FDA Approves Cochlear Implants for Adults: Hearing-impaired...

FDA Approves Cochlear Implants for Adults: Hearing-impaired people not helped by hearing aids can now receive cochlear implants, the Food and Drug Administration says. Unlike a hearing aid that simply amplifies noise, the surgically implanted device converts sound waves into electrical impulses and transmits them to the inner ear to reproduce sound. The FDA ruling allows Cochlear Corp.’s Nucleus 22 implant to be used in adults, mostly the elderly, whose hearing has diminished so much that hearing aids enable them to detect just 30% of normal speech, the company said. It requires a $25,000 operation. FDA’s scientific advisers warned last spring that the implant does carry a risk: If the operation fails, these patients lose the little natural hearing they had. The operation runs thin wires through the ear’s sensitive sound conductors, destroying residual hearing.