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Previous Volume 349:421-423 July 31, 2003 Number 5 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

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Currently, a cochlear implant is the standard treatment for people whose hearing ability is so poor that well-fit hearing aids fail to permit effective oral communication. The implant is a neural stimulator whose electrode array is placed surgically in the lumen of the cochlea, near the auditory nerve. An external microphone picks up speech signals, and the signal processor transforms these signals into digital impulses that a radio-frequency carrier transmits percutaneously into the internal receiver–stimulator and electrode array (see Figure). The auditory cortex is stimulated by the implant, permitting the perception of the digitally processed information as speech.

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Source Information

From the Bloedel Hearing Research Center, University of Washington, Seattle (G.A.G.); and the Department of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis (R.T.M.).

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