Who should have a cochlear implant?

Cochlear implantation is a treatment option for people with severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss, for whom conventional hearing aids provide little or no benefit. This is indicated by hearing levels measured by audiometry and, for older children and adults, the ability to understand speech.

Patients can gain benefit whether they were either born deaf or have acquired their hearing loss, although adults normally need to have an established spoken language base.

People with additional needs, such as learning difficulties or medical problems, including those with multi-sensory impairments, such as deaf-blind, are also fully considered.

With the recent introduction of the Universal Neonatal Hearing Screening Programme in the UK, the age of diagnosis of deafness is reducing, enabling earlier hearing aid fitting and cochlear implantation where appropriate.

By Tracey Twomey
Clinical Scientist in Audiology and Manager of the Nottingham Cochlear Implant Programme

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