Two speakers, Andrew Broughton (Telford & Wrekin Council) and Dr Bodo Bertram (Cochlear Implant Centrum, Wilhelm Hirte, Germany), showed inspiring DVD case studies demonstrating the progress made by cochlear implanted children with other special needs. In two separate cases two little girls had learnt to listen and talk so well with their cochlear implants that the doctor only had to gently say something, and off they were again chatting volubly to him! In another case the face of a boy with cerebral palsy, who may never learn to speak, showed the pleasure of improved listening and understanding. It was clear that provision of cochlear implants to these children improved communication and understanding with parents, carers and teachers. These children therefore have a much better chance of benefiting from their education and developing their lives to the full.

There were many other interesting presentations, including Professor Jon Shallop’s (Mayo Clinic, USA) clever ideas for behind the ear (BTE) speech processors for construction workers to wear on hats and helmets and a clear method for grading speech recognition of implantees, according the quartile they achieve on the scatter chart.

Some patients with auditory neuropathy, a complex and not fully understood condition, where transmission of the sound from the inner ear to the brain is poor, resulting in speech perception being lower than would be expected for the level of hearing loss, can also benefit from cochlear implants. Francesca Pinto of London’s Royal National Throat Nose and Ear Hospital and Sandra Titley of St Thomas’s demonstrated some other interesting work on managing patients for whom English is not a first language. It was emphasised that family translators, particularly children, should not be used; an independent translator should be booked. There are also a large number of word and sentence banks in many different languages available for assessment of the patient.

Later on a short discussion by surgeons and audiologists concerning the positioning of the implant had its funny moments with audiologists saying that they knew who had done the operation by looking at where the implant had been placed and surgeons saying that they placed by eye. Instructions? ‘Oh I throw those away!’ which seemed to me a pure IKEA moment!

Inevitably at such a conference the manufacturers are keen to show what they are doing for us. The four manufacturers meetings were all held at the same time so I cannot comment on all of them and naturally I supported the home team!

Barry Nevison of Cochlear gave an enormously interesting talk, which introduced me to the idea that even with normal hearing the ear cannot hear all the sound signal of music recordings so some signal can be safely cut out. The same process could be applied to cochlear implant technology enabling speech processors to slow down and become more power efficient. Another concept is backward telemetry - this allows information to be transmitted back so that the sound transmission can be improved.

I also had a chance to see the new BTE models for children which will come in pale pink and blue - definitely good therapy for both children and parents! A lot of thought has gone into making them safe. There is a clear plastic surround for the processor which tiny fingers should not be able to prise open, and the battery component cannot be accessed without a special opening device. To ensure that the speech processor stays on, a soft ear hook, ‘snugfit’, has been devised to curl around the outer ear. I was very interested in this as my speech processor falls off quite easily with the conventional ear hook so I now have an adjusted demo snugfit hook, first edition, devised by Tracey Adams, which is working brilliantly.

The conference was not entirely about cochlear implants as Bahas (bone anchored hearing implants) were also shown on the Cochlear stand. The need for a Baha support group was discussed and the improvements needed in their appearance.

A highlight of the conference was the dinner on the first day. This was held in beautiful surroundings at the Royal College in Dublin. Two little sisters in national dress performed traditional Irish dancing with great skill to a very impressed audience. As one of the girls had a cochlear implant and the other was just going through the assessment process, we were all asked not to clap along to the bagpipe player, so that they would be able to hear the music. We all kept very quite until they took a bow and then a tremendous applause erupted. It was so heart warming.

It was very stimulating and fun to meet so many people who work so hard to improve life for those of us who use cochlear implants.

Please see www.bcig.org.uk for more information on the British Cochlear Implant Group.