COCHLEAR IMPLANTATION

MAA Cochlear implant Programme:

Our team has an ENT Surgeon (Dr.K.R.Meghanadh), Audiologists and Speech Language pathologists. The surgeon implants the Cochlear implant through the surgical procedures, the audiologist supports on checking the implants status during the surgery and mapping after the surgery and Speech language pathologists work on Speech Rehabilitation after the surgery. It’s a team work where every professional plays a key role.

Cochlear implant:

A cochlear implant is a small, complex electronic device that helps in providing a sense of sound to a person who is profoundly deaf or severely hard-of-hearing. It can restore hearing in patients suffering from deafness due to loss of sensory hair cells in the cochlea. In such patients, it can often restore sufficient hearing. Many people suffer hearing loss because they have damage to hair cells in the inner ear or (cochlea). If hearing nerves work, a cochlear implant can allow you to hear nearly normal.

The cochlear implant has following parts:

• An external sound processor captures sound and converts it into digital code
• The sound processor transmits the digitally-coded sound through the coil to the implant
• The implant converts the digitally-coded sound into electrical impulses and sends them along the electrode array, which is positioned in the cochlea (inner ear)
• The implant's electrodes stimulate the cochlea's hearing nerve, which then sends the impulses to the brain where they are interpreted as sound.

Pre-cochlear therapy:

Once the child is diagnosed with profound hearing loss, the child is fitted with the hearing aids for pre-cochlear training. Here the child is habituated to use the hearing aid regularly (as the child has to wear the processor – external device in Cochlear implantation) and are provided with adequate speech and language exposure.

Cochlear implant surgery:

Dr. K.R. Meghanadh, MS ENT is expert in Cochlear implant surgery using latest trend technology.