What is a Cochlear Implant?

Cochlear implants are the closest thing to a medical miracle that I've witnessed in my life. Hi guys. Cliff Olson, Dr of audiology and founder of Applied Hearing Solutions in Phoenix, Arizona, and in this video I'm explaining what a cochlear implant is and how it works. Coming up.

A cochlear implant or CI for short can look a lot like a hearing aid or just a small disc on the outside, but also has an implanted portion that directly stimulates the auditory nerve and restores the ability to hear. Back in 19 57, 2 Frenchmen electrophysiologist, Andre Giorno and otolaryngologist Charles Za are credited with being the first to stimulate the auditory nerve. However, the first true cochlear implant was implanted by two Americans, otologist William House and neurosurgeon John Doyle in Los Angeles, California on January 9th, 1961. Since that time, the cochlear implant has completely changed the world when it comes to treating individuals with severe to profound hearing loss and deafness. But before I explain exactly what a cochlear implant is and how it works, if you could do me a huge favor and click the like button, it really helps out my channel because it gets these videos in front of a bigger audience.

And while you're at it, if you have not yet hit that subscribe button with notification bell, go ahead and do that as well, because that ensures that you never miss one of my newly released videos and I release multiple new videos every single week. That being said, I really appreciate it. Now let's take a look at what a cochlear implant actually is. A cochlear implant is comprised of two general components. You have the external component and the internal component that both work together. The external component has a speech processor with microphones that pick up sound and converts it into an electrical signal and a transmitter with a magnet that sends that electrical signal to the internal component that is implanted under the scalp. The internal component also has two parts, the receiver stimulator that also has a magnet that receives the electrical signal from the external transmitter and the electrode array, which typically houses anywhere between 12 and 24 individual electrodes that stimulate different regions of the auditory nerve, which is implanted into the cochlea otherwise known as your hearing organ.

The purpose of a cochlear implant is to directly stimulate your auditory nerve with electrical impulses when your cochlea is no longer capable of taking acoustic information and converting it into a signal that can be understood by your brain. In other words, when using a hearing aid to amplify sound no longer provides you with benefit, a cochlear implant can bypass all of the damage structures inside of your ear to stimulate your auditory nerve directly and give you clarity of sound back, and it typically does a very good job at this. Now, I will not get into the criteria that are required for you to actually qualify for a cochlear implant, but I do have a variety of other videos that explain this process that I will link in the description. Instead, I'm gonna take this opportunity to explain how a cochlear implant works. Sound is a vibration of air particles.

That vibration is picked up by the microphones located on top of the processor, very similar to how a hearing aid will pick up sound. This acoustic sound is converted into an electrical signal inside of the processor and sent to the transmitter behind the ear. The transmitter is connected magnetically through the scalp to the implanted receiver under the scalp. The implant receives the electrical signal from the transmitter and sends it down the electrode array that is implanted inside of the cochlea where the signal is converted into electrical impulses that stimulate your auditory nerve directly. Once the auditory nerve receives these electrical impulses, it will send them up the nerve to the brain so you can hear your cochlea is what we call tonotopic, meaning that different regions of the basilar membrane inside of the cochlea are responsible for the perception of different frequencies of hearing. Each electrode stimulates a different frequency region inside of your cochlea that is then transmitted up your auditory nerve to your brain.

The implantation of the internal component of a cochlear implant seems a lot more intimidating than it really is. It is an outpatient procedure that only takes about two hours. Basically, the surgeon will make an incision behind your ear, install the implant, and insert the electrode array into your cochlea, so you back up and that's it. Recovery from the surgery is typically very quick and most individuals do not even need prescription pain medication. The external processor is usually activated one to four weeks after your surgery is completed. The programming of your processor is modified over the course of several visits by your cochlear implant audiologist, very similar to how a hearing aid would be custom programmed for you over time, and that's it. Now you know what a cochlear implant is and how it works. Now, you might be asking yourself, well, how good does a cochlear implant work?

Well, I've personally worked with individuals who had 0% speech understanding when using their hearing aids, who went up to 80% or higher speech understanding when using a cochlear implant that my friend is what we call a miracle. Generally speaking, a cochlear implant at this point is pretty straightforward and it should be something that you're willing to consider if you're receiving limited benefit with hearing aids. Just keep in mind that in many cases, lack of benefit with hearing aids is most likely due to those hearing aids not being fit in programmed by a hearing care professional who follows best practices. Now, if you do not know what best practices are, I highly recommend that you check out my video that I will link in the description because best practices are the only way to ensure that you're receiving the maximum amount of benefit from your hearing aids.

If you want an easy way to find a hearing care professional who follows best practices, make sure that you check out my website hearing up.com to find a hearing up network member near you. Hearing up network members are committed to following comprehensive best practices when selecting fitting and programming hearing aids, and will get you referred for a cochlear implant when appropriate. Cochlear implants are amazing pieces of technology that have the ability to restore your hearing when hearing aids are no longer effective, and now that you know what they are and how they work, it might be worth asking your hearing care professional about if you're not receiving significant benefit from your hearing aids.