Both cochlear implants and hearing aids assist those patients with hearing loss. The most important differences between cochlear implants and hearing aids relates to the degree of hearing loss and one requires surgery while the other does not. The more precise way may be to review who is a candidate for each. Let’s learn more about cochlear implants vs hearing aids: what’s the difference?
Who Is a Candidate for Hearing Aids?
Hearing aids are beneficial for those with mild to severe hearing loss. They basically amplify sound so the person can distinguish voices and sounds. They are small hearing devices that can be worn in or behind the ears.
What Are Hearing Aids?
Hearing aids consist of a microphone, an amplifier, and a speaker. An experienced hearing specialist at Clear Choice Hearing Aid will be able to advise you on the type of hearing aid best for you based on your degree of hearing loss.
Styles of hearing aids include the following:
- Behind the ear (BTE)
- Completely in the ear canal
- Receiver in the ear
Clear Choice Hearing Aid can help you choose which might be best for your comfort and degree of hearing loss.
Most hearing aids today are digital. They transform sound waves into digital signals and replicate the original sound precisely. Utilizing a computerized chip, they examine the surrounding area for spoken words and other noises. Older analog hearing aids simply make the sound louder.
Best Candidates for a Cochlear Implant
Cochlear implants are best for those who have moderate to profound hearing loss, and they must be surgically implanted. They directly stimulate the part of the ear that doesn’t work by using a mild electrical current applied to structures in the cochlea, or inner ear.
Cochlear implants can help those with severe hearing loss who cannot understand speech even with the most powerful hearing aids. They can help people who have inner ear damage and who will not be helped with a hearing aid.
What Are Cochlear Implants?
Cochlear implants deliver sound signals to the auditory nerve. The sound processor sits behind the ear, and a receiver is implanted under the skin behind the air. The receiver sends the signals to electrodes implanted in the inner ear or the cochlea. The brain then interprets the signals as sounds.
People with cochlear implants need training to learn how to interpret the signals. It takes 3 to 6 months of using the cochlear implant to understand speech, so it is not an automatic “fix” like a hearing aid.
What Are the Benefits of Cochlear Implants?
Advantages of cochlear implants include the following:
- Individuals can hear speech without needing visual clues.
- There is recognition of environmental sounds.
- Patients can listen in a noisy environment.
- Individuals have the ability to find sounds and where they are coming from.
- Patients can hear TV programs, music, and telephone conversations.
Scientists are working to develop a system with no external unit.
Contact the experienced audiologists at Clear Choice Hearing Aid if you would like a hearing assessment to discover which type of hearing device might be right for you. Call 714-386-7349 to schedule an appointment in Orange County, San Diego County and Riverside County today.
