REVIEWS   

Otorinolaringologia 2005 June;55(2):91-105

Copyright © 2009 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: Italian

Treatment of profound hearing loss in the last 10 years

Solero P., Musto R., Ferrara M.

S.C.U. Audiologia e Foniatria Università degli Studi di Torino, Torino

The introduction of the cochlear implant changed the treatment and the prognosis of deafness: it is a device that restores useful hearing in severely to profoundly deaf people. Deaf people – men and children – can be integrated and re-integrated in the sound world with a multidisciplinary approach that requires the otologist-otosurgeon, the phoniatrics and the speech therapist. The recent introduction of this device and the fast progress in the research and technology applied to the cochlear prosthesis are the basis for a continuous widening of the indications for the sugical intervention and an increase of the possible candidates. The purpose of the present review is to summarize the actual evidences about the basic technologies, the selection criteria and the trend of the new researches about the cochlear implant in the children and in the adults.