{"id":4931,"date":"2018-08-23T09:20:36","date_gmt":"2018-08-23T09:20:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arizonahearing.com\/?p=4931"},"modified":"2022-06-07T12:56:03","modified_gmt":"2022-06-07T19:56:03","slug":"what-is-a-cochlear-implant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arizonahearing.com\/what-is-a-cochlear-implant\/","title":{"rendered":"What is a Cochlear Implant?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script type=\"application\/ld+json\"><br \/>\n{<br \/>\n  \"@context\" : \"http:\/\/schema.org\",<br \/>\n  \"@type\" : \"Article\",<br \/>\n  \"mainEntityOfPage\": {<br \/>\n         \"@type\": \"WebPage\",<br \/>\n         \"@id\": \"https:\/\/arizonahearing.com\/what-is-a-cochlear-implant\/\"<br \/>\n},<br \/>\n  \"name\" : \"What is a Cochlear Implant?\",<br \/>\n  \"author\" : {<br \/>\n    \"@type\" : \"Organization\",<br \/>\n    \"name\" : \"Arizona Hearing \"<br \/>\n  },<br \/>\n  \"datePublished\" : \"2018-08-23\",\/\/ Date format is yyyy-mm-dd<br \/>\n  \"dateModified\" : \"2018-08-29\",\/\/ Date format is yyyy-mm-dd<br \/>\n  \"image\": {<br \/>\n\"@type\": \"ImageObject\",<br \/>\n\"url\": \"https:\/\/arizonahearing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/cochlear-implant.jpg\",<br \/>\n\"width\": 696,<br \/>\n\"height\": 100<br \/>\n},<br \/>\n  \"articleSection\" : \"Most people are familiar with hearing aids, but cochlear implants are less well understood. Learn more about the difference here.\",<br \/>\n  \"articleBody\" : \"Most people are familiar with hearing aids, but cochlear implants are less well understood. Hearing aids are the gold standard of treatment for most people with hearing loss. They work by amplifying sounds, enabling those with nerve damage to hear better. Simply boosting audio levels won\u2019t work for those experiencing severe hearing loss or profound deafness. Instead, these individuals may benefit from cochlear implants \u2013 surgically implanted devices that generate electrical signals that are sent to the brain and interpreted as sound. \",<br \/>\n  \"url\" : \"https:\/\/arizonahearing.com\/what-is-a-cochlear-implant\/\",<br \/>\n  \"headline\" : \"What is a Cochlear Implant?\",<br \/>\n  \"publisher\" : {<br \/>\n    \"@type\" : \"Organization\",<br \/>\n    \"name\" : \"Arizona Hearing \",<br \/>\n    \"logo\": {<br \/>\n\"@type\": \"ImageObject\",<br \/>\n\"url\": \"https:\/\/arizonahearing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/ahs-logo-final_v2-1.png\",<br \/>\n\"width\": 100,<br \/>\n\"height\": 60<br \/>\n}<br \/>\n  }<br \/>\n}<br \/>\n<\/script><br \/>\nMost people are familiar with hearing aids, but <strong>cochlear implants<\/strong> are less well understood. This isn\u2019t too surprising given that the majority of people with <a title=\"Hearing loss | Arizona Hearing\" href=\"https:\/\/arizonahearing.com\/hearing-loss\/\">hearing loss<\/a> in Tucson &#8211; nine out of ten \u2013 treat their impairment with hearing aids, many of which are at least partially visible to others, depending on their size and style. By contrast, cochlear implants are barely noticeable, and worn by a much smaller percentage of people.<\/p>\n<h2>Who Wears Cochlear Implants?<\/h2>\n<p><a title=\"Hearing aids | Arizona Hearing\" href=\"https:\/\/arizonahearing.com\/hearing-aids\/\">Hearing aids<\/a> are the gold standard of treatment for most people with hearing loss. They work by amplifying sounds, enabling those with nerve damage to hear better. Simply boosting audio levels won\u2019t work for those experiencing severe hearing loss or profound deafness. Instead, these individuals may benefit from cochlear implants \u2013 surgically implanted devices that generate electrical signals that are sent to the brain and interpreted as sound. Candidates for <a title=\"cochlear implants | nidcd.nih.gov\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nidcd.nih.gov\/health\/cochlear-implants\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">cochlear implants<\/a> are typically those with advanced language and communication skills, often people who have developed hearing loss later in life. Children younger than six, whose speech and language skills are still developing, also make good candidates.<\/p>\n<h2>How Do Cochlear Implants Work?<\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"cochlear\" src=\"https:\/\/arizonahearing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/medium-464479828-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"513\" height=\"768\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-5105\" srcset=\"https:\/\/arizonahearing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/medium-464479828-2.jpg 513w, https:\/\/arizonahearing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/medium-464479828-2-256x383.jpg 256w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 513px) 100vw, 513px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Cochlear implants consist of two components: an external portion that houses a microphone, speech processor, and transmitter, and an internal portion containing a receiver and electrode array. The external portion is worn behind the ear, and the internal portion is implanted in the ear. The microphone captures sound and sends it to the processor, which converts the sound to electrical impulses. These signals are sent by the transmitter to the receiver and forwarded to the brain, bypassing damaged hair cells in the <a title=\"Cochlea | cochlea.org\" href=\"http:\/\/www.cochlea.org\/en\/hearing\/ear\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">cochlea<\/a>. The brain is able to interpret these signals as sound.<\/p>\n<p>Tucson patients with cochlear implants should realize they aren\u2019t a cure for hearing loss \u2013 but then again, neither are hearing aids! Both devices allow you to communicate more effectively with others \u2013 they just go about it differently. If you are experiencing profound hearing loss and your <a href=\"https:\/\/arizonahearing.com\/about\/\">Tucson audiologist<\/a> has determined you are a viable candidate for cochlear implants, you\u2019ll undergo cochlear mapping first.<\/p>\n<h2>What is Cochlear Mapping?<\/h2>\n<p>In order for you to get optimal performance from your cochlear implants and teach your brain how to \u201chear,\u201d they\u2019ll have to be programmed to your specific needs. This process is known as cochlear mapping.<\/p>\n<p>During the cochlear mapping process, a computer measures your response to a series of tones. Your Tucson audiologist uses this information to adjust them to match your specifications. Additional adjustments and fine-tuning will be made periodically as you learn how to communicate using cochlear implants.<\/p>\n<p>Pretty cool, huh? If you\u2019re experiencing severe to profound hearing loss and can\u2019t be helped by conventional hearing aids, contact your Tucson audiologist to learn if you are a candidate for cochlear implants.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Most people are familiar with hearing aids, but cochlear implants are less well understood. This isn\u2019t too surprising given that the majority of people with hearing loss in Tucson &#8211; nine out of ten \u2013 treat their impairment with hearing aids, many of which are at least partially visible to others, depending on their size&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5105,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"520-399-7630 | Tucson | Most people are familiar with hearing aids, but cochlear implants are less well understood. Learn more about the difference here.","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arizonahearing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4931"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arizonahearing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arizonahearing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arizonahearing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arizonahearing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4931"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/arizonahearing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4931\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7779,"href":"https:\/\/arizonahearing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4931\/revisions\/7779"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arizonahearing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arizonahearing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arizonahearing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arizonahearing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}