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Jul 4, 2006 5:05 pm US/Eastern
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Cochlear Implants Instrumental For Deaf Children
(KDKA)
A cochlear implant is a hearing device that gets sound to the brain when a deaf ear can't.
A new study shows why it's critical for children who are born deaf to receive the implants sooner rather than later.
Ten-year-old Rachel Knobel says a cochlear implant comes in handy - especially when she can turn it off.
"In a thunderstorm, all you hear, you don't hear anything, you only see the lightening," Rachel said.
Rachel was born profoundly deaf and received the high-tech hearing device at 18 months.
"I feel like if we had waited just a little bit longer, I wouldn't be as… gifted as I am," Rachel said.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University agree.
"The longer a child is deaf, the longer the duration of deafness, the less benefit there is for using a cochlear implant," said Neuroscientist David Ryugo, Ph.D., of Johns Hopkins University.
The Hopkins study found that by 6 to 12 months of age, a child's brain 'needs' to hear sound to develop properly.
"If we don't provide that kind of information the brain hungers for, in fact, there are connections that are either lost or they are abnormal," said Hearing Center Director John Niparko, M.D.
Doctors pinpointed the specific nerve connections that deteriorate during deafness and found that early intervention keeps them in tact.
"We've identified where there is an abnormality and we know we can fix it, or at least prevent it using cochlear implants," Ryugo said.
Rachel's living proof. She's been tuned-in to sounds and speech just as if she had normal hearing.
"She picked up on it and she closed her language gap very quickly and she has done extremely well," said Julie Steinberg.
More than 10,000 children are born deaf every year in the United States. Doctors say 1.5 million are good candidates for cochlear implants.
(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)