Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/89851
+ Auditory Brainstem Evoked Response Testing (ABR) to test for hearing loss and integrity of the central auditory system + Auditory Steady State Response Testing (ASSR) for hearing loss + Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potential Testing (VEMP) for Meniere's Disease + Electrocochleography (ECOG), also for Meniere's Disease + Videonystagmography (VNG), a ves- tibular and balance test for dizziness Cochlear Implantation The majority of patients with severe to profound deafness have a degeneration or malfunction of the delicate hair cells in the cochlea. This may be the result of illness, injury or hereditary factors. Malfunctioning hair cells prevent electri- cal impulses from reaching the auditory nerve and travelling to the brain to be interpreted as sound. A cochlear implant is an electrical device designed to deliver sound directly to the auditory nerves, bypassing the damaged hair cells. It consists of two external hearing aid-like components for taking in sound and processing speech, and a receiver which is surgically implanted in the cochlea. The Audiology and Cochlear Implant Center's dedicated Cochlear Implant Team is close to performing its 700th operation, making it one of the largest cochlear implant programs in the county. This multidisciplinary team includes four audiologists, two speech patholo- gists, two child psychologists, a nurse, a geneticist, a music therapist and a devel- opmental pediatrician. Dr. Megerian and his colleague, board-certified Otolaryngologist/Neurotologist Maroun Semaan, MD, are the team's two sur- geons. The team evaluates each implant candidate for their likelihood of success with the procedure. "For post-lingually deaf adults (those who lost their hearing after developing language skills), a rule of thumb is if Robin Piper, AuD, CCC-A, is part of a team of 11 audiologists, all of whom hold clinical doctorates. This team is the first point of contact for people seeking answers for their own or their child's hearing impairment. they can no longer hear to talk on the phone, they may be a candidate for a cochlear implant," says Dr. Megerian. "The second group of good candidates is children who are born deaf or lose their hearing very early." Without early intervention, these chil- dren would miss the crucial period during which the brain is primed to develop language skills by hearing people speak. It is rare for patients who miss this crucial window, such as pre-lingually deaf adults, to ever learn to speak normally, even with a cochlear implant. For this reason, the FDA now allows cochlear implantation in children as young as one year. When the procedure is performed at the appropriate time, Dr. Megerian says most children will speak normally by age 6 or 7. UH offers all three types of cochlear implants manufactured and has one of the lowest revision rates in the coun- try — just 2.5 percent compared to 5-15 percent nationally. Most children and about 40 percent of adults receive bilateral cochlear implants, which allows for stereoscopic hearing.