Cochlear implant, yes or no?
Deaf family physician Hartley Bressler says several questions should be answered before a decision is made to proceed with a cochlear implant. The questions concern the way a successful implant is defined.
Will a successful implant mean I'll be able to hear like hearing people?
Is success the ability to communicate like hearing people, without any obstacles or barriers and without being dependent on assistance?
Is the measure of successful language/communication the ability to learn a word at a time after hours of repetitive rote learning?
Are recipients using the implant as an adjunct for lip reading? (If the answer is yes, this cancels questions 1 and 2.)
Is success measured against the academic and educational achievements of hearing or deaf people?
Finally, is success based on the notion that a cochlear-implant recipient will be able to integrate into the hearing society as one of its better, more successful and productive members?
If an affirmative answer to the final question is used to define success, says Bressler, it means that "all the successful deaf physicians, lawyers, PhDs and other professionals in the world" have been discounted.
