Cochlear Implants

What is Cochlear implant ?
Cochlear implant (CI) is a surgically implanted device that helps overcome problems in the inner ear or cochlear.
It provides direct electrical stimulation to auditory nerve,which is responsible for hearing. Patient can't undergo for CI implant suddenly he/she have to undergo for different test before the implant.The age that the implant can be done is still debatable according to FDA the minimum age for a implant was 5 years but now a days we can find out children who undergo for CI less than 2 years. 

Who are the candidates?

• Children and adults with severe to profound hearing loss
• The patient has to have a Functional auditory nerve 
• The patient should not have medical and radiological contradictions to surgery
• Motivation of the family and the patient 

(Please note that above factors are basic factors.When it comes to children there are many more factors which we have to consider before the implant takes place.)

It consists of 

1. Implant package ( which is inside the skull )

                                                           -Receiver  and electrode -

COMMUNICATION CHALLENGES AFTER STROKE

               Aphasia is one of the communication disorders that a person can have after a stroke.
It affects comprehension,production of speech sounds,reading and writing.
Damage to left hemisphere can lead to aphasia.(depends on the dominant hemisphere)
                          It can be associated with dysathria,apraxia or dysphagia(difficulty in swallowing)

What cause aphasia?
                          Any damage to the brain can lead to aphasia

• Stroke (most common)
• Brain tumors
• Traumatic bran injuries (cause by road traffic accident,gun shot...)
• Infection 

What are the clinical features and symptoms ?

Patient will have difficulty to produce the next coming up word ,some of them answer with no connection to the question.
Unintened words or sound substitution ( Paraphaisa)
         it can be similar to the target word in terms of meaning  Ex: Chair for sofa, sister for wife  or can be a word from any of the person's known language (Neologism)

• Naming/word finding difficulty
• Fluency can be effected  (depend on the type of aphasia)
• Repetition ( depend on the type of aphasia)
• Memory,cognition and perceptual problems
• Psychological problems