How the implants work

COCHLEAR implants are small hearing devices fitted under the skin behind the ear during surgery. They have an external sound processor and internal parts, including a receiver coil, an electronics package and a long wire with electrodes.

The processor takes in sounds, analyses them and converts them into signals that are transmitted to an internal receiverstimulator, which sends them to the cochlea, a snail shellshaped part of the inner ear, and along the cochlear nerve to the brain.

The implants cannot restore normal hearing but they can give a deaf person a good representation of sounds, helping them to understand speech.