Blausen.com staff (2014). "Medical gallery of Blausen Medical 2014".
WikiJournal of Medicine 1 (2). DOI:10.15347/wjm/2014.010. ISSN 2002-4436
WHAT are CIs?
CI is an acronym that means Cochlear Implant. Cochlear Implants are complex medical devices that provide the sense of sound by stimulating the auditory nerve directly. Children and adults who wear CIs have severe hearing loss from inner-ear damage. Their sense of hearing is similar to the silence of being underwater- except that is how they live every single day.
Why Not Use Hearing Aids?
Hearing aids are a tool that amplifies sound and they help people who have some residual hearing left. However, those with profound hearing loss do not benefit from hearing aids.
The Last Chance for
an Opportunity to Hear
Both children and adults may qualify for Cochlear Implants. Even children as young as one year old may qualify for implantation surgery. Cochlear implantation surgery also looks different in different countries. It is a big decision for parents.
Parents all over the world are thinking
the same thing:
"I HOPE IT GOES WELL…"
Some mothers feel worried and guilty that they are making this big decision for their child. Are they making the right choice? The surgical procedure is performed under general anesthesia. Surgical risks are minimal but can include tinnitus, facial nerve bruising, and dizziness.
Surgeons cut open the tissue behind the ear to access the cochlea and insert the implant electrodes. They also place an internal implant under the skin behind the ear, securing it to the skull in this area.
Do you think that people with CIs can hear the same as hearing people?
The answer is NO
CIs do not make deaf or hard-of-hearing people hear the same as people without hearing impairments but CIs can help them with identifying sounds.
Is Learning English Hard for CI Kids?
In today’s world, English is becoming an important language to learn. Anfini’s members, who are from throughout the Middle East, East Asia, Europe, and West Africa, live in non-English-speaking countries. They know how important it is to learn English early in life because English is a global language and learning English will expand the horizon of kids who have hearing impairments.
Some non-English-speaking countries offer English classes at school and the age at which kids start learning English is getting younger and younger. If children with hearing impairments face difficulties with learning English, they might give up easily and won’t want to learn English anymore. They may not even want to learn any languages anymore. To address this problem, Anfini wants to help and support these children with learning English.
I am a CI KID
Mika was born deaf.
At age 2, she got bilateral CIs.
At age 4, she started to learn English.
At age 6, Mika won the 2021 Med-El Academic Excellence Award for the preschool ages section.
This is Mika from Indonesia