One year anniversary of NICE guidance on cochlear implants
One year has now passed since NICE recommended that children with severe or profound deafness should be given the option of simultaneous bilateral cochlear implants.
The good news is that this does seem to be happening across England, and adults are being offered unilateral cochlear implantation as an option.
NICE also recommended simultaneous bilateral implants for adults who are blind or have other disabilities that increase their reliance on auditory stimuli as a primary sensory mechanism for spatial awareness.
There are currently over 7,000 cochlear implant users throughout the UK, with numbers increasing by over 700 each year. The NICE guidance came just months before Cochlear's launch of the Nucleus 5, the world's thinnest cochlear implant which is designed to give patients best hearing performance.
We'd be interested in hearing from anyone who received a cochlear implant last year, so please do leave a comment, or email us at hello@thedeafblog.co.uk.
Comments
We've been looking as well as this question - but in terms of deaf children. As with adults, seems to be mostly OK, though we know there are a couple of areas of concern.
http://iannoon.wordpress.com/2010/01/11/one-year-anniversary-of-nice-report-on-cochlear-implants/
Posted by: Ian N | January 29, 2010 04:19 AM