Great care must still be taken, however, as it will be difficult to determine in which direction the sound is coming from. Implants can help lipreading because the sounds they hear take some of the guesswork out of lipreading. Some users will be able to understand speech without lipreading and be able to use the telephone. After that you will see other experts, who may include a speech and language therapist, hearing therapist, clinical psychologist, social worker with deaf people, counsellor, teacher and audiological scientist. After the decision to go ahead has been taken, a wait of between 3 to 18 months can be expected depending on which health authority is asked for funding, and how many people are on the waiting list.
Any operation involves some risks and the possibility of side-effects.
If you are thinking of having an implant you should make sure you know about possible side-effects and how likely they are. If you decide you want to have your implant removed, this can be done. If the internal part of your implant fails a replacement can be put in. The ease of upgrade to new and better versions of an implant depends very much on the nature of the upgrade. If the upgrade involves only the external elements of the implant, then an upgrade can be performed easily.