Cochlear Implant Surgery Step by Step: Anesthesia, the Incision and Operating Time

The consent form is one page. The questions it raises fill a notebook. A retired teacher sits in a clinic corridor, hearing aids turned to maximum, still missing half of what her grandson says, and what she wants to know is not whether a cochlear implant works. She has read that part. She wants to know what the morning of surgery will actually feel like: how long she will be asleep, where the cut goes, when she can wash her hair.

Those are fair questions, and the answers are more reassuring than the word “surgery” suggests. If you have typed cochlear implant surgery how long into a search bar at midnight, the honest reply is a range, not a number, and the range is shorter than most people expect.

This explainer walks through the operation in order: the anesthetic, the incision, the minutes at the operating table, the quiet weeks before the device is switched on. Where the evidence gives a figure, we quote it and say where it comes from. Where it does not, we say so.

Cochlear implant surgery how long: the short version

Start with the number people actually want. Cleveland Clinic describes cochlear implant surgery as taking around two to four hours for one ear, and Mayo Clinic notes that most people go home the same day or after one night in hospital. That is the operating time, not the whole day. Add an hour or two before for checks and anesthesia preparation, and two to four hours afterwards in a recovery area, and a single-ear implant is typically a long morning or a full day, not a week on a ward.

Why a range rather than a fixed time? Three things stretch or shrink it. The shape of the mastoid bone behind the ear varies from person to person, and a narrow or unusually dense bone takes longer to open safely. Previous ear surgery leaves scar tissue that must be worked around. And if both ears are implanted in the same operation, the time roughly doubles.

The surgery itself is only one stopwatch. There is a second, slower clock that matters more to daily life: the wait between the operation and activation, the appointment where an audiologist switches the device on for the first time. Mayo Clinic gives that gap as about 2–6 weeks, long enough for the skin over the internal receiver to heal so that the external magnet can sit against it comfortably.

So when someone asks how long cochlear implant surgery takes, the complete answer has two parts: a few hours asleep, then a few weeks of waiting. Everything that follows explains what fills those hours and those weeks, and where the ranges come from.

What actually happens inside the ear: how a cochlear implant works

A hearing aid makes sound louder. A cochlear implant does something different: it steps around the damaged part of the ear and delivers sound to the hearing nerve directly. The cochlea is the snail-shaped, fluid-filled tube of the inner ear, about the size of a pea, lined with thousands of hair cells that convert vibration into nerve signals. In most severe sensorineural hearing loss those hair cells are missing or worn out, so no matter how loud a sound is, the message never reaches the nerve. That is why turning up a hearing aid past a certain point produces distortion rather than clarity.

The implant has two parts. The internal part, placed during surgery, is a receiver the size of a large coin that sits under the skin behind the ear, with a thin electrode array, a flexible wire studded with contacts, that curls inside the cochlea. The external part, worn after activation, is a sound processor with a microphone that hooks over the ear or sits on the scalp, held in place by a magnet that lines up with the receiver beneath.

Sound enters the microphone, the processor turns it into a coded electrical pattern, and that pattern crosses the skin by radio signal to the receiver. The electrodes then stimulate the auditory nerve at different points along the cochlea, roughly matching the way the healthy ear sorts high and low pitches. The brain receives the signal and, over weeks and months, learns to interpret it as speech.

The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) puts the scale of this technology at roughly 736,900 devices implanted worldwide, which explains why the surgical steps are now well standardised. What varies is the person, not the procedure.

Who is usually offered a cochlear implant, and who is asked to wait

The operation is not a first step. Guidelines in the UK (NICE, summarised on the NHS hearing loss treatment pages) and candidacy pathways in the US both begin with the same question: has the person had a proper trial of well-fitted hearing aids, and do they still struggle to understand speech? A cochlear implant is usually considered for adults and children with severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss in both ears who gain limited benefit from hearing aids, and increasingly for people with single-sided deafness or hearing loss that is severe in the high pitches but preserved in the low ones.

Assessment takes longer than the surgery. Expect detailed hearing tests with and without hearing aids, speech-understanding tests in quiet and in background noise, a CT or MRI scan of the inner ear, a medical review of fitness for general anesthesia, and for children a broader developmental assessment. The team is looking for a working auditory nerve, a cochlea that can accept an electrode, and realistic expectations.

Some people are asked to wait, and the reasons are usually practical rather than final. A middle-ear infection needs treating first. Someone whose hearing aids have never been properly adjusted may be sent back for a better fitting and a re-test. A child under the age threshold in local guidance may be monitored with aids for a period. Very rarely the scan shows that the cochlea or nerve did not form in a way that allows an implant, and a different route, such as an auditory brainstem implant, is discussed.

You may hear audiologists mention a “60/60 rule”. It is a screening heuristic from published audiology research, not a guarantee: if an adult’s average hearing threshold is 60 decibels or worse and they recognise fewer than 60 percent of words with hearing aids on, a formal implant evaluation is reasonable. Passing that screen means “worth assessing”, not “will be implanted”. The decision stays with the treating team.

Before the operation: scans, hearing tests and a vaccine check

The weeks before surgery are busier than the day itself. Beyond the hearing and imaging tests already described, three preparations are worth understanding, because each one exists for a specific reason.

The first is vaccination. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that people with cochlear implants be up to date with pneumococcal vaccination, because the implant creates a potential pathway between the middle ear and the fluid around the brain, and bacterial meningitis, although uncommon, is a recognised risk. Your team will check your record and advise which vaccines, if any, you need before the operating date; the timing and choice are theirs to make.

The second is the pre-anesthetic assessment. An anesthesiologist or nurse reviews your medical history, current medicines and any previous reactions to anesthesia. If you take a blood thinner, a diabetes medicine or anything that affects clotting or blood pressure, tell them; they will explain whether and how to adjust it, and that instruction should come only from them, never from an article. You will be given a fasting time, usually several hours without food and a shorter period without clear fluids, and the exact hours will be on your admission letter.

The third is planning for the quiet weeks. Because the operated ear will hear little or nothing until activation, and any residual hearing there may not return, people who rely on that ear at work or for phone calls should arrange support in advance: captioning apps, a hearing aid in the other ear, or written communication. Families of children plan for the same gap.

A few practical points round it off. Hair over the incision site is trimmed, not shaved, on the day. Pierced earrings and hearing aids come out before theatre. Bring your other hearing aid, if you have one, so that you can hear staff in recovery.

Anesthesia for cochlear implant surgery: what happens while you are asleep

Cochlear implantation is carried out under general anesthesia in the great majority of cases, in adults and in children, according to Mayo Clinic and Johns Hopkins descriptions of the procedure. General anesthesia means a controlled, medicine-induced unconsciousness in which you feel nothing, remember nothing and breathe with the help of a tube or airway device managed by the anesthesiologist. It is chosen here not because the operation is enormous, but because it demands absolute stillness: the surgeon works within millimetres of the facial nerve, the nerve that moves one side of the face, and of the thin bone plate beneath the brain.

The sequence is routine. A small cannula is placed in a vein, usually on the back of the hand. You breathe oxygen through a soft mask. Medicines given through the cannula send you to sleep within about a minute, and the airway is secured once you are unconscious. Throughout the operation the anesthesiologist monitors heart rhythm, blood pressure, oxygen and breathing continuously and adjusts the anesthetic minute by minute.

Two details are specific to ear surgery. First, the team often places small electrodes on the face to monitor the facial nerve during drilling; if an instrument comes close to the nerve, the monitor alerts the surgeon. To keep that monitor accurate, muscle-relaxing medicines are used sparingly after the airway is placed. Second, local anesthetic is commonly injected around the incision before the first cut, which reduces bleeding during surgery and numbs the area for the first hours afterwards.

Waking up takes minutes, though grogginess lingers for hours. Nausea, a sore throat from the airway and a general heaviness are the most common after-effects. Older adults sometimes feel muddled for a day or so, which is why a companion is usually required for the journey home.

The incision, step by step

People imagine a large operation on the side of the head. The reality is a curved incision behind the ear, typically a few centimetres long, tucked into the crease where the ear meets the scalp and largely hidden by hair once healed. Modern techniques have shortened it considerably compared with the long incisions of early implant surgery.

Here is the order of events at the table, as described in Mayo Clinic and MedlinePlus overviews of the procedure.

• Positioning and preparation. You lie on your back with the head turned so the operated ear faces up. The skin is cleaned with antiseptic and sterile drapes are placed.
• The incision. The surgeon cuts through skin and the thin muscle layer behind the ear and lifts them forward to expose the mastoid bone, the honeycomb-like bone you can feel as a bump behind the earlobe.
• The mastoidectomy. Using a fine drill under a microscope, the surgeon removes part of the mastoid bone to create a pathway to the middle ear. This is the slow, careful part, because the facial nerve runs through this bone.
• The cochleostomy or round-window opening. A tiny opening is made into the cochlea, either through a natural membrane called the round window or by drilling a small hole beside it.
• Seating the receiver. A shallow well is shaped in the skull bone behind and above the ear so the receiver sits flush under the skin.
• Inserting the electrode. The electrode array is threaded gently into the cochlea, following its spiral, sometimes with a steroid soak or slow insertion technique intended to protect any remaining hair cells.
• Testing. Before closing, the device is tested electronically to confirm each electrode responds, while you are still asleep.
• Closing. Layers are stitched, often with dissolvable sutures, and a padded dressing is applied.

Nothing is placed inside the brain. The receiver sits on the outside of the skull, under skin; the electrode sits in the inner ear. That distinction reassures many people once they see the diagram.

Why cochlear implant surgery takes as long as it does

Two to four hours can sound long for an incision a few centimetres wide. The time is spent on precision, not size. Drilling through the mastoid under a microscope, identifying the facial nerve, opening the cochlea without letting bone dust in, and advancing a wire thinner than a strand of spaghetti around a spiral you cannot see all reward patience. Rushing any of those steps trades minutes for risk, and no surgeon makes that trade.

Putting the whole day in one place helps set expectations. The ranges below come from Cleveland Clinic, Mayo Clinic and MedlinePlus patient information; your own team may quote slightly different times based on their routine.

Stage	Typical time	What is happening
Admission and anesthetic checks	1–2 hours	Identity and consent checks, cannula placed, anesthesiologist review
Operation, one ear	About 2–4 hours	Incision, mastoidectomy, electrode insertion, device test, closure
Operation, both ears in one sitting	Roughly double	Same steps repeated on the second side
Recovery room	2–4 hours	Waking, monitoring, first drink, dizziness check
Hospital stay	Same day or one night	Discharge when eating, walking and pain controlled
Incision healing before activation	About 2–6 weeks	Swelling settles so the external magnet fits comfortably

Notice how little of the timeline is the operation itself. The variable that most affects your experience is the healing gap before switch-on, and that is driven by biology, not by the calendar. Swelling over the receiver has to subside enough that the magnet holds the processor without pressing too hard on the skin, which is why teams wait rather than activate at the first follow-up visit.

Is it, then, a big surgery? In terms of duration and hospital stay, it sits alongside many day-case ear operations. In terms of what it changes, it is one of the larger decisions a person with hearing loss will make, and it deserves the time you spend on the questions rather than on the clock.

Cochlear implant surgery recovery time: the first days at home, and how to sleep

The first evening is mostly about resting and letting the anesthetic clear. Expect a padded dressing over the ear, a dull ache behind it, a feeling of fullness, and sometimes mild dizziness when you turn your head. Mayo Clinic lists all of these as ordinary early effects, along with temporary changes in taste on that side of the tongue, because a small taste nerve runs through the middle ear.

Pain is usually described as moderate and manageable with the medicines your team prescribes or advises; it tends to peak in the first day or two and fade over the following week. Follow the team’s instructions exactly, and ask them, not a search engine, if pain seems out of proportion. Cleveland Clinic describes most people getting back to routine, non-strenuous activities within about a week or two, with heavier exertion, swimming and contact sports delayed until the surgeon clears them.

How should you sleep after cochlear implant surgery? Teams commonly suggest keeping the head slightly raised on an extra pillow for the first few nights, which helps swelling drain, and lying on the non-operated side so nothing presses on the incision or the receiver. Some people find a travel pillow or a rolled towel stops them rolling over in the night. Once the dressing is off and the incision is dry, most are told they can gradually return to their usual position; ask your surgeon when.

A few everyday rules apply in the first fortnight. Keep the incision dry until you are told otherwise, usually a few days, and then wash gently without soaking. Do not pick at glue or dissolvable stitches. Avoid blowing your nose forcefully or straining, which raises pressure in the middle ear. Skip flights until reviewed, mainly because a cabin pressure change on a freshly operated ear is uncomfortable and your first check-up matters. Numbness of the skin around the ear is common and can take months to fade.

Are you deaf after cochlear implant surgery? The quiet weeks before switch-on

Yes, in the operated ear, and people are sometimes surprised by this. Between the operation and activation the implant is switched off, so it delivers no sound. And because inserting an electrode into the cochlea disturbs whatever hair cells remain, the natural hearing in that ear is usually reduced or lost, although modern soft-insertion techniques aim to preserve some of it in selected patients. Mayo Clinic is direct on this point: the implant does not restore normal hearing, and residual hearing in the implanted ear may be lost.

The practical result is that for roughly 2–6 weeks you may hear less than you did before the operation. If you wear a hearing aid in the other ear, keep wearing it. If both ears are being implanted at once, plan for a period where communication relies on lip reading, writing and captioning. Knowing this in advance turns an unsettling silence into an expected phase.

The quiet weeks also carry a few sensations that alarm people unnecessarily. Clicks, pops or a whooshing sound in the operated ear are common as fluid settles and tissues heal. Tinnitus, the ringing or buzzing many people with hearing loss already have, can be louder for a while and often eases after activation. Brief dizziness on standing usually fades within days. None of these means the implant has failed; the device cannot fail at something it is not yet doing.

Use the time. Arrange the activation appointment, charge and register the external processor when it is supplied, and, if you have a partner or family member, book them to come with you to the first switch-on. The first day of sound is easier with someone whose voice you already know.

Cochlear implant activation timeline: switch-on and the months after

Activation is an appointment, not an operation. An audiologist fits the external processor, sets the magnet strength, and then turns on the electrodes one at a time, asking you to report the quietest level you can detect and the loudest that is still comfortable. That set of levels is called a map, and it is adjusted repeatedly over the first year as the nerve and the brain adapt.

What the first sounds are like depends on the person, and honesty matters here. NIDCD and Johns Hopkins describe early hearing through an implant as unfamiliar: voices may sound mechanical, high-pitched or like a cartoon. Some people understand words on day one; many recognise only beeps and rhythms at first. Neither pattern predicts the long-term result.

The gains come from listening practice, and the outline below reflects the typical pattern described in mainstream patient information rather than a promise for any individual.

• First days: awareness of environmental sounds, a tap running, a door closing, your own footsteps.
• First weeks: follow-up mapping sessions, often several in the first month, as comfort levels change quickly.
• First months: familiar voices become recognisable; auditory training, structured listening exercises with a therapist or an app, speeds this stage.
• Six to twelve months: speech understanding in quiet typically continues to improve, with background noise and music remaining harder.

Children follow a longer arc, because they are learning language as well as sound, and their pathway includes speech and language therapy alongside mapping. Adults who lost hearing recently, or who kept using hearing aids until surgery, tend to adapt faster than those whose auditory nerve has had years without stimulation, which is one reason teams encourage evaluation sooner rather than later.

Once settled, follow-up drops to roughly yearly checks, with visits in between for processor upgrades or if sound quality changes. The internal device is designed to stay in place for decades; the external processor is a piece of electronics and is replaced over time.

Cochlear implant surgery risks, described neutrally

Every operation carries risk, and a fair explainer lists them without either minimising or dramatising. Mayo Clinic and MedlinePlus group cochlear implant complications into those shared with any general anesthetic and those specific to the ear. Serious complications are described as uncommon; the exact frequency depends on the surgeon’s series and the patient’s anatomy, so ask your team for their own figures rather than relying on a general article.

The anesthetic risks are the familiar ones: nausea, sore throat, and, rarely, breathing or heart problems, more likely in people with existing lung or heart disease. The pre-assessment exists to spot and manage these.

Ear-specific risks, in plain language:

• Loss of remaining natural hearing in the implanted ear, common and usually expected.
• Dizziness or balance disturbance, usually temporary, because the balance organs share fluid with the cochlea.
• Tinnitus, which may worsen, improve or stay the same.
• Taste disturbance or numbness around the ear from small nerves in the operative field, often temporary.
• Facial nerve weakness, rare, most often temporary, reduced further by nerve monitoring during drilling.
• Infection of the wound or the implant site, which occasionally requires removing and later replacing the device.
• Leak of the fluid around the brain (cerebrospinal fluid), rare, sometimes needing a second procedure to seal.
• Meningitis, rare, the reason vaccination is recommended before surgery.
• Device failure, in which the internal part stops working and is replaced surgically.

There are also life-long considerations. MRI scanning needs planning because of the internal magnet; many current devices allow scanning under specific conditions, and your implant card states which. Some medical procedures that use electrical current near the head need adjusting. Contact sports require head protection over the receiver.

Alternatives deserve a mention. Better-fitted or more powerful hearing aids, bone-conduction devices for certain conductive losses, assistive listening technology and sign language are all legitimate routes, and a good team presents them without steering.

What people often get wrong

Myths cluster around this surgery, partly because it sounds more dramatic than it is and partly because a device that lets a deaf person hear invites exaggeration in both directions. A few corrections, grounded in the sources cited throughout.

“It is brain surgery.” It is ear surgery. The receiver sits under the scalp on the outside of the skull; the electrode sits in the inner ear. The brain is not entered.

“You hear normally the moment it is switched on.” Activation happens weeks after surgery, and early sound is typically distorted and unfamiliar. Understanding improves with practice over months; it does not arrive complete.

“An implant restores natural hearing.” It provides a useful electrical representation of sound that the brain learns to use. Mayo Clinic states plainly that it does not restore normal hearing, and it usually replaces, rather than adds to, whatever natural hearing the ear had.

“You must be completely deaf to qualify.” Candidacy has widened. Many recipients still hear something with hearing aids but cannot follow speech; some have hearing loss in one ear only. The test is benefit from hearing aids, not silence.

“It is only for children” or “too late for older adults.” Adults of all ages are implanted, and age alone is not an exclusion in mainstream guidance; general fitness for anesthesia and realistic goals matter more than the number on a birth certificate.

“The 60/60 rule decides it.” It is a referral screen from audiology research, useful for prompting an evaluation, not a candidacy rule and not a promise of surgery.

“You can never have an MRI again.” Many current internal devices are compatible with MRI under specified conditions; the requirement is planning with the radiology team, not a lifelong ban.

“Recovery takes months.” The incision heals in weeks and most people are back to ordinary activities within a week or two. The months are spent learning to listen, which is a different and more rewarding kind of work.

Questions to ask your care team

The most useful consultation is the one where you leave with your own questions answered rather than a leaflet’s. Take this list, cross out what does not apply, and add what keeps you awake.

About the operation itself

• How long do you expect my operation to take, given my scan and any previous ear surgery?
• Will I go home the same day, or should I plan for a night in hospital?
• Do you monitor the facial nerve during drilling?
• Will you try to preserve my remaining natural hearing, and how likely is that in my case?
• Are you recommending one ear or both, and why?

About anesthesia and medicines

• Which of my regular medicines should I take on the morning of surgery, and which should I pause? (Follow only their answer.)
• What vaccinations do I need before the date, and when?

About recovery and activation

• When do you expect to switch the device on, and what decides the timing?
• How should I sleep and wash in the first week?
• When can I drive, fly, swim, exercise and return to work?
• What auditory training do you offer or recommend, and who delivers it?
• How many mapping appointments should I expect in the first year?

About the longer term

• Which MRI conditions apply to the device you plan to use?
• What happens if the internal device fails or the external processor breaks?
• What are your own team’s complication figures for this procedure?

If English is not your first language, or if you rely on lip reading, ask for an interpreter or a written summary; consent should be understood, not just signed. And ask who to phone after hours in the first two weeks. Having that number on the fridge before you need it is worth more than any single answer above.

When to call your doctor

Most recoveries are uneventful, and most of what you feel in the first fortnight, aching, fullness, mild dizziness, a numb patch of skin, an odd taste, is expected. A short list of signs, however, should prompt a same-day call to the surgical team or, if severe, emergency care. These reflect the complications described by Mayo Clinic and MedlinePlus, and the point of listing them is early treatment, not alarm.

• Fever with a stiff neck, severe headache, sensitivity to light, confusion or drowsiness. These can signal meningitis, which is rare but urgent. Go to an emergency department.
• Clear, watery fluid dripping from the ear, the nose or the incision, especially when leaning forward. This can indicate a leak of the fluid around the brain.
• New weakness or drooping of the face on the operated side, difficulty closing the eye or an uneven smile.
• Spreading redness, warmth, swelling or pus at the incision, or a wound edge that opens.
• Bleeding that soaks the dressing rather than staining it.
• Severe or worsening dizziness, vomiting that will not settle, or falls.
• Pain that increases after the first few days instead of easing, or pain not controlled by what you were prescribed.
• Swelling over the receiver site that grows quickly or feels tense.

Later on, after activation, contact the implant centre rather than an emergency service for a sudden drop in sound quality, intermittent cutting out, pain when the processor is worn, or skin breakdown under the magnet. These are usually mapping or magnet-strength issues and are fixed in clinic.

One habit is worth keeping for life: tell every clinician, dentist and radiographer that you have a cochlear implant, and carry the implant card. Decisions about scans, treatments and any concern raised here belong with your treating team, who know your device, your anatomy and your history in a way no article can.

Frequently asked questions

How long does cochlear implant surgery take for one ear?

Usually about two to four hours, according to Cleveland Clinic and Mayo Clinic patient information. The operating time depends on the shape of the mastoid bone, any scarring from previous ear surgery and whether both ears are implanted in one sitting. Add preparation and recovery-room time, and a single-ear implant is typically a long morning or a full day, with discharge the same day or after one night.

Is a cochlear implant a big surgery?

In hospital terms it is a moderate, well-standardised ear operation done under general anesthesia, often as a day case, with an incision a few centimetres long behind the ear. It is not brain surgery. The bigger part is the decision and the months of listening practice afterwards, which is where most of the effort and the benefit lie.

How should I sleep after cochlear implant surgery?

Most teams suggest sleeping with the head slightly raised on an extra pillow for the first few nights and lying on the non-operated side so nothing presses on the incision or receiver. A travel pillow can stop you rolling over. Once the dressing is off and the wound is dry, ask your surgeon when you can return to your usual position.

What is the 60/60 rule for cochlear implants?

It is a screening guideline from audiology research suggesting that adults with an average hearing threshold of 60 decibels or worse and word recognition below 60 percent with hearing aids should be referred for a formal cochlear implant evaluation. It prompts assessment; it does not decide candidacy. Imaging, speech testing and medical review still follow, and the treating team makes the call.

Are you deaf after cochlear implant surgery?

In the operated ear, usually yes, until activation. The implant is switched off for about 2–6 weeks while the incision heals, and inserting the electrode typically reduces or removes the natural hearing that remained. If you wear a hearing aid in the other ear, keep using it, and plan communication support if both ears are implanted at once.

Is cochlear implant surgery painful?

Discomfort is usually described as moderate: an ache and fullness behind the ear that peaks in the first day or two and eases over about a week. Numbness around the incision is common and can last months. Your team will advise on pain relief; follow their instructions and contact them if pain increases after the first few days rather than settling.

What is the typical cochlear implant surgery recovery time?

Cleveland Clinic describes most people returning to routine, non-strenuous activities within about a week or two, with the incision healing over the following weeks. Strenuous exercise, swimming and flying are usually delayed until the surgeon reviews you. Full adaptation to hearing with the device is a longer process measured in months, driven by mapping appointments and listening practice.

What does the cochlear implant activation timeline look like?

Switch-on typically happens about 2–6 weeks after surgery. Early sound is often mechanical or high-pitched, and many people recognise only beeps and rhythms at first. Several mapping sessions follow in the first month, familiar voices become clearer over the first months, and speech understanding in quiet usually continues improving for six to twelve months, with noise and music remaining harder.

What are the main cochlear implant surgery risks?

Mayo Clinic and MedlinePlus list loss of remaining natural hearing in that ear, temporary dizziness, tinnitus, taste change or numbness, wound infection, and rarer events such as facial nerve weakness, leak of fluid around the brain, meningitis and device failure. Serious complications are described as uncommon; ask your own team for their figures and how MRI scanning is handled with your device.

Can older adults have cochlear implant surgery?

Yes. Age alone is not an exclusion in mainstream guidance; what matters is fitness for general anesthesia, a working auditory nerve and realistic goals. Older adults sometimes feel muddled for a day after anesthesia and may adapt more gradually if hearing loss has been long-standing, which is one reason teams encourage evaluation sooner rather than later.

References

• Cleveland Clinic: Cochlear Implants
• NIH NIDCD: Cochlear Implants
• MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia: Cochlear implant
• NHS: Hearing loss, treatment

This article is for general information only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult a qualified doctor about your individual situation.