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Summary
A cochlear implant is a small, complex electronic device that can help to provide a sense of sound. People who are profoundly deaf or severely hard-of-hearing can get help from them. The implant consists of two parts. One part sits on the outside of the body, behind the ear. A second part is surgically placed under the skin.
An implant does not restore normal hearing. It can help a person understand speech. Children and adults can benefit from them.
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders
Related Issues
- Benefits and Risks of Cochlear Implants (Food and Drug Administration)
Videos and Tutorials
- Hearing and the cochlea (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
Statistics and Research
- Quick Statistics about Hearing (National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders)
Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)
- Article: Music Perception, Appreciation, and Participation in Postlingually Deafened Adults and Cochlear...
- Article: Estimating Pitch Information From Simulated Cochlear Implant Signals With Deep Neural...
- Article: Defining the ideal trajectory into the inner ear in image-guided cochlear...
- Cochlear Implants -- see more articles
Find an Expert
- Directory of Organizations (Deafness and Communication Disorders) (National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders)
- Find an Audiologist (American Academy of Audiology)
- National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders
Children
- Cochlear Implant (For Parents) (Nemours Foundation)
- Cochlear Implants (For Parents) (Nemours Foundation)
- Vaccines and Cochlear Implants (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish
Patient Handouts
- Cochlear implant (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish