4. Day of life with cochlear implant

The cochlear implant has many advantages:

• It has been designed in a system that approximates the operating mode of the ear itself and therefore allows good hearing recovery, unlike sound amplifiers

• The use of speech is then facilitated and allows easier adaptation in everyday life

• And therefore better integration into society

The cochlear implant allows to follow a classic education without the presence of coder-translators by our side.

The disadvantages are rather linked to its mode of operation and its degree of technicality.

source : https://images.app.goo.gl/RTyiyHTNyM9wGh279

• The operation: The cochlear implant rests on two parts: an external part similar to a conventional device but especially an internal part which requires to be placed during a surgical operation. The lifespan of the internal part is estimated at 20 years - which means that an implanted person should be operated three or  four times in his life, and even more in the event of breakdowns.

• Adjustments: Following the operation there are also many appointments at the hospital to have adjustments and checks carried out, all the more important since the children are small and find it difficult to cooperate. Long speech therapy is also necessary to "learn" to hear and speak. Indeed the brain of a young child who has never been stimulated will not develop this sense naturally.

Furthermore, it is not advisable to participate in violent sports such as rugby.

Hearing recovery is optimized in a calm environment. If there is noise, or if the sound source is far away, then it is more difficult for the implant to decrypt the signal which must be "understood". The implant was specially developed to hear the frequency of the human voice. A noisy environment does not always allow the implant to sort information and sometimes the message received is blurred.

There are some technical faults that represent non-sealing and limited battery life. Unfortunately, the device is not waterproof and this complicates nautical activities and even more banal actions such as showering, swimming with friends ... indeed they have to be removed and then the deaf person can no longer hear anything.

Then in the evening the implants can also stop working, due to a lack of sufficient battery. It is necessary to recharge the batteries every night knowing that it takes at least 6 hours to recharge a dead battery.

Finally there is also the look of the others. The magnet for the cochlear implant is not very natural, especially on boys' short hair.

Obviously all these defects do not outweigh the advantages which are much more precious.

Extrait de l'interview du Professeur Sandrine Marlin

Coordinateur Centre de référence « Surdités Génétiques »
Réalisée par Gabriel, Ruben et Julien le 17/12/2019