Cochlear implants: indications and technology.

Over the last decade, the field of cochlear implants has progressed to the point where many postlinguistically deaf adults can use a multichannel device to understand speech without lipreading. The remainder are able to use their devices to aid in lipreading and to discriminate environmental sounds. It is anticipated that improved processing schemes will be developed so that the cochlear implant user can expect better speech perception with these devices. Eventually, a more sophisticated cochlear implant that has the capability of permitting good speech discrimination may supplant hearing aids for severely deafened individuals. Regardless of future developments, the present-day systems effectively restore auditory function to profoundly deafened children and adults.