Deafness Site
	Felicity Bleckly BellaOnline's Deafness Editor

Answering questions about a Cochlear Implant
Recently I was asked a lot of questions about what it’s like to wear a Cochlear Implant. Here’s some of the questions and my answers.

Benefits of Cochlear Implants in children
Do deaf children benefit from having a Cochlear implant and if so how? Does it give them a better future, improved opportunity for education and are there social benefits?

Bi-lateral Cochlear Implantation
Having a Cochlear implant is a difficult decision for many people. This article looks at the key issues in the decision process and then compares that with the decision to have a bi-lateral implant.

Cochlear Implant outcomes
Why is there a variation between the outcomes for some Cochlear Implantess? I'm not a doctor, just a successful implantee and I get asked this question frequently. And what constitutes success?

Cochlear implantation process for children
Navigating the journey of Cochlear implantation in children is new territory for new parents. The Sydney Cochlear Implant Centre held a forum to help parents understand their options if their child is found to have a hearing loss.

Cochlear implants and music
The Cochlear implant has come a long way since its invention, but has it yet returned normal hearing? According to Graeme Clark, the Australian inventor of this technology, the answer is NO. So as a user, where is it lacking?

Community and Identity
Recently a member of our Cochlear Implant Forum raised a couple of extremely important points, probably the crux of the issue with cochlear implants for people who identify with the Deaf community. These are a sense of community and a sense of identity.

Don't suffer hearing loss in silence
Technology is improving all the time and unless we hear about these then there’s no way they can benefit us. I asked Linda Ballam-Davies from Cochlear to give me the latest information about new implantable solutions.

Exciting advances in Cochlear Implant Technology
Cochlear Implants have come a long way since the first implant in 1978. Newer, smarter, more sophisticated and smaller devices are on the way making hearing an easier and better experience for those who need an implant.

How a cochlear implant works
Recently I was asked how a Cochlear Implant works. First of all if you understand how normal hearing works it might help you to understand how the cochlear implant works. (I'm not a doctor nor an audiologist, simply an implantee! so this is not a medical treatise!)

Inventor of Cochlear Implants [offsite link]
Excellent transcripts of Professor Graeme Clark´s Boyer lectures series. He developed the Cochlear implant and discusses the loss of a sense and how this technology is being researched for use to return other senses.

Living with Deafness
With one in six people having some form of deafness and even more as we age it means that almost every family or households are touched by deafness. This is a true story about how one family had been affected by deafness.

New BellaOnline Deafness Editor
An introduction by the new Deafness Editor.

Personal stories of Implant recipients [offsite link]
A site created by the Cochlear Awareness Network with personal stories of recipients

What is a Cochlear Implant
A Cochlear Implant is not an alternative to a hearing aid. It is only an option if a person cannot effectively use hearing aids. It is not a high powered hearing aid and does not amplify sound. It is a serious decision, one which is taken after testing and all other avenues for hearing are explored.

Why are two ears better than one?
I cannot remember hearing with two ears and now I am considering bi-lateral cochlear implantation. I wanted to know what I could expect by hearing with two ears.

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