Cochlear Implant Placed in Iraqi Child Brought to San Francisco
By Barbara Lock, MDMarch 12, 2010
A three year-old Iraqi boy underwent surgery yesterday in San Francisco to restore hearing lost when a US bomb exploded in his neighborhood, abc news reports. The device, a cochlear implant, converts sound waves into electrical impulses. While the resulting impulses do not result in perfect sound, they can be relearned, or 'interpreted' by the brain as meaningful sound.
Cochlear implants have an internal, surgically placed component, as well as an external component that is worn around the head and ear.
A minority of children and adults who have cochlear implants turn out to not use them, frequently because of age, family support issues, or inability to adapt to the elec
trical signal. Nonuse of the implant leads to slightly higher overall costs, according to Raine et al.
To understand how cochlear implants work, see this video.
We hope that an aftercare plan has been made for this child for when he returns to Iraq so that he can continue to gain benefit from this important medical device.
Please read our legal disclaimer.
Write a comment
- Required fields are marked with *.
Bookmark with:
What are these?