Cochlear Implant Pros and Cons
What are the pros and cons of a cochlear implant?
Like most other medical devices, there are pros and cons of cochlear implants.
Pros:
If you have severe hearing loss, a cochlear implant could improve your quality of life.
The benefits depend on your procedure and rehabilitation process. With a cochlear implant, you might be able to:
. Hear different sounds, like footsteps
. Comprehend speech without lip reading
. Hear voices on the phone
. Hear music
. Watch TV without captions
For babies and toddlers, the device could help them learn how to talk.
Read more about : Cochlear implant parts
Cons:
Cochlear implant surgery is a generally safe procedure. However, it presents potential risks, such as:
. Bleeding
. Swelling
. Ringing in the ear (tinnitus)
. Dizziness
. Infection at surgery site
. Dry mouth
. Taste changes
. Facial paralysis
. Balance issues
. Meningitis
. Surgery to remove implant (due to infection) or fix defective implant
Your specific risks depend on your overall health and medical conditions.
Also, cochlear implants don’t restore normal hearing. For some individuals, it might not help at all.
Other potential cons include:
. Having to remove the external component to bathe or swim
. Regularly recharging batteries or using new ones
. Losing remaining natural hearing in the ear with the implant
. Damage to the implant during sports activity or accidents
. Extensive rehabilitation to help you learn how to use the implant
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Results
Results of cochlear implant surgery vary from person to person. Factors that can affect the outcomes of cochlear implantation include the age when hearing was lost, and the length of time between hearing loss and the cochlear implant surgery.
For children, the best results generally occur with getting a cochlear implant at a young age.
For adults, the best results are generally associated with a shorter period of profound hearing loss before cochlear implantation. Adults with little or no experience with sound tend to benefit less from cochlear implants.
Some predicted outcomes may include:
. Clearer hearing. Many people who meet the hearing criteria for cochlear implantation may eventually get clearer hearing with using the device.
. Improved tinnitus. Although ear noise (tinnitus) isn’t a primary reason to receive a cochlear implant, the cochlear implant may partially suppress or improve the severity of tinnitus during use. It can rarely worsen tinnitus severity.
Cochlear implant success rate
Having said that, cochlear implants are the world’s most successful medical prostheses in that less than 0.2% of recipients reject it or do not use it and the failure rate needing reimplantation is around 0.5%.