The cochlear implant, better known as a bionic ear, changed my life. I became a hearing deaf person and I could hear again everything that my profound bilateral deafness had prevented me from hearing. Since then, I have dedicated myself to demystifying this subject and making sure that more people have QUALITY information about cochlear implants.
There are a lot of anti-technology, anti-medicine and anti-science lobbyists spreading lies about CI out there. They say absurdities like, for example, that CI attracts lightning, it’s brain surgery, it makes people upset and it’s very dangerous. Don’t listen to people who don’t even know what they’re talking about. The best people to help you learn more about CI are people who have already had the surgery, ENT doctors who specialize in cochlear implant surgery and speech therapists from the CI teams. Anyone who doesn’t have any experience with IC is just guessing or curious. Go straight to the right sources, inform yourself and draw your own conclusions.
When you have an indication for surgery, you can have it through SUS or your health insurance. In this post you’ll discover the differences between the two modalities.
I invited
Dr. Luciano Moreira –
an ENT specialist in deafness in Rio deJaneiro, who writes for the
ENT Portal
to talk about cochlear implants.
What the COCLEAR IMPLANT is and how it works
Activating the cochlear implant: Paula Pfeifer
Read honest accounts of activation from people who have had cochlear implants.
What is a Cochlear Implant?
O
cochlear implant
(CI) is currently used to restore hearing function in the most severe cases of sensorineural deafness, in which ordinary hearing aids are no longer able to help.
In children born deaf and implanted in the first 2 years of life, the doctor creates the conditions for learning proper oral communication and a development similar to that of hearing children, with the help of specific speech therapies.
The CI is an electronic device designed to be surgically inserted into a part of the inner ear known as the cochlea, carrying coded electrical stimuli directly to the auditory nerve.
The main difference between CIs and hearing aids is the way they work. Hearing aids act as amplifiers, but they still depend on the inner ear’s ability to transform amplified sound stimuli into nerve signals. This is why they are recommended for mild, moderate or severe deafness.
The CI and cases of severe and profound deafness
In cases of severe to profound deafness, the functioning of the cochlea (inner ear) is so deficient that the mere amplification of sound by hearing aids is able to generate useful auditory stimulation.
In these cases, the CI is indicated to replace the function of the cochlea, acting not as an amplifier, but as a decoder of sound into electrical stimuli that will be picked up by the auditory nerve and understood by the brain.
The CI consists of an internal unit – which is implanted during surgery(b) – and an external unit, known as the speech processor,(a). the latter is similar to a hearing aid.
The processor has microphones that pick up sound stimuli and send them decoded to the internal unit via an antenna. The design, colors and sizes of the processor vary between the models and brands available. The information received by the internal unit is then forwarded to the electrode array(c) (a thin cable whose end is inserted inside the cochlea) near the auditory nerve(d).
Hearing is an extremely complex phenomenon and its final processing takes place at the brain level. We could therefore say that the ears are responsible for hearing (picking up) sounds, but it’s the brain that listens (understands the meaning of sounds).
Learn more about cochlear implants
Talk to people who use hearing aids from brands such as Phonak, Oticon, Resound, Widex, Signia, Rexton, Argosy, Starkey and Unitron in the
Deaf Who Hear Club
. E
watch these lessons BEFORE you buy a hearing aid
to learn all the secrets of the hearing industry and not be made a fool of.
CLUB OF THE HEARING DEAF: join us!
Your deafness journey doesn’t have to be lonely and uninformed! To make it lighter, simpler and full of friends, become a
MEMBER of the Deaf Who Hear Club.
In the Club, you’ll have access to our
digital communities (Facebook, Whatsapp and Telegram groups)
exclusive content, discounts on products and access to our courses*.
There are 21,700 hearing aid and cochlear implant users with the most different types and degrees of deafness for you to talk to and ask questions about the world of hearing loss (rights, hearing aids, doctors, audiologists, implants, exams, etc).
REASONS to join the Deaf Who Hear Club:
-
-
- Being in direct contact with those who have been through what you are going through (this makes all the difference!)
- Save thousands of dollars on your hearing aids
- Learn how to get a free hearing aid from SUS
- Don’t fall for scams (the internet is full of tinnitus scammers, fake hearing aids and health professionals who don’t specialize in hearing loss!)
- Talking to thousands of people who have deafness, otosclerosis, syndromes and use hearing aids to hear better
- Meeting hundreds of families of children with hearing loss
- Make friends, get out of isolation and regain your quality of life
- Get directions from
ENT doctors specializing in deafness
and speech therapists in Brazil from people you trust
-
If you are
parent of a child with hearing loss
one of the Club’s digital communities is a Telegram Group with hundreds of families helping each other every day.
The mistakes you CANNOT make when buying HEARING AID
I’ve been through the saga of buying hearing aids several times. I was once persuaded to go into debt to buy a “discreet and invisible” hearing aid that didn’t even cover my deafness. I’ve already been scammed when I took a hearing aid for repair to the store where I bought it: the audiologist said it was no longer suitable for me without even checking it or doing a new
audiometry
. I almost fell for the vicar’s tale of spending a fortune on a “top of the range” hearing aid for profound deafness, the features of which I would never be able to take advantage of due to the severity of my deafness. I’ve already been pressured into buying a hearing aid because the “unmissable promotion” was supposed to last until the next day. I also almost made the mistake of buying a hearing aid that was almost out of stock because of a stratospheric discount that ‘ended tomorrow’.
But YOU don’t have to go through that.
I’ve created a quick 1 hour 30 minute online course that brings together everything I’ve learned about buying hearing aids in 42 years of living with deafness 24 hours a day and that will save you a lot of money, time and energy getting your hearing back. In it, you’ll learn about the hearing industry’s WORST PRACTICES and everything you need to know and ask the healthcare professional testing your hearing aid. Become a student HERE.
DEAF COURSES
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