Who can benefit from a cochlear implant?
A cochlear implant is recommended for people with sensorineural single-sided or bilateral hearing loss who are unable to communicate effectively with a hearing aid.
If you have cochlear or sensorineural perceptive hearing loss, the sensory cells of the inner ear (hair cells) are either insufficient in number or too damaged to provide proper hearing. A cochlear implant system bypasses these issues in the cochlea and helps to improve your hearing and quality of life.
Suitable for adults of all ages
There is no upper age limit for cochlear implantation, although a preliminary psychocognitive evaluation is essential for the elderly. For these candidates, the main benefit of cochlear implantation is that it helps maintain autonomy and social interaction.
The advantages of bilateral
Having implants in both ears improves the ability to locate sound, aids speech understanding in noisy environments and enables stereo perception of sound. Although the two implants can be placed in one operation, the majority of bilateral implantations take place over two sessions. Often the second implantation takes place months, or even years, after the first. Patients with one implant could be candidates for bilateral implantation, pending an evaluation from the implantation center.*
Not a solution for everyone
In certain cases, the implantation center may decide that cochlear implantation is inappropriate. In addition to the medical indications of cochlear implantation, the following may rule out this solution:
• if conventional hearing aids are considered sufficient for speech understanding
• if the auditory nerve is too damaged or non-existent, or if the cochlea is ossified or not the main cause of hearing loss, other solutions may be suggested, such as a brainstem implant
• if your health does not allow you to undergo surgery
• if your motivation or your family’s support are considered inadequate.
*Please note that bilateral implantation is not reimbursed by all insurance companies.