When it comes to hearing loss, it directly disturbs a person’s life, making it hard to communicate, grasp speeches, and have a regular interaction with people around them. To overcome this hearing loss, cochlear implant surgery offers a path to regain their sound sense. Usually, traditional hearing aids just amplify sound for mild and moderate hearing loss, but cochlear implants bypass the problematic ear parts and directly stimulate the auditory nerve, making users perceive sounds.

To undergo proper implantation, you need to consult the best ENT care hospitals in Chennai, like Orthomed. Orthomed is a well-renowned and best ENT care hospital, which helps you with their leading specialist in Chennai.

What is a Cochlear Implant?

Cochlear implants provide a wide range of benefits for people with severe hearing loss, particularly when the hearing aid is least effective. For children, such surgery can enhance their overall learning ability and develop strong language skills; even for adults, it improves their communication and overall interactions.

Depending upon the person’s condition, surgery can be performed on one ear (unilateral) or both ears (bilateral). Usually, adults go for one implant, and later, due to continuous loss of hearing, they receive a second one. For children with hearing loss in both ears, this implantation will be on both ears to develop speech and language skills.

There are a few benefits of cochlear implants for recipients, which include:

• Without reading the lip, people can hear speech.
• Identifying common sounds, which includes warning signals.
• Recognizing conversation even in noisy environments.
• Identifying the source of any sound.
• Easy to hear TV programs and attend calls.
• In some cases, reducing tinnitus (a ringing or buzzing feeling in the ear)

Cochlear Implant Surgery: Procedure and Preparation

Cochlear implant surgery is a safe and effective procedure performed under general anesthesia. Before the surgery, patients undergo a series of evaluations, which include speech assessments, hearing tests, and scans like CT or MRI, which help to examine the cochlea and inner ear.

In the surgery, the ENT surgeon makes a little incision behind the ear, making an opening in the skull bone (mastoid), and threads the electrode array into the cochlea. When it comes to external implantation, the external device, like a microphone and speech processor, is attached behind the ear and connected to the internal device.

Post-surgery, patients can come across mild discomfort, dizziness, or even nausea, but the majority return to their homes on the same day. With many follow-up appointments within a few weeks to activate the device, the audiologist helps to adjust the sound processor and verifies the optimal result of the implant.

Recovery and Results

After surgery, close to 4 weeks, the cochlear implant will be fine-tuned to suit the patient’s hearing needs. However, the result of such an implant may change depending upon a few factors, like duration, reason behind hearing loss, and pre-status about the patient’s communication progress. People with recent hearing loss issues generally expect better outcomes.

Children who receive their cochlear implants at a young age, especially kids born with severe hearing loss, showed better improvement through their development towards speech and language more efficiently. Adults too showed significant benefits through this procedure; even adults with severe hearing impairments from their childhood who have never heard sounds may experience a few positive improvements in detecting noises through cochlear implants.

Conclusion:

On the whole, cochlear implant surgery provides expected benefits for people with hearing loss to comprehend the sounds of the world. At orthomed hospital, known as the best ENT care hospital in Chennai with specialists in Chennai, we strive towards providing complete care to every patient for a successful outcome.

If you or a loved one is facing a problem with hearing loss, take the first step to consult ENT specialists in Chennai to explore all about the process of cochlear implant surgery that transforms your hearing and improves your way of communication.