More on Mike's Implant

Lots of people have been asking us different questions about the cochlear implant Mike will be getting, so I decided to answer some of them....

What is an implant? How does it work?
Essentially a cochlear implant is a bionic ear. There is an internal component that will be surgically place on November 24th and an external component that Mike will wear during the day but remove to sleep, shower, swim, etc (see pictures below.) In a normal ear, sound waves get converted to electrical impulses by hair cells inside the cochlea. The electrical impulses then travel up the auditory nerve to the brain. In Mike's case, his hair cell are damaged from the spinal meningitis he had as a child and thus very few electrical impulses are sent to the brain. The implant takes over the work of the hair cells and directly simulates the auditory nerve with electrical signals received from the external component of the device.

Internal component (notice how thin it is! They used to look like this


External component

How well will Mike be able to hear with the implant?
First of all, let me explain what Mike hears now. With his hearing aids, Mike is able to hear about 5-15% of speech sounds. (I know that's hard to believe if you've talked to him, but it's true. He relies on lip reading and context A LOT!) With his cochlear implant, he should be about to hear about 90-95% of speech sounds! But, it will take time for his brain to learn how to process all that information, weed out background noise, etc. He will not have perfect hearing when they put it on. It will take a lot of work on his part. But, with practice he will be able to hear much, much more than he does now. He hopes to be able to hear well enough talk on the phone again.

How long is the surgery and recovery?
Cochlear implants have come a long way. In the past the scar from the surgery was about 4-5 inches long and surgery time as 3-4 hours. The new technology is so small that the surgery time is only about an hour and Mike's scar will only be about an inch long! Also, in the past they have had to drill a "bed" for the implant in your skull, but now the implant is so thin they just place it without any drilling. It's an outpatient surgery so we'll be home that night.

The recovery is similar to any minor surgery. Some discomfort, swelling, and pain at the surgery site for several days to a week. The only major side effect is that sometimes when they place the implant your balance/equilibrium get throw off (the inner ear also controls balance). If this happens, he may experience dizziness for several days to several weeks following the surgery. The incision heals for two weeks before they "activate" the implant and you begin wearing the external piece.



We are very excited for Mike to have this opportunity. As Mike mentioned, the Lord has guided this decision and definitely prepared a way. His implant was approved with NO problems from the insurance company, we got the exact surgery date we wanted, and so many other miracles have occurred along the way. We know Heavenly Father's hand has been in the process.