A cochlear implant is made up of a microphone, a speech processor, a transmitter, receiver, and an electrode. Cochlear implants do not restore the natural hearing in the ear, but they bypass the damaged part of the ear. Instead of amplifying sound in an attempt to stimulate the auditory nerve like a hearing aid, cochlear implants stimulate the auditory nerve directly with electrical impulses. The electrical impulses are carried down the auditory nerve to the brain, which processes the electrical signals as sound. This technology has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for implantation in children as young as twelve months of age (Cochlear Implants, n.d., para. 4). In addition, young cochlear implant patients (implanted at age 2 or younger), with extensive hearing and speech training, are able to enter into conventional schooling by first grade (Beer, Castellanos, Colson, Henning, & Pisoni, 2014, para. 2). Since children make the most strides in development at a young age, early implantation of cochlear implants during the first years of life is optimal for their language and speech
A cochlear implant is made up of a microphone, a speech processor, a transmitter, receiver, and an electrode. Cochlear implants do not restore the natural hearing in the ear, but they bypass the damaged part of the ear. Instead of amplifying sound in an attempt to stimulate the auditory nerve like a hearing aid, cochlear implants stimulate the auditory nerve directly with electrical impulses. The electrical impulses are carried down the auditory nerve to the brain, which processes the electrical signals as sound. This technology has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for implantation in children as young as twelve months of age (Cochlear Implants, n.d., para. 4). In addition, young cochlear implant patients (implanted at age 2 or younger), with extensive hearing and speech training, are able to enter into conventional schooling by first grade (Beer, Castellanos, Colson, Henning, & Pisoni, 2014, para. 2). Since children make the most strides in development at a young age, early implantation of cochlear implants during the first years of life is optimal for their language and speech