Overview and NCIP

Tracey Twomey is a Clinical Scientist in Audiology and Manager of the Nottingham Cochlear Implant Programme (NCIP). Here she explains how the cochlear implant process works at NCIP and then answers questions frequently asked about cochlear impantation.

Cochlear implantation

Cochlear implantation has heralded a brighter future for severe to profoundly deaf people. Worn like a hearing aid, it can provide the opportunity to hear speech and environmental sounds to patients for whom conventional hearing aids lack sufficient power.

Over the past 17 years, cochlear implantation in the UK has moved from the fringes into the mainstream of NHS services. There are now over 5000 implant users throughout the UK, with numbers increasing by about 600 each year. As awareness of the effectiveness of cochlear implants grows, patient numbers are set to rise further.

The Nottingham Cochlear Implant Programme (NCIP)

Set up back in 1989, NCIP was the first paediatric programme in the UK and remains the largest. Referrals are received from around the UK, with rehabilitation for children — after they have received their implant — taking place locally in their home and school, by means of a highly skilled outreach programme operated from Nottingham.

Adults and young people have separate sections on the programme, with teenagers encouraged to take responsibility for their own care.

There is a well developed peer support network of activities for these groups, with social and educational programmes in place. Building links and friendships with other implant users is very important to many patients, as they are able to provide each other with valuable support.

Questions

› What is a cochlear implant?
› How does a cochlear implant work?
› Who should have an implant?
› How are patients referred?
› How are patients assessed?
› What is the surgical procedure?
› What about rehabilitation?
› What outcome is expected?