A cochlear implant is a small electrical device that allows people who are deaf to hear, by picking up sounds and noises that a machine reads or senses, and sends them to a surgically implanted processor that is usually implanted behind someones ear. A whole is drilled into a bone behind the ear and they enter into the inner ear into the cochlea. A strip of electrodes is run from a cochlear to a wire which is connected to a small incision in the skull. In the skull there is a little chip in which the wire is connected to. The chip has a magnet which is connect to a magnet above the skin on the back of the head. That is connected to a computer and the computer is connected to a microphone. The Microphone picks up signals or sound and sends it to the computer which digitally turns it into code transmitted to the back of the skull and into the electrodes in the cochlea. Those electrodes change the code into sound that we can recognize, and the cochlea is connected to auditory nerves which send signals to the brain.

 

A common misconception about Cochlear Implants is that they are so powerful and amazing that they can all together cure someones hearing loss. I am sure many people would wish that to be true but the reality of it all is that is just allows those who lost hearing to be able pick up sounds that in a specific scenario can allow them to understand what they are hearing. Sounds on Cochlear Implants don't sound like sounds that we are used to hearing but they at least sound somewhat like they are supposed to. You just need time to get used to hearing with cochlear implants to be able to understand everything that you are hearing through the implant