Cochlear Implantation: My Experience

Abstract

Cochlear implant is a small, surgically implanted complex electronic device that can help to provide a sense of sound to a person with severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss. This type of hearing loss, typically involves damage to hair cells in the cochlea, as a result sound cannot reach the auditory nerve which usually receives information from hair cells. A cochlear implant skips the damaged hair cells and to stimulate the auditory nerve directly. An implant does not restore normal hearing, instead it can give a deaf person a useful representation of sounds in the environment and help him or her to understand speech. I am here presenting this article in relation to the indications, intraoperative and postoperative complications of cochlear implantation in our institute since January 2013. Children who receive implants at earlier age, outperform their peers who are implanted at a later age. This is reflected in all the areas of speech and language development.