If you are a patient suffering from severe hearing loss or damage, your doctor may have introduced the possibility of getting cochlear implants. Cochlear implants are tiny devices surgically placed underneath the skin and behind the ear to help severely deaf individuals interpret cued speech and sound patterns. Costs for these hearing devices can be extremely high, but will vary by patient. Not everyone is a candidate for cochlear implants though. By undergoing a series of hearing tests, a person can determine if they’re eligible.

Determining Eligibility

The Food and Drug Administration has approved cochlear implants for both adults and children. A cochlear implant interacts with the auditory nerve inside the inner ear by sending sound messages to it for interpretation. To determine if you or your child is eligible to receive these medical hearing devices, a series of hearing tests and evaluations will be performed to see the extent of damage to this nerve. According to the National Association of the Deaf, eligible candidates need to have profound hearing loss in one or both ears, but still have a functioning auditory nerve to receive clearance for implants.

If your hearing loss is caused by a malfunction of the auditory nerve, you will not be considered for a cochlear implant. If you haven’t been able to hear for several years, your auditory nerve has likely stopped working properly and will not even work properly with a cochlear implant. In these cases, cued speech and sound patterns are not understood, even with the implant. If you think you are losing your hearing, the sooner you can get help, the superior your chances will be to benefit from a cochlear device.

Other factors that determine eligibility are whether language skills and speech patterns developed prior to hearing loss. For patients who receive a cochlear implant after these skills developed, a higher success rate is likely to occur when undergoing post-operative speech and language rehabilitation. For adults and kids who did not learn cued speech and sound patterns, the rehabilitation period could last longer and be more difficult to attain.

The Cost of Cochlear Implants

Once eligibility is decided, you’ll have to take into account the cost of cochlear implants. According to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, implants will cost a patient anywhere from $45,000 to $55,000. This is just the average cost of cochlear implants, which includes the pre-operative hearing tests, the surgical device, and implantation, and rehabilitation costs after the surgery. For patients who have trouble interpreting cued speech and sound patterns, additional rehabilitation will be needed. This could mean implants could cost closer to $60,000 or $80,000.

There are options available for patients who have Medicare coverage. According to Cochlear.org, hearing loss is the fourth most common disability covered by Medicare recipients over the age of 65. Because almost thirteen percent of patients with Medicare have a disability, those patients suffering from hearing impairment could make up part of the twenty-three percent of cochlear surgeries covered by this insurance plan. Medicare will cover most cochlear implant surgeries, but it is important to speak with your health care provider and insurance company to find out your coverage options.

Before you decide to have a cochlear implant embedded, there are many factors to take into account and you should have several hearing tests. Cost is an important variable, but you’ll also need to know if a hearing aid will give you more benefits than a cochlear implant will. Getting a cochlear implant surgically embedded is irreversible and will not always be a cure for deafness. Be sure to look at everything involved before making such an important decision.