What is a cochlear implant, and when is it recommended?
A cochlear implant, sometimes called a “bionic ear”, is an electronic device for severe or profound hearing loss, when conventional hearing aids no longer provide adequate hearing.
How does it work?
A very fine array of electrodes is inserted into the cochlea, the organ of hearing that is no longer working. The device converts sound into electrical impulses and stimulates the auditory nerve directly, which carries the signals to the hearing centres of the brain.
Surgery, anaesthesia and hospital stay
- Anaesthesia
- general, except in particular cases where the patient’s condition calls for a local anaesthetic
- Duration
- about 45–60 minutes
- Hospital stay
- one night, with discharge the following day
When is the implant switched on?
Activation can take place on the day of surgery, and in any case within the following month. It is carried out by the team of biomedical engineers who perform the initial programming of the device.
What does rehabilitation involve?
Care continues in a dedicated Hearing Rehabilitation Unit, where a team of speech and language therapists supports the patient through every stage after surgery and helps them adapt to a new way of perceiving sound.
Why is early treatment so important?
In children with a confirmed diagnosis of profound deafness, the implant is placed within the first year of life. Operating this early makes the most of the brain’s plasticity in infancy: the brain learns to process sound naturally during the critical window for language development, and the child can reach hearing and speech abilities very close to those of children with normal hearing.
In adults, too, timing is the factor that most influences the outcome: the longer the ear goes without stimulation, the harder it becomes to achieve the best possible hearing.
In children, are one or both ears operated on?
As a rule, both, in a single operation (simultaneous bilateral cochlear implantation). This spares the child a second anaesthetic and supports balanced hearing development from the outset, including the ability to tell where sounds are coming from.
This information is provided for general guidance. Every treatment decision is made during a specialist consultation.