When you enter the world you could be born hearing, hearing impaired, or even without hearing. If you are born hearing impaired you are one of the 28 million Americans who have a hearing impairment. Hearing loss can affect people of all ages, in all of our population, and in any environment. Losing your hearing could be hereditary, can result from a disease, trauma, or even long-term exposure to damaging noise or medication. Hearing loss can vary from a mild but important loss, to even a total loss of hearing. In any case if hearing is lost you might consider a hearing aid to assist you in hearing, or even a cochlear implant depending on the severity. .
A hearing aid is an electronic, battery-operated device that amplifies and changes sound to allow for improved communication. Hearing aids receive sound through a microphone, which then converts the sound wave to electrical signals. The amplifier increases the loudness of the signal and then sends the sound to the ear through a speaker. Not all types of hearing loss could be helped with a hearing aid. For people with a sensorineural hearing loss a hearing aid would assist them most likely all of the time. .
The cochlear implant has become such a huge break through in technology for people who can not benefit from just a hearing aid. The cochlear implant has given people of all ages the ability to hear and experience the world in a totally different perspective. It has been seen that children who have received a cochlear implant can improve their language skills. According to the results of the research done on cochlear implants in comparison to hearing aids children receiving cochlear implants have better English skills then, they would have had they not received a cochlear implant (Tomlin 1999). .
A child does not always improve in language skills after a cochlear implant. Caren Landis an American Sign Language professor at Rockland Community College works with several children who have had cochlear implants.
