Cochlear Implant or Not?

I read an article once about a child that got an implant. The mom mentioned that she had no hesitation for it. However, she also wondered about it and how can it improve when the sounds are not like what we actually hear. But she talked to some speciailists and some that had it as well. The one thing that she really came away with is that you cannot consider how a hearing person hears things and how a no-longer deaf person hears things. A deaf person does not know how music sounds so when they can hear the music, or a babbling brook, or running water, or laughter, it is beautiful to them because that is how they hear it. You kind of have to ignore how YOU hear things.

I would rather have a non deaf child than a deaf child if I had a choice...what sort of parents would even question whether being deaf is better than being able to hear...

I don't care if I offend anyone with my answer. I believe that people who won't get their deaf children a cochlear implant because they are against turning a "deaf person" into a "hearing person" are just plain selfish.

That's my opinion. How dare they make this decision for a child and take away the child's opportunity to hear? Shame on these people for such audacity!

As a linguist, this is an issue that has always fascinated me.
My understanding, and I could be wrong, is that the initial impulses to the brain are, in fact, harsh. However, the brain becomes trained, which is the reason doing it from a young age is beneficial. Also, unless he is being adopted into a deaf family, I believe it is more important for a child to fit into the culture of his family. It's idealistic, in my opinion, to keep a child deaf to fit into a culture that will not naturally surround him - if he has deaf relatives or is already part of a deaf community, then I can see that argument. But if the deaf community will need to be sought just to find like peers, then that seems unfair to him. Personally, I believe you give the baby the best start possible - what is to say he will not some day lose eye sight, which will doubly impair him. Yes, there is a culture that has fought hard for acceptance, but it is undeniable that the world at large is not easy for the deaf - traveling to other countries that are not as accepting or accommodating, hearing sirens or alarms that aren't accompanied by lights, developing speech (which is far harder without hearing), and integrating into more than the small deaf community. I understand the reasons for not leaving the deaf culture as an older child or adult, but not for a baby being adopted into a hearing family in a hearing world.

I have no experience with this but I have a hard time understanding why a parent (especially adoptive parent) would even consider not doing everything humanly possible to improve a child's health.

I do have a cousin who had a child who has an implant. They picked up and moved their family to another area of the country where the best Dr's were for this treatment and they stayed there for several years for this child to get the best treatment possible. This little boy is now on sports teams and you can't tell he ever had an issue.

Never skimp on health and safety!!!!

Are they considering the option on no implant due to medical expenses now and long term? If so, they don't need to adopt.

For me, I would not think twice about it.. Who am I to decide for my child to leave her deaf for the rest of her life? That's just not right.

Go look at YouTube videos of children who are having their implants turned on for the first time and hear their mother speak to them for the first time. Their faces light up and I cry every time.

I would give my child every option to function in the whole world not just one subculture.

My daughter needed eye surgery or she would end up blind in one eye. I never for a moment debated having surgery so she could see fully and have depth perception. Don't see how this is different.

I have read articles about the deaf culture and the desire to stay deaf. Quite frankly I don't understand it and would never chose for a child to stay deaf unnecessarily.

My friend's daughter has a cochlear implants. She takes her device out to swim but the minute she steps out of the pool she puts it back in so she can hear again.

This is a no brainier for me. Get the implant!

EDIT - Google Deaf reading or deaf vocabulary. There are many articles showing what a disadvantage deaf people have when it comes to learning the language, reading comprehension, vocabulary.

I worked with a child who had a cochlear implant. I read the music for him (for our middle school band-he played an insturment!) pointed to the notes to keep him on track and joined him in concerts and highfived him every time we finished. He has since gone on to highschool. He loved music, and he enjoyed being in the band socially and musically. I learned cued speech, not very well, but enough to help him and he was amazing. I about cried the first time we did a concert together. I am partially deaf, and music is such an important part of my life. He seemed to love it and smiled through it all the time, and I celebrated his being able to enjoy it. He actually never once indicated that it wasn't pleasant, but different, but he had spent a long time hearing nothing. My goosepimples of happiness are raising again. If someone can have the opportunity to live life to their fullest, then whatever it takes so be it.

I don't have personal experience with anyone with a cochlear implant but I am familiar with the deaf culture. It is very, very different. Even those who are fully literate and can read and do sign language experience a vast gap from the hearing world. Certain written words don't make sense to the deaf. Like the word "The" or "thing" or "here" or "there". becuase sign language only uses nouns, pronouns and verbs for the most part they miss out on udnerstanding vast parts of the meaning of anything. The deaf don't go to movies or concerts. they don't have telephone conversations the way we do - thankfully they can now easily text. Their conversations are different.

I wonder does the way the brain hears things change/improve as the brain develops? A 6 month old has a brain that is just beginning to develop synapses - it's very elastic and can learn jsut about anything. It can develope neurological super-highways to learn the things that it needs to learn. So I wonder if the way sound will be interpreted will be different a year from now, or 5 years from now? I would bet that it will.

For what it's worth Rush Limbaugh has a chochlear implant.

If it were me I would definitely get it for my child. And I would expect the brain would develop the synapses to improve the interpretation. Our brains are amazing and I would never limit the ability of a baby's brain to do what it needs to do to learn how to hear.

Our son's taekwondo instructor has a cochlear implant.
It works well for him!

I know deaf culture feels rather threatened now that there's a cure for it.
But hearing is such an important part of learning and life.
If there was a cure for blindness would you deny them a chance to see a rainbow?
Music is huge!
I'd want my kid to be able to hear it.
In your situation I'd go for the implant.

I agree - it depends on the social community, much like if they adopt a child from China but don't speak Chinese. You can learn Chinese. You can take the child to China later. But the child would culturally be American. Would it be better for him to grow up hearing in a hearing home?

We have a friend who lost his hearing after an infection and has an implant, and he can hear, but not 100%. So the child will still be "hard of hearing" to some extent. If the child is not going to culturally be deaf, then I would want to get the implant. The child can be encouraged to explore deaf culture, and I would learn and teach the child sign (which is beneficial for hearing children, too) and kind of treat it like one would an international adoption, culturally speaking. Knowing it will NOT be the same, but giving the child some information.

FWIW, sometimes our friend with his implant turns it off, just to have silence, or to feel the bass of music (many deaf people like music with heavy bass) without any other influences. He also prefers to text or email instead of use a phone, and lip reads to an extent. For him, even the limited hearing provided by the implant has been important and this child would not know any different. I think it is important to remember that it won't be "the same" but will it give said child the advantages his parents want? And if they choose not to, will they (as presumably hearing parents) be immersing themselves and their child into the deaf culture or will he be a deaf child in a hearing culture?

I watched a very interesting show late one night (I think produced by Galludette, which is rather local to us) which touched on someone who wanted the implant as a college student, which of his friends agreed or disagreed, and the experience of a student who was from some rural place where he wasn't immersed in a deaf culture, though he was deaf and spoke only in sign. He was a fish out of water on campus, because the deaf community had not factored much in his childhood and growing up experience. I suspect he would have rather had the implant as a child.

I had a friend just get a cochlear implant about 45 days ago...he's loving life...this is a 49 year old man - who has suffered some degree of hearing loss throughout his life and it got progressively worse.

He does NOT view his hearing loss as a disability - he learned a new language - but he does love being able to "HEAR".

That's NOT true about the interaction...they don't turn it on (at least in my friends case) for 3 weeks after the surgery...and then fine tuning happens over the course of time.

If my child meet the requirements for the implant? I would do it. That's me.

If a child needs glasses, or eye surgery to help them see better, would you have it done?

I would do whatever was possible to allow a child to reach their full physical potential.

I know that the deaf community is sensitive to this, but if the technology is available and it has been proven to help, I would try to give my child every advantage.

No real life experience. However, if this was my child I would go for the implants because he will most likely be immersed in a "hearing" world. On the flip side, if I was part of the deaf community and my child is to grow up in one, then I would be against the implants.

This is SUCH a hard question. I can only give you my opinion, because I am most certainly not an expert. On the one hand, getting the implant implies that there is something wrong with him that needs to be fixed. On the other hand, getting the implant would make his life 'easier'. A large majority of the Deaf (capital D) culture see cochlear implants as invasive and unnecessary, as taking away a very important and integral part of who that person is. You take away their inability to hear, but you have also taken away their chances of ever really fitting in to either culture. Cochlear implants are visible and quite noticeable, and many children still need assistance with communication in a classroom setting. Kids are cruel, and neither deaf nor hearing children are likely to ignore this obvious difference.

I do not think I would take this option for my child, BUT I say this as someone who already knows ASL (my children do as well-I have partial hearing loss, and total hearing loss is a fear of mine, so I figured why not?) I also live in an area with a large Deaf community so there are lots of resources nearby. In addition, I often go to 'Deaf Night' at a local pub, so I would have a support system already in place with friends I have met there.

My friend who is in her 60s received a cochlear implant last year. She was profoundly deaf from birth. She received a lot of flak from the deaf community, and it was a massive decision for her. In the end she felt that it was a part of life that she wanted to experience. With the help of friends and her medical team she is learning to speak, and she is improving every month.

For a child of hearing parents, without the deaf cultural baggage, I would recommend the implant. It would be so much easier for the child to grow with it, than learning how to hear and speak after they have grown - like my friend is doing.

I was hard of hearing has a child. I had several surgeries on my ears and can not hear pretty good. I would have the implants. Some noise is better than silence. I would still teach the baby American Sign Language. Both my kids have perfect hearing but have been taught ASL as a second language. We used signing time with Alex and Leah

I would do whatever I could do to help my child. Glasses, orthodontia, hearing.

Personally, I think if I had a child at this time that was profoundly deaf from a young age, I would go ahead and do the cochlear implant. That is because I am part of a hearing world, and would want my child to be part of my world in an easier fashion.

If I were also deaf, I would probably NOT do the cochlear implant...

As you already noticed, it is a cultural thing.....

Unfortunately, people that are profoundly deaf are, as a whole, in a lower socio-economic status than a similar person in the hearing community. I've seen this in several areas. Yes, there are exceptions, and some profoundly deaf people are very successful, but I think it is much harder.

My nephew was born with severe hearing impairment. He did learn to talk, and also used sign language, but he often felt he was on the edge of society and never fit in that well. He chose to have the surgery for the cochlear implant done as an adult. Has it helped? I don't really know..... unfortunately, we don't get together as a family very often.