To begin with, cochlear implants are electronic devices that benefit people undergoing hearing loss or severe illnesses. People who experience inner-ear damage leading to a partial or complete hearing will be greatly benefited from cochlear implants. Don’t confuse hearing aids with cochlear implants. The former is used for augmenting sound, but cochlear implants circumvent the impaired portions of the ear for delivering sound signals to the auditory nerve.
Cochlear implants fit behind the ear and function with the help of a sound processor. The processor catches the sound signals and directs them to a receiver implanted beneath the skin behind the ear. The receiver supplies the signals to electrodes embedded in the snail-shaped inner cochlea. These signals further prompt the auditory nerve, followed by it directing the signals to the brain. Here the brain acts by analysing the signals as sounds. Though, these sounds won’t replicate natural sounds.
An Introduction to Bilateral Cochlear Implants
Bilateral cochlear implants are alternatives for people who have already undergone cochlear implants or have single ears implanted. The two options for bilateral cochlear implantation are:
- Simultaneous Implantation: Here, both ears are implanted in similar surgery. The patient only needs to be in the hospital and undergo anaesthesia once. Compared to getting two surgeries done, this one is more on the affordable side.
- Sequential Implantation: Here, the cochlear implants are positioned during two distinct surgeries. The general time gap between two surgeries ranges from weeks to years.
Benefits of Bilateral Cochlear Implants
If you have second thoughts about getting bilateral implants, go through the benefits below.
- Hearing Through Two Ears: As humans, our brains are automatically wired to receive inputs from both ears. Similarly, the same process is followed in audiology for offering hearing aids for both ears, especially in the case of children. Therefore, a cochlear implant should also occur in both ears.
- Effective Localization and Understanding of Speech: There is no issue in understanding that listening from two ears would enable a person to locate the source of the sound and also helps in apprehending the background noise. And bilateral cochlear implant has reportedly offered positive results in the recipient’s performance on these two specific tasks.
- Increased Sound Quality and Reduced Listening Effort: Not only sound localization, bilateral cochlear implant offer advantages beyond sound localization and background noise hearing abilities. Numerous bilateral implant patients have reported experiencing advanced sound quality, clarity, and acoustical balance.
Bilateral cochlear implants are supposedly one of the best ways of handling hearing loss or severe hearing issues. Patients have reported experiencing better hearing.
An Artificial Cochlea, also known as a neural prosthetic or Cepa, is a surgical device that gives patients with mild to severe sensory hearing loss a modified sensation of sound via cochlear implants.
Continuous-Flow, or CI, is a type of cochlear implant that has been tested and analysed in a number of scientific research.
Artificial Cochlea works by replacing the normal acoustic hearing process with electrical signals that activate the cochlear nerve directly through the auditory canal.
Deafness caused by a cochlear injury or malformation, such as Meniere's disease, a tumour, or head trauma, is usually treated with CI.
It can also be used to treat partial deafness, conductive hearing loss, central hearing impairment, and earwax blockage, and it is often considered to be the most helpful of all cochlear implant systems.What is the definition of Artificial Cochlea?
It is surgically implanted behind the eardrum in the outer ear, where it works in conjunction with the person's existing hearing nerves to produce the hearing signal that they would typically receive from their ears.
“Technology is best when it brings people together” Matt MullenwegHearing loss can be congenital or age-associated (mild, moderate & severe) having a strong impact on cognitive health.
Hearing aids are useful in mild to moderate hearing loss, but they can be of little or no use in cases of profound hearing loss, here, cochlear implants step in as the ideal choice.
However, upon conversion to digital signals, these analog sounds lose their natural texture and become harsh, and eventually leading to a comparatively unpleasant sound.
At Neubio, we understand this fundamental concept, and with our uncompromising analog signal-based audio technology, we are committed to delivering a true-to-life listening experience for every individual using our products, irrespective of their age and medical conditions.Type of stimulation: Digital Vs Analog signalBased on how the signals are received by the electrodes, and the type of stimulation, an implant can either be digital or analog.
simultaneous, non-simultaneous, or both (Composite).Waveform presentation (Analog or Pulsatile)It was observed that the cochlear implants equipped with the Analog strategy were better in terms of performance and stability (based on the 3-month evaluation to the 6-month evaluation reports) than the pulsatile ones.
Implantation carried out at the pre-lingual stage, had shown better results than when carried out at the post-lingual stage, and that to analog out-performed pulsatile at pre-lingual and post-lingual in both stages.Many other pro-Analog findings from research carried out by Stupak et al, (2018); Eddington, (1980); Shannon, et al (1981) and Battmer, (2000) support analog signals (8) for a cochlear implant.
