Who is a candidate for a cochlear implant?
Children and adults who have severe or profound sensorineural hearing loss and derive minimal benefit from hearing aids may be candidates for a cochlear implant. The benefit that an adult receives from an implant depends on several factors: their degree of hearing loss, their ability to understand speech before receiving the implant, experience using a hearing aid, and the length of time they have been severely deaf. Generally the more experience a person has with hearing and the shorter the duration of their deafness, the more benefit they can expect to receive. Young children are excellent candidates for cochlear implants because their nervous systems are able to learn easily which allows them to make use of the sound the implant provides. Children implanted early, who do not have other significant development disabilities and who receive intensive post-implantation speech, language and listening therapy, may acquire age appropriate speech, language, developmental and social skills.
