Rehabilitation will be much longer for them. The desire to hear again is also important, because there is a learning phase with the device, added Gates. Candidates must have drive, initiative, momentum and enthusiasm. It's not like a new pair of glasses, where you put them on and everything works. You have to learn how to use it.
Most people improve over one to three years.
Cochlear implants are also available for children, both those who are born deaf and those who have had hearing and lost it. The younger children are when they receive the implant, the better they do, noted Gates. Children really don't reach their maximum in skill improvement until three to five years after implant, said Gates. This is where educational programs are especially important. If you take children who have never heard and suddenly start putting sound into their bodies, they won't know what to do with it.