What is a Cochlear Implant?
Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2009 8:02 pm
Hear now and Always
Nucleus Freedom speech processing
Freedom speech processors analyse and digitise sound into coded signals. These signals are transmitted through the implant to your hearing nerve so you can recognise sounds. The processors feature powerful computers that are a current breakthrough and will be adaptable for future technologies. This power makes innovations like SmartSound possible.

How natural hearing works

1. Ear canal: Sound moves through the ear canal and strikes the eardrum.
2. Eardrum and bones: Sound waves cause the eardrum to vibrate, sending the bones in the middle ear into motion.
3. Inner ear: This motion causes the fluid inside the inner ear (cochlea) to move the hair cells.
4. Hearing nerve: Hair cells change the movement into electric impulses, which are sent from the hearing nerve into the brain; you hear sound.
How Nucleus Freedomâ„¢ works

1. Speech processor: The external speech processor captures sound and converts it into digital signals.
2. Digital signals: The processor sends the digital signals to an internal implant.
3. Electrode array: The internal implant converts the signals into electrical energy, then sends the energy to an electrode array inside the cochlea.
4. Hearing nerve: Electrodes stimulate the hearing nerve, bypassing damaged hair cells, and the brain perceives the signals as sound.
Nucleus Freedom speech processing
Freedom speech processors analyse and digitise sound into coded signals. These signals are transmitted through the implant to your hearing nerve so you can recognise sounds. The processors feature powerful computers that are a current breakthrough and will be adaptable for future technologies. This power makes innovations like SmartSound possible.

How natural hearing works

1. Ear canal: Sound moves through the ear canal and strikes the eardrum.
2. Eardrum and bones: Sound waves cause the eardrum to vibrate, sending the bones in the middle ear into motion.
3. Inner ear: This motion causes the fluid inside the inner ear (cochlea) to move the hair cells.
4. Hearing nerve: Hair cells change the movement into electric impulses, which are sent from the hearing nerve into the brain; you hear sound.
How Nucleus Freedomâ„¢ works

1. Speech processor: The external speech processor captures sound and converts it into digital signals.
2. Digital signals: The processor sends the digital signals to an internal implant.
3. Electrode array: The internal implant converts the signals into electrical energy, then sends the energy to an electrode array inside the cochlea.
4. Hearing nerve: Electrodes stimulate the hearing nerve, bypassing damaged hair cells, and the brain perceives the signals as sound.