What is the difference between a cochlear implant and hearing aids?
- Maddie Ursell
- Dec 19, 2019
- 2 min read
When I first started this project, I thought there was only one type of hearing aid that people with hearing difficulties use. I had no idea that there was a whole variety of different ways to help the deaf, let alone know the difference between them.
Going through this process I came across both hearing aids and cochlear implants so I knew I had to learn the difference between them both. Hearing loss can happen from a variety of different reasons, for example when born, the ear may not have formed properly, or having a head injury, or in Ruby's case, falling ill with a serious illness like meningitis. The decision between what treatment to undertake when someone is deaf, depends on the individual as every person is different and will have different needs.
A cochlear implant directly stimulates the auditory nerve inside the ear which creates signals that are sent to the brain and recognised as sounds. There are two parts to a cochlear implant, the external part which consists of a microphone and a speech processor and the internal part which consists of a receiver and an electrode array. The external microphone picks up the sounds and the speech processor turns those sounds into signals and sends them to the transmitter into the internal part of the implant. The internal implant then turns the signals into electrical energy and sends them to the electrode array. This then stimulates the nerves in the cochlear and is then recognised by the brain as sounds. Having a cochlear implant does not cure deafness, but it does stimulate the cochlear.
I found this video by the YouTube channel 'Cochlear Implant Manasa Bangalore' extremely helpful in understanding how a cochlear implant works:
Video by: Cochlear Implant Manasa Bangalore
What about hearing aids?
Hearing aids are a lot different as they just amplify the sounds received. There are usually no internal parts to a hearing aid, they are simply worn in and on the back of the ear, but this depends on the individual. A hearing aid has three basic parts, a microphone, an amplifier and a speaker. The microphone picks up the sound and is then turned into electric signals which are then sent to the amplifier. The amplifier then increases the volume of the signals and then sends it to the ear through the speaker. They are used for helping those with a hearing impediment communicate and listen better in both quiet and noisy environments. There are several types of hearing aids you can use, from analogue to digital to canal aids to in-the-ear (ITE) hearing aids. Research suggests that only 1 in 5 people who would benefit from wearing a hearing aid actually wears one.
Here is a short video by the YouTube channel 'Fuel Admin' which really helped me to understand how hearing aids worked:
Video by: 'Fuel Admin'
When I went to visit Karen Cruicks, she had the equipment available to actually let me listen to what it sounded like to have hearing aids compared to having a cochlear implant. It really opened my eyes to what it must be like to communicate and take part in every day activities whilst being deaf and made me not take my ability to hear for granted.
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