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 What causes a hearing loss?
The damage or absence
of the sensitive
hair cells results
to hearing loss.
This can be the result
of illness or injury,
or the problem may
have been present at birth.
A cochlear implant
makes up for the
lack of intact hair
cells by placing
an electrode array
(with several electrode
contacts) within
the cochlea. This
delivers sound and
speech information
directly to the auditory
nerve by means of
a small, safe electrical
current.
How does a cochlear implant work?
The sound waves are
picked up by a small
microphone of the
speech processor
and turned into electrical
signals (pulses).
These pulses are
sent to the coil
and then transmitted
to the implant. The
implant sends a pattern
of electrical pulses
to the electrodes
in the cochlea. The
auditory nerve picks
up these electrical
pulses and sends
them to the brain
where they are recognised
as sound.
Who can benefit from a cochlear implant?
Both, children and
adults either
born deaf or when
their hearing loss
occurs later in life, can benefit
from cochlear implants
effectively.
- Children born deaf will have the greatest benefit if they are implanted before the age of 5 and preferably by the age of 3.
- If a person
has memory
of speech
and language
he/she can receive
more benefit
from a cochlear
implant irrespective
of age.
- The longer the period of profound deafness, the more limited the benefits are likely to be.
MED-EL GmbH with a research heritage spanning over 30 years is a pioneer in worldwide cochlear implant technology. This expertise has led to the development of the COMBI 40+ Cochlear Implant System . This is designed in accordance with the highest safety and reliability standards and incorporates the latest advancements in cochlear implant technology.
- Thinnest implant package: 4mm. A key advantage, especially for children.
- It has 24 electrode contacts.
- Soft electrode designed for atraumatic insertion, with thickness at the end 0,5mm and 31mm long. This permits for deeper placement that gives more low frequency information containing important speech cues such as intonation, rhythm and vowel discrimination.
- The ceramic case of implant housing (33,5 X 23.4) and only 4mm thin is MRI safe allowing scanning without the need for extraction surgery to remove the implant.
- The TEMPO+ is the only Behind The Ear processor that makes Body Worn processors obsolete.
- Thinnest and lightest speech processor available. Weight 11 g including batteries.
- Uses CIS+ speech processing strategy that provides a more complete and accurate representation of incoming sound.
- Is fully digital and capable of stimulating at 50.000 pulses per second. This high speed of transmission and the speech strategy used enable bilateral cochlear implantation for orientation, noise reduction and speech understanding in difficult situations with comfort.
- Long battery life: 3-5 days of use.
- FM system compatibility.
For more information www.medel.com |
