Audiology

Treatment

How The Procedure Is Done

Cochlear implant surgery is performed while the patient is under general anesthesia and takes approximately 3 to 4 hours. It involves:

• Making an incision behind the ear
• Forming a slight depression in the mastoid bone, where the internal part of the device is placed
• Creating a small hole in the cochlea
• Threading the electrodes from the internal device through the hole
• Closing the incision, leaving the internal device beneath the skin

Follow-Up After Surgery

About a month after surgery, the patient has a follow-up appointment with the audiologist and receives the external speech processor and microphone. These external components are connected to the surgically implanted electrodes via a magnet. Then, the audiologist fine-tunes (tunes-up) the implant, making sound audible.

Learn More

• What are Cochlear Implants?
• How Cochlear Implants Work
• Benefits of Cochlear Implants
• Criteria For Getting Cochlear Implants

Resources

For more information about cochlear implants, visit the following Web sites:

• Cochlear
• Advanced Bionics Corporation
• The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders
• National Academy of Sciences: Short history of the cochlear implant