The MUSC Cochlear Implant Center, which has offered implants for more than a decade, provides medical, technological and rehabilitative services to patients with significant hearing difficulties. Unlike a hearing aid that amplifies sounds, a cochlear implant directly stimulates the surviving auditory nerve fibers in the cochlea to allow the individual to perceive sounds. One in three persons with profound hearing loss is a candidate for the cochlear implant. MUSC offers all three multi-channel cochlear implant systems approved for use by the United States Food and Drug Administration to appropriate candidates. "The Cochlear Implant Center works collaboratively with the Voice and Swallowing Institute in providing state-of-the-art rehabilitative services to help both children and adults to achieve their listening and speaking goals,” said Tamala Bradham, Ph.D., director of the MUSC Cochlear Implant Center. Before being considered for the cochlear implant system, all potential candidates are thoroughly evaluated using medical, audiological, psychological, radiological, and communication testing. Children need to be in aural habilitation therapy as part of their candidacy process. 
| Children who benefit the most from the implants: |  have been deaf for a short period of time,
have been in a good auditory-oral training program,
have families who are strongly committed to the training process.
The goal for children with a cochlear implant system is to help them to learn to listen and to speak
| | Adults who benefit the most from the implants: | have already developed spoken language
have are motivated to listen again receive the most benefits from the cochlear implant Post-lingually deafened adults usually understand an average of 85 percent of simple sentences without lip reading with the cochlear implant system. | | Additional Images | View enlarged version of cochlear implant diagram shown above
View photos of cochlear implant devices |
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