Cochlear Implants
Hearing loss can occur gradually and can have a profound effect on your life. Even slight hearing loss can lead to exhaustion. Especially if you’re struggling all day to try and hear your coworkers, friends or family. Improved hearing leads to a better quality of life. Let the experts at OOA help today.
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A cochlear implant is an electronic device that restores partial hearing to individuals with severe to profound hearing loss who have tried and no longer benefit from a conventional hearing aid. It is surgically implanted in the inner ear and activated by a device worn outside the ear. Unlike a hearing aid, it does not make sound louder or clearer. Instead, the device bypasses damaged parts of the auditory system and directly stimulates the nerve of hearing, allowing individuals who are profoundly hearing impaired to receive sound.
Your ear consists of three parts that play a vital role in hearing; the external ear, middle ear, and inner ear.
Middle ear
Inner ear
Conductive & Sensorineural Hearing
Conductive hearing: Sound travels along the ear canal of the external ear, causing the ear drum to vibrate. Three small bones of the middle ear conduct this vibration from the eardrum to the cochlea (auditory chamber) of the inner ear.
Sensorineural hearing: When the three small bones move, they start waves of fluid in the cochlea and these waves stimulate more than 16,000 delicate hearing cells (hair cells). As these hair cells move, they generate an electrical current in the auditory nerve. The electrical signal travels through inter-connections in the brain to specific areas of the brain that recognize it as sound.
If you have disease or obstruction involving your ear canal, tympanic membrane (ear drum) or middle ear, your conductive hearing may be impaired. Medical or surgical treatment can probably correct this or a hearing aid can be used in certain instances.
An inner ear problem, however, can result in a sensorineural impairment or nerve deafness. In most cases, the hair cells are damaged and do not function. Although many auditory nerve fibers may be intact and can transmit electrical impulses to the brain, these nerve fibers are unresponsive because of hair cell damage. Since severe sensorineural hearing loss cannot be corrected with medicine, it can be treated only with a cochlear implant.
Cochlear implants bypass damaged hair cells and convert speech and environmental sounds into electrical signals and send these signals to the hearing nerve.
A cochlear implant has two main components:
An external component, usually worn behind the ear, that consists of a speech processor, microphone and battery compartment.
The microphone captures sound, allowing the speech processor to translate it into distinctive electrical signals. These signals or “codes” are transmitted across the skin via radio waves to the internal electronic stimulator. The internal stimulator then sends the signals to the implanted electrodes in the cochlea. The electrodes’ signals stimulate the auditory nerve fibers to send information to the brain, where it is interpreted as meaningful sound.
Cochlear implants are designed only for individuals who attain almost no benefit from a hearing aid. They must be 12 months of age or older (unless childhood meningitis is responsible for deafness), including those in their 80’s and 90’s!
Dr. Wayne Berryhill, Oklahoma’s finest Otologist surgeon performs this implant surgery. Your family doctor can refer you to Dr. Berryhill for an evaluation. Dr. Berryhill’s team (otolaryngologist, audiologist, nurse and others) will determine your candidacy for a cochlear implant and review what you may expect as a result of the cochlear implant. The implant team will also conduct a series of tests, including:
Physical examination: Dr. Wayne Berryhill will perform a physical examination to identify any potential problems with the use of general anesthesia needed for the implant procedure.
Hearing (audiologic) evaluation: The audiologists at Oklahoma Hearing Center will perform extensive hearing tests to find out how much you can hear with and without a hearing aid.
X-ray (radiographic) evaluation: Special X-rays are taken, usually computerized tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, to evaluate your inner ear anatomy.
Surgery and Results
Cochlear implant surgery is usually performed as an outpatient procedure under general anesthesia. An incision is made behind the ear to open the mastoid bone leading to the middle ear space. Once the middle ear space is exposed, an opening is made in the cochlea and the implant electrodes are inserted. The electronic device at the base of the electrode array is then placed under the skin behind the ear.
Several weeks after surgery, your cochlear implant team places the signal processor, microphone and implant transmitter outside your ear and adjusts them. They teach you how to look after the system and how to listen to sound through the implant.
There are many causes of hearing loss and some patients may take longer to fit and require more training due to individual differences. Your team will ask you to come back to the clinic for regular checkups and readjustment of the speech processor as needed.
Most adult cochlear implant patients notice an immediate improvement in their communication skills. Children require time to benefit from their cochlear implant, as the brain needs to learn to correctly interpret the electrical sound input. While cochlear implants do not restore normal hearing and benefits vary from one individual to another, most users find that cochlear implants help them communicate better through improved lip-reading. Also, 90 percent of adult cochlear implant patients are able to discriminate speech without the use of visual cues. There are many factors that contribute to the degree of benefit a user receives from a cochlear implant, including:
The number of surviving auditory nerve fibers
A patient’s motivation to learn to hear
Your team will explain what you can reasonably expect. Before deciding whether your implant is working well, you need to understand how much time you must commit. It is rare that patients do not benefit from a cochlear implant.