Cochlear Implant Facts
- The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved cochlear implants for adults in 1985 and for children in 1990.
- In 2000 the FDA lowered the eligibility age for cochlear implant surgery to twelve months of age.
- Most children receive cochlear implants between two and six years of age.
- The FDA reported 219,000 people worldwide have received cochlear implants and in the US about 42,000 adults and 28,400 children have cochlear implants. (as of December 2010)
Hearing Loss
Three Types of Hearing Loss
Conductive-Problem with outer or middle ear usually can be helped with hearing aids
Sensorineural- Problem with inner ear-cochlea, this type can be helped with a cochlear implant
Neural- Problem with the neural pathway, auditory nerve is damaged or missing. A cochlear implant will not help.
Conductive-Problem with outer or middle ear usually can be helped with hearing aids
Sensorineural- Problem with inner ear-cochlea, this type can be helped with a cochlear implant
Neural- Problem with the neural pathway, auditory nerve is damaged or missing. A cochlear implant will not help.
Hearing Loss in the U.S.
- One out of ten Americans have some type of hearing loss. That equals 31,000,000 people as of May 2009.
- Three out of one thousand babies are born with some type of hearing disability. That equals 1.4 million as of May 2009.
- Children who are identified before the age of six months and receive early interventions have better language abilities than children identified after six months of age.