Cochlear Implants: A Day Without Sound

A cochlear implant is a medical device that essentially does the same thing that a cochlea (inner ear) would do. Unlike hearing aids, cochlear implants do not make the sound louder, they allow sound to go by parts of the cochlea and stimulate the nerves that allow you to hear sound. Because Heather was the first deaf Miss America, this sparked controversy. People thought that Heather should not have gotten a cochlear implant because she represented the Deaf and hard of hearing community. Although some people did not agree with her decisions, within three to five years she could understand complex sounds like

A Cochlear Implant is an electronic device that partially restores hearing in people who have severe hearing loss due to damage of the inner ear and who receive limited benefit from hearing aids (http://www.cochlear.com/wps/wcm/connect/au/home/understand/hearing-and-hl/hl-treatments/cochlear-implant). In some cases there are patients whose hearing did not adjust correctly, having a risk of developing a virus, complications after the surgery, the benefits of sign language without a cochlear implant and lastly children or adults with cochlear implants may not even develop a good speech. There are many positive and negative articles I have read on cochlear implants. As a parent you are not only putting your child at risk, you are also withdrawing them from the deaf community, the one they were naturally born into. I do not support cochlear implants, children should not be implanted until they are grown to the point where they can make their own choice

A cochlear implant is an implanted medical device for the deaf or hard of hearing that do not benefit from the traditional hearing aid. It is composed of an internal device that is implanted in the recipient’s head and an external device that is the sound processor. The sound processor collects sound and then transmits it to the implanted device, which then sends it directly to the brain to be interpreted as language. During the time that I was choosing a hearing solution for my daughter I experienced a lot of negative opinions from the deaf culture (community of deaf people who share sign language among other things). They seem to be against parents choosing to have their small children implanted. The deaf culture presumes

While reading the article, “understanding Deafness: Not Everyone Wants to Be `fixed`”, Allegra Ringo shine a light on a conflict with cochlear implants within the Deaf community that most hearing people such as myself were probably unaware of. After reading this article I feel a little upset that Alexander Graham Bell Association (AGB) is not telling parents of Deaf children what the Deaf community can really offer to Deaf children. Instead, they are just telling parents how much better off they can be if they can hear and that they could offer it with cochlear implants. I think that the Deaf community is over by parents with a child that is born Deaf or hard of hearing. My opinion is that people need to be taught about the Deaf community and that there is nothing wrong with being Deaf.

Deafness or hard of hearing, is defined by the medical society as a disability, but those who are diagnosed with the disability think otherwise. They think of themselves as a community, embrace it as an identity, or a culture with their own language, sign language, and they believe their community is being threaten. They label themselves as a minority endangered of being wiped out because of one leading cause, cochlear implants. Those serious about their ideals of their community see cochlear implants as a threat, because cochlear implants are considered as cure. Countless number of controversies over cochlear implants have been brought up, but the Deaf community should see cochlear implants as gift for patients rather than an extreme threat.

Passages A & B have different views on what would work best for the Deaf people, but they both want want a positive outcome for the Deaf community. Passage A mainly talks about how the cochlear implants do not benefit deaf people and how the permanent effects from it can be a disadvantage for the implant patient in the deaf community. “Implanted children would "end up trapped between two worlds: they can't live the way hearing people can, and yet they won't have grown up in the deaf community, using ASL" (Zimmer 85)”. The author helps the reader understand the Deaf community rather then understand the medical view of cochlear implants.

The feelings and thought I felt while watching Sound and Fury were mixed. I was understandable at some times, completely stunned at different times, or just did not know what to think because I do not what I would do in the situations the families were in. After watching this film, I feel more educated about cochlear implants and the reasons why people think they are essential to someone who is deaf versus why a person should not get one.

Many people are asked what they would do if they had a baby with a hearing problem or a baby with a disease or sickness. When a baby is born there are many things that go through their parents mind. Unlike everyone else I can’t make the decision until I have come across something related to the result of having a deaf child. In many essays that I have read they have talked about the benefits of a deaf child getting an implant early in life and how much they will exceed.

Infants and children who suffer from hearing loss are at an increased risk for developing delayed speech, language, social, and emotional skills 1. Many children who suffer from mild to moderate hearing loss have great success with hearing aids, however those who are born profoundly deaf cannot benefit from hearing aids alone. If a profoundly deaf individual chooses to hear their only option is to have cochlear implants. Cochlear implants are a two-part system consisting of external and internal parts 2. The external part is much like a hearing aid that has a transmitter, speech processor, and microphone 2. The internal parts consist of the receiver and electrodes. The speech processor process sounds, sends the code to the transmitter 2. The

As we grow older, our hearing starts to get worse. Luckily, there are some things you can do to help improve hearing and receive benefits. If your hearing is bad enough that hearing aids no longer help, you can choose to receive a cochlear implant. The surgery is designed to make your hearing better, and it’s an option to consider. If you do or don’t decide to have a cochlear implant, you can learn about how it would affect your coverages for hearing loss. If you learn about the ways it affects your benefits, it may help in your decision to get it done.

On August 21, 2017, I observed my first cochlear implant surgery. Having never observed, assisted, or performed a surgery I was unsure what to expect. Seeing the blood, bodily fluids, and watching the surgeons perform the surgery with the utmost precision was incredible. I found it incredibly difficult not to chat or ask any question of the surgeon even when invited to. Nonetheless, Dr. Kaplan has an innate ability to create a friendly and comforting environment during a difficult surgery.

I first learned about cochlear implants in my special education class. My initial thought was that they were a beneficial advancement in technology and in the medical field for those who were deaf or hard of hearing. In my field experience, I observed a sixth grade teacher at Donnell Middle School. In her class, I observed two students who had cochlear implants and an interpreter who was in front of the classroom signing what the teacher was saying. I thought that was really neat to see and experience for the first time. Through further research on cochlear implants, I came to the conclusion that cochlear implants do not fix the patient’s hearing entirely and that there are many positive and negative factors to consider when getting a cochlear implant.

The cochlear implant is quite possibly one of the greatest ideas invented to benefit the deaf community. American Sign Language (ASL) has been the main way the deaf communicate and is extremely important to the deaf culture. To those that can hear, being deaf or profoundly hard of hearing has been considered a handicap. It was for that reason that someone invented the cochlear implant, causing a huge debate within the deaf community. Some of those in the deaf community fear that their culture will be lost and destroyed, while others and the hearing community believe that it will better their lives. Most do not realize that this procedure is not a cure and that it will leave those with the implants confused as to where they belong in society.

Who really needs cochlear implants, the deaf or the hearing? Do these implants actually fix someone who isn’t ill? When you are no longer consider deaf, but are not hearing either you are essentially isolated. So why go through with a painful procedure that fixes nothing but the amount of work the hearing have to do to communicate?

I feel like the film SOUND, AND FURY is a fascinating film which looks at the often overlooked deaf culture in contemporary society. By following two families, the film looks at how the societal pressures and the impacts of the cochlear implant have on deaf families, and deaf culture. For years, deaf individuals have been told they are less than or different, and after years of stigmatization, and ill treatment many people have become part of deaf culture, which does not look at deafness as a disability, but rather a different way of life. For parents, the option of giving their deaf child a cognitive implant means that they would be able to hear, and thus, grow up communicating through auditory channels with the outside world. While for many parents, this seems like a gift, many families feel like it is shaming deaf culture, affirming beliefs that deafness is something to be ashamed of, and disconnect them from deaf culture. In the film, we see the Artinian family, who has family members over three generations in Long Island, New York, who have hearing exceptionalities. Within the movie, we mainly see the lives of the two very different Artinian brothers. One brother Peter, who is married to a deaf woman, has a deaf daughter and was born deaf. The other brother does not have congenital deafness but married a woman whom also has connections to deaf culture, with two parents who are deaf. This couple has two twin boys one who is deaf and one who can hear. In the film, we see