No, the cochlear implant is not a cure for deafness. When the cochlear implant is on, the user should function with a mild to moderate hearing loss. Most implant users will always benefit with additional support such as visual cues for understanding speech. Rehabilitation can help with the adjustment to sound with a cochlear implant for adults and children. A restored level of sensitive hearing is necessary but not sufficient for understanding spoken language and producing intelligible speech.
Rehabilitation helps to provide meaning to the new sounds being heard.
It takes time to learn about sounds in the environment and the sounds of language. With the appropriate rehabilitation therapy, a cochlear implant user can learn to understand language and monitor their own speech production. Research has shown that better results are produced when the time period between the onset of deafness and use of a cochlear implant is short. Therefore, the sooner you are implanted the sooner you will receive auditory information. Yes, the FDA requires 2 to 6 months of binaural hearing aid use prior to cochlear implantation.