What Is A Cochlear Implant?

     A cochlear implant is an electronic device that restores hearing for people anywhere from hard of hearing to the profoundly deaf. The cochlear implant is surgically implanted under the skin behind the ear. The surgeon puts the electrode array inside the inner ear and than inside the cochlea. The implant works by a device outside the ear, which rests on the skin behind the ear. It is held upright by a magnet and is also connected by a lead to a sound professor.

Basically how sound travels through the ear is a process of many steps. The sound waves are gathered by the pinna and then funneled into the meatus. Those waves then begin to vibrate the tympanic membrane which in turn hits against the malleus. The ossicle bones then vibrate like a chain reaction. The footplate will hit the oval window which triggers the fluid in the cochlea to move. The movement sways across the different hair cells creating impulses that are sent to the brain through the eighth cranial nerve.

In today’s society there is an ongoing debate of weather children who are deaf should receive cochlear implants. A cochlear implant is a device that takes sound wave and changes the waves into electrical activity for the brain to interpret. Wire called electrodes are surgically implanted into the cochlear nerve which receives a signal from the microphone attached to the transmitter and speech processor. The microphone captures the sound from the environment and the speech processor filters the noise versus speech. Then the transmitter sends an electrical signal through the electrodes to stimulate the cochlear nerve. Every person has a different thought depending on their experiences in their life whether deaf children should receive cochlear

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

The middle ear has three ossicles (tiny bones) the hammer, the anvil, and the stirrup that connect the middle ear to the inner ear. When sound enters your middle ear, it causes the ossicles to vibrate. These vibrations then move into the cochlea, which is filled with fluid. When the vibrations move the fluid that is in the cochlea, it stimulates tiny hair cells that respond to different frequencies of sound. After the tiny hair cells are stimulated, they direct the frequencies of sound into the auditory nerve, as nerve impulses. (ASHA 2013)

Tinnitus ‘is a term that describes any sound a person can hear from inside their body rather than from an outside source’ (nhs, 2013). People usually hear sounds such as ringing, buzzing, humming or machine type noises. ‘Sometimes the noise pulsates at the same rate as your pulse’ (knott, 2012). The noises may vary in pitch and intensity and can come from either ear or both. The noise is more noticeable in a quiet place and people may find they are becoming more sensitive to normal everyday sounds.

There are many things that people in the hearing world take for granted every day, such as verbal communication, using a telephone or something as simple as the feeling you get when your favorite song comes on the radio. To a person that has been completely immersed in the deaf community, it may be easy to view the sense of sound as unnecessary. As a member of the haring community it would seem nearly impossible to live a day without sound. Cochlear implants are devices that help a person who is deaf gain hearing to some degree, and in some cases nearly full hearing. This new technology has become very controversial throughout both the hearing, and the deaf world.

Hearing serves a crucial benefit for understanding the world around us. During the 1940’s, Dr. Ramsdell realized that hearing serves four crucial function; symbolically we are informed or entertained, aesthetically hearing is naturally pleasing, warningly we are alerted or prepared, primitively we are aware of our surroundings [1]. The ear is typically divided into three sections, used to simplify the hearing process. The first section, or the outer ear, is composed of the auricle (skin covered cartilage), the auditory canal, and the tympanic membrane (the outer layer of the eardrum). The middle ear section contains the eardrum, tympanic cavity, and the ossicles. These ossicles are three small bones often referred to as malleus (hammer),

Claire is now transitioning into preschool, and her parents are worried about what Claire's first school experience will be like but luckily for Claire her new teacher, Ms. Williams, is a veteran preschool teacher and in the past, Ms. Williams has taught students with disabilities who use alternative communication systems but from what I read in the article Ms. Williams doesn't have any experience in working with children cochlear implant nevertheless she is very eager to learn and work with Claire. Ms. Williams seems a bit nervous to work with Claire and has several questions about cochlear implants. Ms. Williams has heard that the cochlear implant devices are very expensive and she is worried about simply keeping track of Claire's device, she also worries about the troubleshooting of the device if something goes wrong, is there a difference between teaching a child with a cochlear implant and teaching other children with disabilities. Although Ms. Williams is anxious to learn more about cochlear implants and how to best support Claire's developing listening and communication skills. Ms. Williams assumes Claire will need a variety of visual supports and she wonders about the different types of visual supports and accommodations that Claire might

So what is a cochlear implant? According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, “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. The implant consists of an external portion that sits behind the ear and a second portion that is surgically placed under the skin” (NIDCD). Cochlear implants do not restore a person’s hearing and work differently from a hearing aid. The implants, “bypass damaged portions of the ear and directly stimulate the auditory nerve. Signals generated by the implant are sent by way of the auditory nerve to the brain, which recognizes the signals as sound”

Surfer's ear occurs because surfers experience both cold wind and water exposure while they're out on the waves. The bone surrounding the ear

Meniere 's disease is a disease of the inner ear comprised of three main symptoms: tinnitus, hearing loss and occasional, long lasting vertigo. Any patient may have some or all of these, to varying degrees, between one or both ears. Tinnitus or aural pressure is especially prevalent before an episode of vertigo. These vertigo attacks can last anywhere from 20 minutes up to a full day per attack and are often associated with vomiting and nausea [X1].

Different frequencies reach their peak at different positions along the tube, which allows the cochlea to distinguish them. Researchers have found that the spiral shape significantly enhances the “vibrational motions” that translate into nerve signals. However, if the cochlear is damaged it is obvious how important the development of the cochlear implant is. Essentially the cochlear implant serves as a bypass for damaged sections of the ear, replacing the function of the ineffective hair cells.

The bone-anchored hearing aid, or Baha, made by CochlearTM, is a bone conduction hearing aid. The Baha is usually fitted to those who cannot wear air conduction hearing aids. The Baha is typically fit to individuals with a conductive hearing loss, but can be fit to other hearing losses. Sound vibrations travel through the outer ear to the tympanic membrane, which moves the malleus, incus, and stables, also known as the ossicles. The footplate of the stapes moves against the oval window, which creates a wave in the fluid inside the cochlea. This results in a change in pressure of the basilar membrane, moving the hair cells, which send information through the auditory nerve to the brain. A conductive hearing loss is when sounds are not conducted

The ears are one of the most complex and interesting systems thats human body has and the sounds we hear are actually in many different parts deflected, absorbed, and also filtered by our different body parts. It's then collected by our pinnae (the external part of or ears), whose dimensions further affect the sound on its way into ear. There, vibrations are translated into signals, which are interpreted by your brain. In the 1930s, two scientists at Bell Labs, Harvey Fletcher and Wilden A. Munson researched this process and what they discovered has changed and affected how we as humans understand the hearing process.