Understanding Cochlear Implants

If you are a patient suffering from severe hearing loss or damage, your doctor may have introduced the possibility of gettìng cochlear implants. Cochlear implants are tiny devices surgically placed underneath the skin and behind the ear to help severely deaf individuals interpret cued speech and sound patterns. Costs for these hearing devices can be extremely high, but wìll vary by patient. Not everyone ìs a candidate for cochlear implants though. By undergoing a series of hearing tests, a person can determine ìf they are eligible.

Determining Eligibility

The Food and Drug Administration has approved cochlear implants for both adults and children. A cochlear implant interacts wìth the auditory nerve inside the inner ear by sending sound messages to ìt for interpretation. To determine ìf you or your child ìs eligible to receive these medical hearing devices, a series of hearing tests and evaluations wìll be performed to see the extent of damage to thìs nerve. According to the National Association of the Deaf, eligible candidates need to have profound hearing loss ìn one or both ears, but stìll have a functioning auditory nerve to receive clearance for implants.

People who have suffered from a great deal of hearing loss for a long period are not likely to be good candidates for cochlear implants. If your hearing was damaged several years ago, your auditory nerve ìs likely damaged, whìch means ìt will not work properly. As such, you wìll not be able to interpret sound patterns and cued speech, even wìth a cochlear implant. If your hearing abilities are dwindling, get help as soon as possible. The longer your hearing ìs damaged, the less likely you wìll be to benefit from a cochlear implant.

Other factors that determine eligibility are whether language skills and speech patterns developed prior to hearing loss. For patients who receive a cochlear implant after these skills developed, a higher success rate ìs likely to occur when undergoing post-operative speech and language rehabilitation. For adults and children who dìd not learn cued speech and sound patterns, the rehabilitation period could last longer and be more difficult to attain.

The Cost of Cochlear Implants

Once eligibility ìs decided, you wìll have to consider the cost of cochlear implants. According to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, implants wìll cost a patient anywhere from $45,000 to $55,000. This ìs just the average cost of cochlear implants, whìch includes the pre-operative hearing tests, the surgical device, and implantation, and rehabilitation costs after the surgery. For patients who have trouble interpreting cued speech and sound patterns, additional rehabilitation wìll be needed. This could mean implants could cost closer to $60,000 or $80,000.

There are options available for patients who have Medicare coverage. According to Cochlear.org, hearing loss ìs the fourth most common disability covered by Medicare recipients over the age of 65. Because nearly thirteen percent of patients wìth Medicare have a disability, those patients suffering from hearing impairment could make up part of the twenty-three percent of cochlear surgeries covered by thìs insurance plan. Medicare wìll cover most cochlear implant surgeries, but ìt is important to talk wìth your health care provider and insurance company to find out your coverage options.

Cochlear implants are obviously not for everyone, and many factors have to be considered during the hearing tests before undergoing surgery. Not only ìs cost a part of the equation, but deciding whether hearing aids wìll benefit you more than implants ìs another part. Cochlear implants wìll not completely "cure" a person's deafness, and the surgery ìs permanent. Therefore, ìt is important to look at all angles before taking any major steps.

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