Bilateral Cochlear Implants

Implanting both ears makes a lot of sense from the perspective of maximizing the ability to hear right now. But what about the long term effects? Would you forego the opportunity to benefit from future hair cell regeneration technology? What about other future possibilities that we haven't yet thought of? And are the medical risks greater? Read on for more information.

July 2002 - The idea of implanting people in both ears (bilateral cochlear implants) seems to be gaining support. Here's a discussion of bilateral CIs from the 2002 SHHH convention.

July 2002 - Also at the 2002 SHHH Convention, Robbi Bishop of the Listen for Life Center at Virginia Mason Hospital presented a very informative workshop on Bilateral Cochlear Implants. Marcee Widland, one of the subjects of a recent bilateral CI study, was also onhand to answer questions.

June 2004 - You've probably already figured out that people with bilateral cochlear implants hear better than those with only one implant. Here's an article that discusses the advantages of bilateral implants.

July 2005 - Bilateral Cochlear Implants! How much does having two CIs really help? Is this something I should consider? Who's a good candidate? Learn all about bilateral CIs from Cheryl Heppner's article covering this presentation at the SHHH 2005 Convention.

December 2005 - Much of the controversy over cochlear implants (CIs) has revolved around the practice of implanting children. CI opponents argue that, for a variety of reasons, children should NOT be implanted. CI proponents argue that children should be implanted, because earlier implantation results in a more effective CI. Recent research at Johns Hopkins supports this conclusion. Here's the press release.

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February 2008

Cochlear ear implants have enabled thousands of deaf people to hear. It's an expensive procedure though and for years in the 1980's and '90s insurance companies frequently denied requests to pay for it. Eventually, the Americans with Disabilities Act and other changes made it much more difficult to deny single ear implants. New medical evidence now suggests that two cochlear implants work far better than one, particularly in young children, rekindling the battle for insurance coverage. Full Story

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April 2008

On January 24, 2008, I sat in my audiologist's office waiting to have my new right ear turned on. For the first time in 30 years, I was about to hear in stereo again. I'd dealt with hearing loss all my life, because my mother got rubella when she was pregnant with me. I had used hearing aids since the age of three, but gave up on the right ear in the 1980s after it gradually died. In 2001, the left ear died too. During a business trip in Reno, things began to sound fuzzy. After four hours I canceled my meetings and stumbled back to San Francisco, shocked, dizzy, and totally deaf. [ . . . ] My auditory nerves remained intact, but there was nothing to trigger them. The nerves could be triggered, though, by a device called a cochlear implant. In September 2001, a surgeon at Stanford Hospital drilled an inch and a half into my head and threaded 16 tiny electrodes into my left ear's cochlea. The electrodes were controlled by a computer chip embedded in the surface of my skull underneath the scalp. After a few weeks of healing, I got an external computer that sent it data. It sat on my ear, looking like a hearing aid, and radioed a megabit of data per second to the chip in my head. Full Story

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May 2008

In 2000, Farmer became one of a small, but pioneering wave of adults who received two cochlear implants at the same time. Early recipients only received one implant. Doctors at the Iowa implant center performed the first duo, or bilateral, implant in 1996. But many more questions had to be researched to convince skeptics - notably, insurers - that two implants worked better than one, that the benefits of two justified the increased costs. That's how Farmer and nine others became involved in the University of Iowa's research. The decision was not without drawbacks. The magnets that attached the external part of the device to the implant meant she would not be able to undergo MRI, or magnetic resonance imaging, for medical testing. "Not even get near one," she says. If an innovation even more advanced than cochlear implants, say regenerating hearing cells, came along, she would not be an eligible candidate. Hearing organs in both ears would have already been destroyed and replaced by implants. "Having one done was no big deal," she says. "But getting them both? I paced for a week." The potential benefits had a sweet sound. Full Story

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March 2010

Bilateral Cochlear Implants

Fighting Insurance Company for Two Cochlear Implants

Michael Chorost Goes Bilateral

Early Bilateral Implantee Discusses her Experience

Spatial Hearing in Bilateral Cochlear Implant Users