints such as reading lips
- The capability of recognizing everyday environmental sounds
- The capability of locating the source of sound
- The capability of listening in a noisy atmosphere
- The capability of hearing TV programs, music and telephonic conversations
The sound from a cochlear implant will not be natural or original but a different one which may not be clear at first, but with practice, the patient will start feeling speech and sounds normally. According to research conducted in South Africa on 175 cochlear implant recipients, individuals who were having problems communicating with strangers or answering a phone call were found to gain the most from this technique. There was a significant improvement in the quality of life of 60 percent of the participants.
Lastly, we must remember that the results of cochlear implants will vary from person to person. Various factors such as age, duration between hearing loss and implant, and underlying health conditions can affect the outcomes. If you have severe hearing loss and want to improve your quality of life, it’s vital to consult a specialist first before you consider cochlear implants.
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