Some people believe that a cochlear implant will “fix” a deaf persons hearing or allow them to hear like a “normal” person does. Unfortunately, this is not true. Yes, the implant can give a deaf person a chance to hear sounds and communicate like everyone else but it is not the same as a “normal” person. I decided to find some additional information about cochlear implants to share with you. I also found a site that has some audio clips that will allow you to hear what people with cochlear implants here.
First of all, a cochlear implant can allow people who have profound or total hearing loss to have a form of hearing and communication. They are unlike hearing aids and other such devices in that they don’t amplify sounds but instead they bypass the damaged parts of the ear and provide hearing information to the brain. Not every person with hearing loss can get an implant. Candidates for a cochlear implant are chosen very carefully. Also, the surgery is not without some risks such as inflammation, facial nerve disturbance, stiffness, numbness, taste and balance disturbance, and tinnitus. These complications should be kept in mind but there have been few negative side effects from this procedure.
Although a cochlear implant can allow a person to hear environmental sounds, rhythmic patterns, and help with speech, the implant does not restore normal hearing. Hearing with a cochlear implant is different than normal hearing. It sounds sort of like a radio station that is not coming in clear. It’s muffled and robot-sounding. This website, https://mustelid.physiol.ox.ac.uk/drupal/?q=prosthetics/noise_vocoded_speech, has a few audio clips that allow you to hear what a person with an implant hears. One of the clips is a man talking as a normal hearing person would hear it. The next clip is the same man talking but as a person with a cochlear implant would hear it. You should be able to understand what the man is saying but you will immediately notice how different it sounds compared to what normal hearing people are used to hearing. The next page of this site has another set of audio clips that show what music sounds like to people with and without an implant. Cochlear implants do not convey pitch very well and the music sounds more like a really intense storm or just some white noise.
I found the information about cochlear implants and the audio clips to be really eye (or ear!) opening. I never truly understood these implants until I started doing some research on them. I hope you found this as enlightening as I did!
Sources:
Schnupp, J., Nelken, E., & King, A. (n.d.). What do cochlear implants sound like? Retrieved 11/15/2011 from https://mustelid.physiol.ox.ac.uk/drupal/?q=prosthetics/noise_vocoded_speech
A-Z Deafblindness (2002). Cochlear Implant. Retrieved 11/15/2011 from http://www.deafblind.com/cochlear.html
--By Kimberly Kolaga
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