An ongoing study of 45 deaf children who had two cochlear implants
finds that their language skills are within the normal range. Cochlear
implants replace the eardrum by delivering an electric signal from a
microphone to the auditory nerves located in the cochlea in the inner
ear. The study, the first good evidence that a second implant helps with
understanding speech, was presented at a Midwestern meeting of experts
on cochlear implants held at the Waisman Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Thousands of children get cochlear implants each year, and the surgery is done at an ever-younger age, says Ruth Litovsky, a professor of communicative disorders and surgery/otolaryngology.