A cochlear implant is a surgically implanted neuroprosthetic device that provides a sense of sound to a person with severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss. Cochlear implants bypass the normal acoustic hearing process, instead they replace it with electric hearing.

Cochlear Implant Services

NRT – Neural Response Telemetry (Intraoperative / Postoperative measurement)

The NRT provides a simple way to directly record neural responses. Information from NRT gives the audiologist or surgeon confirmation that the cochlear implant is effectively stimulating the hearing nerve fibres in the inner ear and all conveniently measured within minutes. This is non-invasive, objective, and quicker and does not require sedation or the use of external recording electrodes. NRT can be performed during the cochlear implant surgery and at the follow-up appointments any time after surgery.

Switch On

Three weeks after the surgery, the audiologist will give your child the external device (speech processor and coil). It is the first mapping of the processor.

Mapping

NRT – Neural Response Telemetry Mapping is the term for programming a cochlear implant to the specifications and needs of its user. MAPs are programs that help to optimize the cochlear implant user’s access to sound by adjusting the input to the electrodes on the array that is implanted into the cochlea. While each cochlear implant company has different terminology, different programming strategies, and different capacities for various MAPs on their processors, the basic ideas behind MAPping hold true for all three FDA-approved brands.

Trouble shooting

It is not possible for parents and teachers to listen to a child’s cochlear implant as one would listen to a hearing aid; however, there are other checks of the equipment that should be completed by an audiologist.