Xref: utzoo comp.misc:9723 sci.med:18991
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!yale!think!eplunix!raoul
From: raoul@eplunix.UUCP (Nico Garcia)
Newsgroups: comp.misc,sci.med
Subject: Re: Deaf Comm and Cochlear Implants
Keywords: deaf implant cochlear
Message-ID: <920@eplunix.UUCP>
Date: 2 Aug 90 16:09:22 GMT
References: <[568]comp.misc@oldcolo.UUCP>
Organization: Eaton-Peabody Lab, Boston, MA
Lines: 40

In article <[568]comp.misc@oldcolo.UUCP>, jep@oldcolo.UUCP (Josep Pfauntsch) writes:
> My daughter "CASEY" has been deaf since birth.  I've recently
> discovered that a 22 channel cochlear implant is now available.
> I understand that earlier models were experimental only and that
> upgrades from one and two channel implants to 22 channel implants
> were ok.  I also know that the implant is done only to one side.

This is the sort of work we do here, in the Cochlear Implant Research
Laboratory (Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary). The person for you
to really talk to around here would be my boss, Don Eddington 
(eplunix!cirl!dke@eddie.mit.edu).

Yes, the Nucleus 22 channel implant is now available for children.
There are all sorts of questions this raises, such as: is this a good
idea surgically for infants? Will it provide stimulation to the auditory
centers of the brain that will help in language development? Should
it be done in pre-lingually deaf, as opposed to post-lingually deaf
children? If there is any residual hearing at all, is it better to
perform the implant (which destroys any residual hearing) in hopes
of getting better stimulation from the implant than from the residual
hearing? 

The big questions, in my mind, are social: the deaf community is a
stable and reasonably content one. Is it fair to force a child to
join the lip-reading community by performing an implant (since they
are primarily an aid to lip-reading), or should they be given the
option of joining the sign-language community? Are your expectations
of the device reasonable? For example, a *few* subjects here can use
a telephone, but they are our star subjects. But the device is not
a cure, or a full replacement for hearing by any means. Is it worth
the expense, risks of surgery, and awkwardness of the device?

In any case, I'm forwarding your note to my boss: feel free to ask
me or him questions, and I'll refer anything I don't know an answer
for to the appropriate people.

-- 
			Nico Garcia
			Designs by Geniuses for use by Idiots
			eplunix!cirl!raoul@eddie.mit.edu