Cochlear Implant Opinion Paper
Mrs. Bates
English 112
5 March 2013
Cochlear Implants When most are born, they have five senses. Touching, tasting, feeling, smelling, and hearing. For whatever reason, sometimes in their lifetime some people may lose one of more of these senses. Imagine not being able to hear. How would that affect a person’s daily routine? Also, what if the said person could somehow get their hearing back, would they jump at the chance? That’s where cochlear implants come into play. Until the late 1970s the only thing that was used for those with hearing loss was the behind the ear hearing aids. The hearing aids only help to amplify what small proportion of hearing that a person may have left. So if a person doesn’t have any, then the hearing aids will not work properly. (Cochlear Implants) Whereas hearing aids are fairly simple, get the ear mold made and adjust the sound level to the need of the person wearing them, cochlear implants are not. The first step to receiving a cochlear implant is evaluation. Before any surgery is done on the patient, they will study them and be sure that cochlear implants are the best choice for not only the patient, but for the family as well. The family of the patient has to be willing to communicate with the child and help them either work on or establish language and speech skills (Cochlear Implants for Kids.) After the evaluation is carried on and passed then the surgery will occur. There are two parts to a cochlear implant: the internal and the external. The external consists of the outer hardware (also referred to as the speech processor) which is equipped with a microphone that is on the inside of an implant and the magnet, which is attached to the hardware with a coil. The magnet is what makes it work basically. The magnet attached to the internal piece of metal. The internal (implanted) parts include a receiver and electrodes. The receiver is just under the skin behind the ear. The receiver takes the coded
English 112
5 March 2013
Cochlear Implants When most are born, they have five senses. Touching, tasting, feeling, smelling, and hearing. For whatever reason, sometimes in their lifetime some people may lose one of more of these senses. Imagine not being able to hear. How would that affect a person’s daily routine? Also, what if the said person could somehow get their hearing back, would they jump at the chance? That’s where cochlear implants come into play. Until the late 1970s the only thing that was used for those with hearing loss was the behind the ear hearing aids. The hearing aids only help to amplify what small proportion of hearing that a person may have left. So if a person doesn’t have any, then the hearing aids will not work properly. (Cochlear Implants) Whereas hearing aids are fairly simple, get the ear mold made and adjust the sound level to the need of the person wearing them, cochlear implants are not. The first step to receiving a cochlear implant is evaluation. Before any surgery is done on the patient, they will study them and be sure that cochlear implants are the best choice for not only the patient, but for the family as well. The family of the patient has to be willing to communicate with the child and help them either work on or establish language and speech skills (Cochlear Implants for Kids.) After the evaluation is carried on and passed then the surgery will occur. There are two parts to a cochlear implant: the internal and the external. The external consists of the outer hardware (also referred to as the speech processor) which is equipped with a microphone that is on the inside of an implant and the magnet, which is attached to the hardware with a coil. The magnet is what makes it work basically. The magnet attached to the internal piece of metal. The internal (implanted) parts include a receiver and electrodes. The receiver is just under the skin behind the ear. The receiver takes the coded