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Cochlear implants were developed in the 1970s to help profoundly deaf individuals who gained little or no benefit from hearing aids. When hearing is functioning normally, complicated parts of the inner ear convert sound waves in the air into electrical impulses, which are sent to the brain and recognized as sound.
A cochlear implant works in a similar manner—when surgically implanted behind the ear, the electronic device is able to bypass damaged hearing cells and stimulate the auditory nerve to restore partial hearing. Cochlear implants provide enhanced sound detection and the potential for greater speech understanding.
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