Cochlear Implant

Cochlear implants are first true bionic sense organs Like human inner ear hair cells they convert mechanical sound energy into electrical impulses. Cochlear implants are not hearing aids which merely amplify mechanical sound waves and increase their energy content Otter et al have shown that in the normal auditory nerve in young people there are approximately 35,000 nerve fibres; they concluded that a minimum of 10,000 spiral ganglion cells (SGC) are required for preservation of speech recognition. In most pathologies hair cells are damaged but ganglionic cells are intact which can be electrically stimulated using cochlear implant.