Cochlear Implants

While other hearing aids work primarily by amplifying sounds to enable people with reduced hearing capabilities to sense them, cochlear implants are surgically implanted electronic devices that mimic the natural hearing function of the inner ear. Thus, they serve to replace the function of a damaged inner ear and work by directly stimulating the auditory nerve. They are best for people with profound hearing loss, as they serve to bypass the damaged inner ear completely. They are suitable for both, adults as well as children, who experience moderate to profound sensorineural hearing loss in both ears. They may also be recommended if the use of other hearing aids is shown to have limited benefit (such as preoperative test scores of ≤ 50% sentence recognition in the ear in which a hearing aid is implanted or ≤ 60% in the opposite ear of the hearing aid implant or binaurally)