Visalia Hearing Center Helps With Cochlear Implants
Millions of people around the world are able to reconnect with their friends and family and maintain engaging lifestyles thanks to the help they receive from hearing aid services and technology.
However, there are times when hearing aids just aren’t enough. In many of those cases, cochlear implants, a surgically implanted device, can address the hearing challenges hearing aids cannot.
At any stage of one’s life, from infancy to over nine decades young, a cochlear implant just might be the best possible solution to address one’s hearing challenges.
Though the technology has been around for almost 50 years, most people don’t really know a lot about cochlear implants, how they work, what they do, and who can benefit from them.
Quick Facts About Cochlear Implants
- Cochlear implants began experimentally in the late 1970s and gained FDA approval in the 1980s as a tool to facilitate a higher level of hearing clarity for individuals with severe to profound hearing loss.
- Thanks to digital technology and a relentless drive for improvement, cochlear implants have seen significant advances in their processing and performance capacities, especially as it pertains to performance in noisy environments and music enjoyment.
- A cochlear implant has three main components: an internal processor placed under the skin behind your ear, an electrode array inserted into the cochlea, and an external processing unit that rests behind the ear like a hearing aid.
- Cochlear implants were designed to bypass a damaged inner ear or cochlea, transmitting sound directly to the nerves connecting the cochlea to the brain.
- For a cochlear implant to work, one’s auditory nerve and auditory pathways in the brain must be intact.
- Cochlear implants do not cure deafness— they do not fix a damaged ear or restore normal hearing. But they are the best solution to overcome profound hearing loss challenges.
- In 2019, cochlear implants were approved for single-sided deafness.
- Children as young as 9 months old can be successful with a cochlear implant.
Learn More About Cochlear Implants
Individuals with severe to profound hearing loss or single-sided deafness (SSD) who don’t get adequate assistance from hearing aids may qualify for a cochlear implant.
At Visalia Hearing Center, we are involved in the process of identifying the patients who might benefit from cochlear implant technology and mapping their cochlear implant after surgery. At this time, Visalia Hearing Center offers adult cochlear implant services and is part of the Cochlear Provider Network which services products from Cochlear Americas.
If you or a loved one are interested in learning more about cochlear implants or want to see if you qualify, submit the adjacent form and our specialist will contact you.
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