|
CNI Center for Hearing
Patient Care
CNI Rocky Mountain Cochlear Implant Center
What is a Cochlear Implant?
A cochlear implant is a small electronic device that provides a sense of sound to children and adults who have severe to profound hearing loss and who cannot hear and/or understand speech with hearing aids. While hearing aids make sound louder and clearer, cochlear implants provide useful sound by directly stimulating undamaged nerve fibers in the inner ear.
In Colorado alone, an estimated 1,750 individuals are potential cochlear implant candidates. Cochlear implantation is an alternative that may allow these patients to maintain and/or continue to develop their ability to communicate through spoken word. Of the 35 Colorado infants born hearing impaired each year, three will be born with a hearing impairment so profound that hearing aids would be of no value to them. Only with the use of a cochlear implant will these children have the opportunity to hear and learn to speak intelligently with their families, their teachers, their peers and their employers.
About the Center
Established as part of the CNI Center for Hearing in 1995, the CNI Rocky Mountain Cochlear Implant Center is the region's largest, most comprehensive, and busiest cochlear implant program. The center's goal is to improve sound detection and communication ability for both children and adults who suffer from severe to profound hearing loss. However, professionals at the center understand that cochlear implants are just one treatment option, and the decision to use or not use this technology is determined by each individual patient and their family.
Under the leadership of David C. Kelsall, MD, Medical Director of the center, a team of highly experienced specialists and professionals work together to treat patients of all ages and from all parts of the Rocky Mountain region and areas beyond. The center's team approach assures that each patient's care is thorough and comprehensive, from initial evaluation to rehabilitation. The CNI Center for Hearing performs an average of 40 cochlear implant procedures annually, with a large number of the recipients being children aged 1 to 14 years. The Center has participated in research projects resulting in FDA approval of cochlear implants as well as other issues related to ear disorders and hearing loss.
The field of cochlear implants is very dynamic, and there is constant effort to improve the technology. The Rocky Mountain Cochlear Implant Center has been involved in cochlear implant research since its conception, and is the largest cochlear implant research facility in the region. It has been, and continues to be, a clinical research site for numerous FDA clinical trials. As such, the center is able to treat patients with the most advanced resources, technology and techniques in order to achieve the best possible outcomes. Read our latest outcomes report.
The center also serves as a training facility for physicians from North and South America who are learning cochlear implant surgical technique. This takes place in the Mile-Hi Sertoma MicroSurgical Teaching Lab.
What are Baha devices?
To learn, visit: http://products.cochlearamericas.com/baha/introduction-to-baha
|
