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Written By: Editorial Team | Updated : August 9, 2018 8:51 PM IST
When there is damage to the hair cells of the inner ear, a part known as the cochlea, one suffers from what is known as sensorineural hearing loss. There are hair cells along the length of the spiral-shaped part of the inner ear in one canal of the cochlea. The hair cells respond to higher frequencies at the base of the spiral and they move at low frequencies at the apex. These hair cells trigger the nerve cells when they move, which converts the sound wave to electrical impulses and passes the signal on to the brain for processing.
Sensorineural hearing loss can be caused by many factors which include loud noises, age, trauma, genetics or disease. However, at times a hearing aid is sufficient to treat sensorineural hearing loss, but when it is severe a cochlear implant can only solve the problem.
Like hearing aid, a cochlear implant can provide a sense of sound to people who are suffering from sensorineural hearing loss. But it cannot restore hearing loss completely. A cochlear implant is a small electronic device which helps people with hearing loss problem.
It consists of two parts: A receiver that is implanted under the skin near the ear and a speech processor that sits behind the ear. The cochlear implant channel sound to bypass the damaged parts of the cochlea and directly stimulate the auditory nerve. The implant generates signals that it sends to the auditory nerve, which then passes it onto the brain where they are recognized as sounds.
The cochlear implants are still a marvel of science and technology but there is debate over the usage of the devices in the deaf community.
Children who have been born with severe hearing loss or deaf, are eligible for cochlear implants. This implant helps the children with hearing loss problem to develop language skills almost as quickly as children with normal hearing. It is also good for the people who have lost their hearing over time.
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