Pediatric Cochlear Implant Program

In the early 2000s, screening for hearing loss in all babies born in the United States became mandatory to identify and begin treatment of hearing loss with the hopes of improving the future opportunities for affected children.

Although many types of hearing loss are treatable with proper management of ear infections, other types are not easily treated with medicine or surgery. Although most patients are not born "totally deaf," some may have hearing loss that gets worse over time, ultimately resulting in deafness. And these patients, as well as those who were born "deaf," may be candidates for surgical implantation of a device to replace the tasks of the inner ear: the cochlear implant.

Hearing and speech specialists at Brenner Children's Hospital have been collaborating to provide care for hearing impaired patients since the hospital's inception. Children have had access to cochlear implantation at Brenner for more than 7 years, and in 2008 the formal multi-disciplinary Pediatric Hearing Loss and Pediatric Cochlear Implant Teams were established to identify patients with challenging problems and optimize the efficiency and the quality of their care.

The Pediatric Cochlear Implant Team strives to identify and address each child's individual developmental strengths and needs as well as the caregiver and professional supports that are available.