Hearing Loss and Cochlear Implants

Abstract

Hearing loss is a symptom associated with multiple disease processes, a receptive communication condition that corrodes social interaction and, as an acquired condition, it is a curse with many concomitant effects. This chapter reviews recent advances in the causes of, and problems associated with, hearing loss, while presenting advances in the treatment of these, particularly those ushered in by the mainstream adoption of the cochlear implant (CI). A device that is essentially similar to CIs is the auditory brainstem implant (ABI). ABI systems were developed to address the auditory communication needs of patients with neurofibromatosis type-2. The chapter reviews literature that examines speech perception by CI recipients according to a teleological framework that addresses the gamut of speech perceptual competencies that are drawn on during receptive communication, from identifying segmental attributes to deducing the inferred communicative intent of a speaker.

Authors 1

1. David Jackson Morris

   University of Copenhagen

   Affiliation as printed

   University of Copenhagen, Denmark