The use of cochlear implants for single-sided deafness in children

Cochlear implants or "bionic ears" are electronic implants used to help people who are deaf or have profound difficulty hearing to be able to hear. Most people who get the implants only get one- even though they typically cannot hear on either side. Also, most of the people receiving the implants are adults. I was surprised to learn that elsewhere, like in the EU for example, it has become a relatively common practice to provide the implants in young children. In the US it continues to be unusual for the procedure to be done in this early. The FDA has also not approved the use of cochlear implants for single-sided deafness. This particular article details a Colorado physician's successful attempt to do both of these things: perform the surgery on a 9-year-old girl with single-sided deafness. With time, it is thought that this sort of procedure will become more accepted and more widely performed.

This article caught my eye as one of my friends had used hearing aids since he was very young, but he recently received a cochlear implant and it worked out a lot better for him. It seems unfortunate that this sort of technology is available and is in widespread use elsewhere, but can be inaccessible for some people here simply because there haven't been any large clinical trials performed in this country, yet.

The news article.