COCHLEAR IMPLANTS
A cochlear implant is a small, complex electronic device that can help to provide a sense of sound to a person who is profoundly deaf or severely hard-of-hearing. it is designed to bypass the damaged parts of the inner ear and send electrical stimulation directly to the auditory nerve which is then interpreted as sound by the brain. Worldwide over 1,50,000 children and adults have benefited from cochlear implants. The implant consists of an external portion that sits behind the ear and a second portion that is surgically placed under the skin (see figure). An implant has the following parts:
- A microphone, which picks up sound from the environment
- A speech processor, which selects and arranges sounds picked up by the microphone.
- A transmitter and receiver/stimulator, which receive signals from the speech processor and convert them into electric impulses.
- An electrode array, which is a group of electrodes that collects the impulses from the stimulator and sends them to different regions of the auditory nerve.
