Cochlear Implant

“Every cloud has a silver lining”- Right????

It isn’t just a saying but an infinitely deep thought that often we disincline to indulge in. But the shadow of the dark cloud never loses its impact easily- like the waving moon- its synonyms figure right out of your imagination. This is actually hard to believe but it’s a fact with deep imprint on the weak side of mind- which is fear!!!

So guys it’s time to battle out the fear, kick out monstrous sceneries that you sketch every time you slip onto your bed to screen new dreams. “Why wreak havoc while you have opportunities knocking right at your door??”

It’s the COCHLEAR IMPLANTATION which again top the list which is one of the dramatic sceneries sketched by technology. Cochlear implants be a solution for children specially suffering from post-lingual deafness and adults with severe to profound hearing loss- that provide sense of sound to the helpless.

A surgically implanted electronic device that does all the work of damaged parts of the cochlea (inner ear) to provide a sense of sound to a person who is profoundly deaf or severely hard of hearing in the ears. This device sends sound signals to the brain. The implant has a coil which receives signals, electronics and has an array of electrodes placed into the cochlea, which in turn helps in stimulating the cochlear nerve.

Who can they help?

The cochlear implant technology can help people who:

• have moderate to profound hearing loss in both ears
• receive little or no benefit from hearing aids
• score 50% or less on sentence recognition tests done by hearing professionals in the ear to be implanted
• Score 60% or less on sentence recognition tests done by hearing professionals in the non-implanted ear or in both ears with hearing aids.

Many a times, we feel scared, our hands and feet become numb, our face pale, when we hear the words hospital, operations, stiches or anything related to cuts and wounds. But this is not the case here. This cochlear implantation procedure is carried out under general anaesthesia under the supervision of experienced doctors and nurses. Only a feeling of dizziness may be encountered.

This implantation has no age barrier. It can be done in any age group of people having hearing impairment in both the ears. But for people over 70 years of age, the risks usually increase, but eventually gets resolved. But a patient who is below 3yrs of age or a patient who is congenital the outcome will be preferable.

‘So, keep away the fear in yourself. You will get cured.’

If you think about its symptoms, it’s very common. Just that the hearing isn’t very much refined even after the implantation of cochlea.

But, never get disheartened, it has a bag full of benefits. One symptom just a small cut in comparison to a large number of benefits that acts as experienced and specialised doctors ready to heal the cut.

What are the benefits of a cochlear implant?

Many adults with cochlear implants report that they:

• Hear better with a cochlear implant than with a hearing aid.
• Can focus better when in noisy environments.
• Find it easier to have conversations with people across meeting tables, in restaurants and other crowded places.
• Reconnect with missed sounds that they could not hear before their cochlear implant.
• Feel safer in the world as they can hear alarms, people calling out and approaching vehicles.
• Talk and hear on the phone.
• Enjoy music.

These benefits vary from person to person. These anomaly can be pointed out as:

• For how long they have had hearing loss before receiving a cochlear implant.
• How severe their hearing loss is.
• The condition of their cochlea (inner ear).
• The presence of other medical conditions.
• How much practice they include in everyday life when using their cochlear implant system.

After all this huge reasons and treatment procedures behind the cochlear implantation, if you think about how much the cost of a hearing aid would be; you will be shocked to know that it costs just a minimal amount. Just a tiny part of your savings is needed to get you cured. You can get your suitable hearing aid on producing your prescription. It is advisable to buy a hearing aid frim the best possible company. These aids are widely available in Kolkata and other parts of west Bengal too. Cheap hearing aids if bought gives a temporary relief to your ears but a hearing aid with a standard price is strongly recommended.

Talking about its treatment in medical field, it involves a surgical procedure used to implant the device- this process is known as mastoidectomy.

The rate of complications is 12% for minor complications and 3% for major which includes infections, facial paralysis and device failure. To avoid the risk of bacterial meningitis, it is often recommended for vaccination prior to the procedure. Cochlear implants are only approved for people who are deaf in both the ears.

“Blindness separates people from things, but, deafness separates people from people.” – Helen Keller

If we abide by the quote by Helen Keller, we can definitely say that no one wishes to be deaf. In fact, deafness detaches us from the outer world. iHEAR too doesn’t want its clients to get detached and be different from other people around. This is one such quality of iHEAR making it unique from the rest. An out-of-the-box thought is always appreciated. For this reason itself, iHEAR has specialized doctors in this field. They can be blindly trusted upon. They provide you with the best available treatment in town. Giving a try is worth it.