Impact Spotlight: Cochlear Implant

On Mondays, we plan on doing an 'Impact Spotlight' on a certain aspect of biotechnology.  For our first week, we chose cochlear implants.  For those that are not familiar with the technology, cochlear implants provide a sense of sound by picking up sound from an external microphone, processing the sound, and delivering direct neural stimulation to the auditory nerve.  More on that later.  But first, here is a video of the activation of a cochlear implant on an 8 month-old child:

The video really speaks for itself.  Those are the first sounds that kid has ever hear.  You have to be a robot if that did not tug on your heart strings a bit.  Here is a similar video of a young girl who has her cochlear implant switched on:

She wrote a blog about her experiences, and it's a fascinating read for anyone; It's even better for someone in health or biotech to understand limitations and real user experiences, to help make similar devices even better for patients.

Interested in learning more about cochlear implants?  Here is an informative YouTube video and some links:

Sources and Links:

NIH/NIDCD - National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders

FDA - Food and Drug Administration

Reddit