There are now a few options for the treatment of hearing loss and deafness. As mentioned in previous sections, infections such as otitis media can often be treated with anti-biotics, but other problems with hearing often require hearing aids or cochlear implants.

Hearing aids

Hearing aids help a great many children respond to their environment. There are also radio aid systems that work well in the classroom, with the teacher wearing a transmitter and the hearing impaired child a receiver. The signal is transmitted by an FM radio transmission to the child’s hearing aid. This has the advantage of cutting out a lot of background noise when the child is in the classroom.

Cochlear implants

Individuals with severe to profound hearing loss may not benefit from ordinary hearing aids, but can often improve their hearing with a cochlear implant. Although the implant does not replace normal hearing it gives the listener a good representation of environmental sounds and is especially good for distinguishing speech sounds and spoken language. Normal hearing aids amplify the sound, implants attempt to bypass the damaged parts of the hearing mechanism and take the sounds straight to the auditory nerve. Implants require a surgical procedure to implant an electrode into the cochlea.

Following the diagnosis of a hearing impairments eligible candidates and their parents need to go through an assessment process to make sure they are suitable for an implant. A suitable candidate should:

• have a functioning auditory nerve

• not benefit enough from other kinds of hearing aids

• have potential for good speech, language, and communication skills, and having a family willing to work toward speech and language skills with therapy

• live in, or desiring to live in the "hearing world"

• have appropriate services set up for post-cochlear implant aural rehabilitation (through a speech language pathologist/therapist, deaf educator, or auditory verbal therapist).

Although the whole process is very expensive it has changed the lives of many individuals. Implants do not amplify the sound, but send impulses directly to the cochlear and stimulate the auditory nerve, which sends the signal to the brain.

Cochlear implants require an operation to place a stimulator into the cochlear. This contains an array of 22 electrodes which when excited send impulses to the auditory nerve. A receiver will also be placed under the skin. External components of the cochlear implant include a microphone, speech processor and transmitter which also allows an individual to adjust the sound for quality and amplification.

Cochlear implants are still not a replacement for normal hearing, but they are more effective than normal hearing aids for a severe to profoundly deaf individual. If the child is implanted at an early age and there is good rehabilitation services and a strong commitment from the family, children with cochlear implants often develop very good speech and auditory discrimination skills. Some children with cochlear implants have speech that is as good, if not better than their “hearing” classmates.

There are some cultural and ethical issues around cochlear implants. There are many people within the deaf community that believe it is unfair that a child cannot make the choice between being part of the deaf or the hearing community. The children who are implanted may grow up not knowing whether they are more part of the deaf community or the hearing community. However, if the hearing impaired child is left until he is old enough to make the decision for himself, he will miss the critical period where speech develops and the brain learns to interpret sound. The debate continues.

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