What Does a Cochlear Implant Sound Like?
Have you ever wondered what hearing with a cochlear implant sounds like? As you may know, a cochlear implant can restore the sense of sound to people with severe-to-profound hearing loss—people who are deaf. But does hearing with a cochlear implant sound natural?
Read on to find out how the advanced technology of our cochlear implants provides users with the closest to natural hearing.
The MED-EL Philosophy: Closest to Natural Hearing
Our cochlear implants can help you achieve your best hearing and hear sounds as nature intended.
Following Nature
The Right Pitch at the Right Place
A Future of Hearing
To understand how these three things can provide our users with the closest to natural hearing, let’s start with the basics of natural hearing.
What Does a MED-EL Cochlear Implant Sound Like?
“I can recognize people I know just by hearing their voices. I can recognize singers’ voices as well in songs. I notice people’s accents. This is what I mean when I say things sound natural to me with my CI. There is no robotic, computerized, flat sound to the voices I hear.”
Mary Beth
MED-EL cochlear implant recipient
What Is Natural Hearing?
When all the parts of our ears work correctly, we can hear naturally with our ears. There’s more to the ear than what we see on the outside. At the end of the ear canal is the eardrum. And behind the eardrum is the middle ear. The middle ear contains the three tiniest bones in the body. After the middle ear comes the inner ear, also called the cochlea.
All of these parts of the ear work together to turn vibrations in the air into sounds our brains can understand.
The outer ear collects sound waves. Then the bones in the middle ear vibrate to pass these sound waves to the cochlea. The cochlea is a spiral-shaped organ about the size of a pea. It contains fluid and is lined with tiny cells that look like hairs.
These hair cells correspond to different frequencies. Hair cells for the highest sounds are at the entrance of the cochlea’s spiral. And hair cells for the lowest sounds are deep within the spiral.
That means the high chirping of a bird activates the hair cells at the entrance of the cochlea. And the low bark of a dog activates the hair cells deep inside the cochlea.
Sound waves cause the hair cells to move. This movement creates nerve signals at the base of the hair cells. These signals travel to the brain. And the brain understands them as sound.
When the hair cells in the cochlea are damaged, this causes hearing loss. This type of hearing loss is called sensorineural hearing loss.
What Is Sensorineural Hearing Loss?
Sensorineural Hearing Loss
Sensorineural hearing loss is one of the main types of hearing loss. It can be caused by many different things. Very loud noise, genetic factors—maybe someone else in your family is also deaf—, and viral infections are some of the causes of hearing loss. For some people, hearing loss gets worse over time. This is called progressive hearing loss.
There are different levels of hearing loss.
When hearing loss is mild, only some hair cells stop working. In moderate hearing loss, many hair cells don’t work. And for people with profound sensorineural hearing loss, none of the hair cells work, and they are completely deaf.
But even when the hair cells are damaged, other parts of the ear are often still healthy. A cochlear implant can work together with the healthy parts of the ear. By doing this, cochlear implants can give people with hearing loss access to sound.
“A deaf ear is not a dead ear! The human auditory nerve function persists after hair cell loss and deafness; a blessing for the deaf and implanted.“
Prof. Helge Rask-Andersen
How Cochlear Implants Work
Cochlear implants have two main parts.
1 The audio processor is behind or above the outer ear. The audio processor has microphones that capture sound. It turns sound waves into electrical signals. These signals travel from the audio processor to the implant.
2 The implant is under the skin. The long tail of the implant is the electrode array. The electrode array is in the cochlea. It uses electrical pulses to stimulate the cochlea and send sound signals to the brain. These signals replace the natural electrical signals triggered by functioning hair cells.
The audio processor is the first step in hearing with a cochlear implant system. But the implant is the key to natural hearing. It is the bridge between technology and nature. If the implant technology works similarly to natural hearing, it can provide closer to natural hearing.
Cochlear implant users can upgrade their audio processors as technology improves. But cochlear implants are designed to last for many years. So it is important to choose a cochlear implant system that provides closest to natural hearing.
How to Get the Right Pitch
The cochlea is like a piano. On a piano, each key plays a different note or pitch. In the cochlea, each hair cell corresponds to a specific pitch. So each pitch has its specific place in the cochlea. On a piano, the lowest pitches are on the left and the highest pitches are on the right. In the cochlea, the lowest pitches are deep inside the cochlea and the highest pitches are at the entrance.
A bird chirping activates the hair cells at the entrance of the cochlea. A dog barking activates hair cells deeper in the cochlea. So a cochlear implant should do the same. When it does, the brain can perceive sound more naturally.
Length of the Cochlea
The cochlea is spiral-shaped with 2 ½ turns. The entire cochlea is lined with hair cells. To stimulate the full range of natural pitches, the cochlear implant’s electrode array must cover the whole cochlea.
That is why we offer long electrode arrays. Other companies have shorter arrays that only cover a little more than one turn. These cochlear implants cannot stimulate the lowest pitches in a natural way. This causes sound distortion and less natural hearing:
With short electrode arrays, low pitches shift up. So a dog’s deep bark sounds high pitched. Lower pitches give sound its foundation. When they are shifted up, sounds seem thin and metallic.
Don't Miss Out on Half the Cochlea
Our philosophy is to provide closest to natural hearing with cochlear implants. That’s why our electrode arrays are long. Long electrode arrays can cover the whole cochlea. That makes high and low pitches sound more natural. Our electrode arrays are also soft and flexible so they can be inserted into the cochlea safely.
Cochleae come in a variety of lengths. So our electrode arrays also come in a variety of lengths. Surgeons can choose the electrode array that best fits each patient’s ear. If the electrode array fits the cochlea well, pitches can sound more natural.
Electrode Contacts
Electrode arrays contain electrode contacts. MED-EL electrode arrays contain 12 contacts. Other brands contain up to 22 contacts. But it is important to consider virtual channels.
Virtual channels can stimulate places in the cochlea between two electrode contacts. MED-EL electrode arrays can create up to 250 virtual channels, meaning up to 250 distinct pitches. That means providing a fuller, richer, and more natural sound.
Because our soft electrode arrays have fewer electrode contacts than stiff ones, they are more flexible and gentler on the cochlea.
FineHearing: The Right Timing
Stimulating each pitch at the right place in the cochlea is the first step. Stimulating it with the right timing is the next important step. The speed of a sound wave depends on its pitch. High pitches have faster waves and low sounds have slower waves. In natural hearing in the second turn of the cochlea, the rate of a nerve signal matches the timing of the sound wave that causes it.
Our unique audio processor sound coding is called FineHearing. It matches the stimulation rate of electrode contacts to the timing of incoming sound waves. This provides for more natural hearing. This type of sound coding technology is called rate coding. It’s used in the second turn of the cochlea where the electrode array stimulates lower pitches.
If a low pitch is stimulated at the right place but not at the right rate, it will not sound natural—it may cause pitch confusion. For example, a deep male voice might sound higher. Companies with shorter electrode arrays don’t have to think about rate coding—their short electrode arrays usually don’t even get that far.
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Closest to Natural Hearing
For cochlear implant users, having the closest to natural hearing means:
- More natural sound quality
- A richer, fuller hearing experience
- Better music perception and better music enjoyment
- Superior hearing in quiet environments and in noisy environments
- Better ability to know what direction sound is coming from
What Does a Cochlear Implant Sound Like?
Discover what hearing with a cochlear implant can sound like with this cochlear implant sound simulation. Compare a long electrode array to a short electrode array. And hear how natural an individualized fitting can sound.
Anatomy-Based Fitting
Cochleae come in many different lengths. So our electrode arrays come in many different lengths. Your surgeon can choose the array that fits your ear best. But that’s just the first step.
MED-EL also has unique fitting technology. Your audiologist can fine-tune each electrode to match the frequencies of the hair cells it stimulates. This is called a cochlear implant fitting.
Your audiologist can use this technology to fine-tune each electrode to match your unique ear anatomy. This “pitch-perfect” fitting is called anatomy-based fitting.
This is something only possible with individualized cochlear implants from MED-EL. It is possible thanks to long electrode arrays, image-based tools, and advanced fitting software.
A Hearing Future
Learning to play a musical instrument takes practice. Learning to hear with a cochlear implant also takes practice.
A few weeks after surgery, a cochlear implant user gets to hear with their implant for the first time. This is called activation day. Hearing for the first time is different for everyone.
Some people hear beeps or other unfamiliar sounds. Some people can understand speech. And with time and practice, sounds become more natural. Thanks to our unique electrode design and one-of-a-kind fitting technology, MED-EL cochlear implant users can achieve hearing as close to nature as possible.
User Testimonials
Enjoy a lively conversation. Pick up the phone with confidence. Rediscover music. Live independently. Master new challenges. A cochlear implant can make those things possible.
This is what our cochlear implant users have to say:
Why MED-EL?
At MED-EL, we’ve been connecting people with life-changing hearing implants for over 35 years, so we understand that hearing loss can be difficult for you and your whole family. That’s why we’ve always been driven by one thing: a passion to help people with hearing loss.
It’s been that way since 1977, when our CEO, Ingeborg Hochmair, pioneered the modern cochlear implant along with her husband Erwin. Today we’ve grown to more than 2,900 employees covering 137 countries, but we’re still guided by the steadfast principles of our founders.
Our dedicated support network and local care specialists ensure our recipients are always well cared for. And when we create new technology, we make sure it’s compatible with earlier implants so that everyone can benefit. With MED-EL, our recipients know they can always count on us for a lifetime of better hearing.
We’re Here for You on Your Hearing Journey
Would you like to find out more about how MED-EL’s hearing solutions could help you or someone you care for? Simply fill out the contact form, and your local MED-EL office or partner will provide you with more information.
