Cochlear implant
The modern electronic hearing aid for adults and children
How the cochlear implant works
The Cochlear implant (CI) is an electronic hearing aid whose electrodes are surgically placed in the inner ear. The electrodes are connected through a hearing aid worn behind the ear. Speech processor (SP) with the necessary energy and information.
They stimulate the auditory nerve with modulated electrical impulses. The cochlear implant enables deaf and severely hard of hearing people to hear. Above all hearing impaired children the CI can pave the way to the diversity of hearing and speech.
During the operation, the implant is inserted into the bone behind the ear under the skin and the electrode array is inserted into the scala tympani of the inner ear (cochlea). (see graphic: „Cochlea and electrode array”).
The speech processor of the cochlear implant does what the inner ear cannot or can no longer do adequately in people who are hard of hearing or practically deaf: It picks up the sound through his microphones, analyses this incredibly quickly according to strength, pitch and temporal progression, converts it into electrical impulses and transmits these via the transmitter coil of the speech processor for Receiving coil of the implant.
From there, they are sent to a selection of electrodes determined by the previous analysis. Finally, the impulses from these electrodes excite the auditory nerve, which in turn transmits this excitation to the brain. This is where the impression of „hearing“ is created. This whole process therefore reproduces the natural processing of sound in the ear surprisingly well and effectively.
Nucleus® Slim Modiolar Electrode (CI632)
Cochlear™ Nucleus® 8 sound processor
Sound processor Cochlear™ Nucleus® 7 Kanso® 2
KNOWLEDGE
About the development of the CI
The first attempts to electrically stimulate the auditory organ go back further in history than is generally assumed.
Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Count of Volta (1745-1827), an Italian physicist, has already carried out a self-experiment with 1790 He performed an electrical stimulation of the auditory canal. He compared the sound that arose in his head to the sound of boiling water.
The first electrode implantation was performed in 1957 by Djourno, a French physicist, and Eyries, a French otologist. They implanted electrodes into the auditory nerve of a completely deaf patient.
From 1968 In America and a few years later in Australia, both single-channel and - due to the unsatisfactory results - multi-channel electrode systems were implanted.
The first implantations in Europe were carried out from the early 1970s in France (1973), Vienna (1975), Düren (Germany) (1979), Hanover (1984) and Berlin (Charite) (1985) was made.
Until the year 1984 400 mostly late-deafened adults in Australia, America and Europe were fitted with a CI.
Worldwide, up to 1987 around 600-700 people have been fitted with an “inner ear prosthesis”.
According to the European Association of Cochlear Implant Users (EURO-CIU), more than 150,000 hearing-impaired people across Europe are currently fitted with a CI. Worldwide, there are almost 400,000. 40 of these are % children.
There are currently around 40,000 CI users in Germany. Around 3000 are added every year.
Source: Ola S, Zichner S (1996): Psychosoziale Probleme bei der Rehabilitation von Spätertaubten nach Cochlea Implantation - Ausgewählte kommunikative Aspekte und Fragen der Selbsthilfe -, Diploma thesis, Berlin 1996, 52, www.schnecke-online.de
About listening
Understanding how hearing is created:
Structure and function of the ear at a glance
OUTER EAR
The auricle picks up the sound waves and conducts them through the ear canal to the eardrum.
CENTRE EAR
The sound waves cause the eardrum and the auditory ossicles to vibrate.
INSIDE EAR
Vibrations cause the hair cells in the inner ear (cochlea) to move. The hair cells convert the movements into electrical impulses and transmit them to the brain via the auditory nerves.
We customise speech processors for cochlear implants from all manufacturers approved in Germany: Advanced Bionics, Cochlear, MED-EL
Our centre is manufacturer-independent. This allows us to select the right CI system together with you - customised to your medical requirements and personal needs. Regardless of the type of implant, you will receive comprehensive support, technical fitting and therapeutic guidance from us.
Specialist articles
Current knowledge about cochlear implants: Specialist articles on medicine, therapy and research. Read it now!
Our experts will advise you on all aspects of cochlear implants.
Please feel free to contact us by phone or e-mail. We will be happy to advise you.