Cochlear Implants: Advances, Issues, and Implications

Abstract For both adults and children who have significant hearing losses, hearing aids have long provided some support for hearing language and environmental sounds. However, they often are insufficient to allow persons with the most severe hearing losses access to spoken language. More recently, cochlear implants (CIs) have been developed to assist individuals who have severe and profound hearing losses. Initially developed primarily for use by adults with late-onset hearing loss, they are now widely used by children, even at the infant and toddler ages. Cochlear implants convert sound into electrical signals that are delivered directly to peripheral portions of the auditory nerve. In most cases, this increases the availability of spoken language and other sounds, lowering but not completely eliminating many of the barriers confronting persons with greater levels of hearing loss. A number of factors, including length of period of hearing loss before use, age of first use, and cognitive abilities, have been identified as predictors of outcomes from cochlear implantation.