How does a Cochlear Implant work?
The cochlear implant is made up of 2 main parts: 1. THE IMPLANT: consists of an electronic package and magnet which is placed in the temporal bone, and an electrode array which is placed in the cochlear. 2. THE EXTERNAL PART: consists of a microphone, cables, coil and a speech processor. The hearing process using a cochlear implant is summarised below: 1. the microphone picks up sound and enters the speech processor 2. the speech processor filters, analyses and digitises the sound into coded signals. 3. the coded signals are sent from the speech processor to the transmitting antenna, or coil. 4. when the coded signals get to the coil, they are converted to FM radio signals 5. the FM radio signals are sent to the cochlear implant under the skin. 6. the cochlear implant delivers the electrical energy to the electrodes in the cochlea, based on the coded signals from the speech processor. 7. the electrodes stimulate the auditory nerve fibres, sending electrical sound information to the bra
Speech and environmental sounds are picked up by the speech processor and changed into a digital signal that is sent to the headpiece. The headpiece then transfers that signal to the internal device, which stimulates the hearing nerve. Click here to see a diagram and explanation. What does a cochlear implant sound like? The cochlear implant does not sound like natural spoken speech. When a cochlear implant is first hooked up, many adults report that speech sounds unnatural, and difficult to understand. However, over time, your brain is able to process the sound into meaningful speech. The speed that this happens is different for every cochlear implant patient. You will spend time with your audiologist making adjustments to the speech processor to optimize speech understanding. How is a cochlear implant different from a hearing aid?
