How the CI Works

Many non-CI people don't seem to understand how the Cochlear Implant works; as I've got most of you asking me if I can hear yet. It's not that simple.

When I had my surgery, I simply had an electrode implanted inside of my cochlea, as well as the internal processor embedded into my skull above my ear. The internal processor is also connected to a magnet so that the external processor will connect to it.

This is the electrode and processor that I had implanted with surgery












This is roughly where it is in my head


And this is what it will look like when I wear the external processor when I get it in about 2-3 weeks. Mine will be approx the same color, but bigger/thicker and closer to my ear.

Image via Wikipedia

A vague statement of how this will all work to help me hear is this:
Sounds will enter at a microphone located at the tip of the ear on that ear piece. They do their digital job and transfer from there to the internal processor, where the sounds are transformed into electrical energy, and begin to activate the electrodes in my cochlea. These electrodes are going to bypass the "dead/non-functioning" hair cells in my cochlea and imitate the sounds, where then, my nerves are going to react and send the information to my brain and my brain will re-learn to process sounds.

As mentioned, it is imitation sound; nothing is going to sound completely the way it does to the normal ear, but frankly, if someone has been deaf for years, they can't really compare the sounds they hear with the CI to anything. People like me though, that has heard things in the past, are likely to contrast. I've heard that a hearing ear and a cochlear implanted ear hardly ever seem to be in sync with the quality of sounds. Hence why I'll also have to experiment to see if I'll prefer wearing this CI with a hearing aid in my other ear or not. Either way, the CI typically helps with the quality of one's life by allowing them hear again, in general, even though it is not perfect and communication can still be a struggle.