The Future of Clinical Remediation of Hearing Loss is the Cochlear Implants - Essay Example

The Future of Clinical Remediation of Hearing Loss is the Cochlear Implants Introduction Hearing loss is probably the most challenging things. Though there are communication methds for the deaf, most people do not really understand the sign language. This hinders proper communication between the deaf and other people. The society does not really embrace the deaf, thus they are constantly discriminated against. Cochlear implants promise to change all that by regaining the hearing, making it easy for the deaf to live a normal life and associate with other people better. Cochlear implants promise to change the lives of the deaf by regaining their hearing ability, preserving hearing ability, improving the normal hearing process, speech skills and improves their self seteem and confidence, improving their education and responsibilities. Cochlear Implants Regaining hearing ability is the best thing a deaf person can get. Cochlear implants make it possible for the auditory nerve to be stimulated allowing the deaf person to hear. The implant is designed to produce electrical signals which are sent directly to the brain bypassing the damaged cells of the inner ear (Wise 3). Research indicates that the performance of each ear is usually 13.5%. Performance improves to between 80 and 90% after the cochlear implants for each ear and both ears (Heyning and Punte 141). That is almost the normal performance of normal healthy ear. Researchers undersand that the implants need to be programmed accordingly to maintain balance. Programming is done using sophisticated computers which determine how each ear is programmed. There maybe variation in hearing loss in the two ears and programming ensures that the auditory reception is well maintained and balanced, it is not too loud or not receiving hearing well. Programming of the first ear takes longer compared to the second (Waltzman, and Roland, 152). Gantz et all found out that cochlear implants are critical for the preservation of hearing. The study points out that at least 96% of the people with cochlear implants retaing low frequency hearing (17). This is important in recognition of words and speech development after the cochlear implant. Word reconition and speech skills mprove from 10% to 30% with low frequency hearing preservation after the implant. Cochlear implants improve speech perception and recognition abilities in both adults and children allowing the deaf to sepak freely with others. Auditory experts claim that cochlear implants improved development of language and speech abilities especially in children. While other hearing aids are put on the outside, the cochlear implant is put inside the ear where it stimulates the hair nerves which are important in speech perception and response. These experts believe that doing cochlear implants for children with hearing loss at a very young age is able to impact language and speech development better (James 492). In that case, specialists propose cochlear implants to be done on very young children once it is determined that they have cochlear related hearing loss.The University of Maryland Medical Center confirmed this through several tests. They found out that children who get cochlear implants below the age of two years gained good speech skills and could even attend mainstream schools. The skills were much better compared to children between two and five years (University of Maryland Medical 3). University of Maryland Medical center researchers concluded that the auditory nerves will get used to the stimulations by the implant leading to an improvement in the normal cochlear function. Cochlear implants at such young age can help the children integrate into mainstream society (Sarant, 21). Living a normal life is the dream of deaf people. Cochlear implants has avaialed invaluable normal life experience. The deaf are able to make phone calls, watch television, go to seminars, attend classes and interact well with other people. They do not haveto keep struggling to read the lips of the people they talk to. Normal life for the deaf dramatically improves their self confidence, self esteem and a sense of self worth. They are able to perform better in their school work. Punch and Adye confirmed that cochlar implants improved the pyshological and social emotional being of children after a study in Australia (479). Discrimination towards the deaf reduced dramatically. Normal hearing children were encouraged to establish contact with the deaf. These factors assisted the children to improve performance in school according to that study. It is evident that cochlear implants hold the future to the hearing problems. Further advancement in technology and research on hearing loss will improve cochlear implants remarkably. Many researchers in the world are researching on the different aspects of hearing loss, which will allow the solutions to be worked on from different viewpoints. The hearing loss foundation website has listed more than twenty scientists and researchers working on different hearing loss projects (Hearing Loss Foundation, 1). Their findings will provide a better approach to not only managing hearing loss but also curing and treating hearing loss. Some believe that research on cochlear will provide information on how to cure hearing loss problems that are not cochlear dependent, for instance, genetic hearing loss (Wilson and Dorman, 15). Financial assistance to these researchers would be important to complete their findings faster and provide better solutions to many people looking for them in the world. Conclusion Cochlear implants have proved to be very important in managing hearing loss problems. Already, deaf can communicate with others comfortably, discrimination against them has decreased dramatically and they are improving in their school performance and other roles. It is evident that the implants have changed the lives of many people across the world and possibly holds the future to all hearing loss problems incuding the genetic hearing loss. The advancement in technology and immense studies on hearing loss promises to improve cochlear implants remarkably over the next decades. There are chances that many deaf people will be able to live just like normal people with these advancements. Support and funding to these projects and studies can improve cochlear implants and make it possible for them to be aviled faster. Any loopholes and challenges in the technology will also be established and addressed in due time. A better and improved technology will be availed and the deaf could never be happier. Works Cited Gantz, Bruce et al. Preservation of Hearing in Cochlear Implant Surgery: Advantages of Combined Electrical and Acoustical Speech Processing. The Laryngoscope 115.5 (2005) 796-802. Print. Hearing Loss Foundation. 2013 Researchers and projects. 2013. Web. 27 November 2013. Heyning, Paul and Punte, Jeine. Cochlear Implants and Hearing Preservation. Basel: Karger Medical and Scientific Publishers, 2010. Print. James, Chris et al. Preservation of residual hearing with cochlear implantation: How and why? Acta Oto-laryngologica 125.5 (2005): 481-491. Print. Punch, Renee and Hyde, Merv. Social Participation of Children and Adolescents With Cochlear Implants: A Qualitative Analysis of Parent, Teacher, and Child Interviews. Journal of daf studies 16.4 (2011): 474-493. Waltzman, Susan and, Roland, Thomas. Cochlear Implants. Stuttgart: Thieme, 2006. Print. Wilson, Blake, and Dorman, Michael. “Cochlear implants: A remarkable past and a brilliant future”. Elsevier August 2008: 3-21. Print. Wise, Nancy. High Fidelity: Cochlear implant users report dramatically better hearing with new Vanderbilt process. Vanderbilt University Medical Center. 5 March 2013. Web. 27 November 2013. Sarant, Julia. Cochlear Implants in Children; A Review. Rijeka: Intech, 2012. Print. University of Maryland Research Center. Cochlear Implant. N.d. Web. 27 November 2013. Read More