Advances in technology also help. Alivia and two of her siblings have the Nucleus-24 Cochlear Implant System, made by the Cochlear Corporation. Two others have a slightly earlier version. Technology has advanced so quickly and we're getting such nice results that criteria have expanded to include adults and children with severe to profound hearing loss. That's why the surgically inserted cochlear implants are such a good choice for the Anderson children and thousands of others each year.
Cochlear implants transform speech and sound into electrical signals that the brain can interpret.
They bypass the normal function of the outer ear, hair cells and cochlea, using surgically implanted electrodes and digital signal processors worn on the ear or body to do the work that the damaged or malformed ear structures can't do. A small magnetic microphone on the outside of the head, held in place by an implanted magnet, picks up sounds and sends them to a processor. After the processor's programming translates the signals, the impulses travel through a coil to a receiver inside the ear. The implant transmits these signals through dozens of electrodes to the auditory nerve and brain, allowing the wearer to detect and understand speech and noise. The Nucleus-24 model that Alivia was fitted with uses the first miniaturized device worn behind the ear, as well as a second processor the size of a pager worn on the body.