What Is That Red Blinking Light On His Head?

This is actually a question that we got asked a lot..There is a little red blinking light on Daniel's ear level microphone that lets us know that the implant is picking up sound - and apparently it has has turned some heads! Thinking back I don't even think i have came across an implantee in Malaysia except in the hospital...hmmmm

When people have asked about Daniel's implant, I think I have told every person a different story. I have never known quite what to say before (Do i tell them to mind their own business?Do I just call it a fancy hearing aid? Do I go into a lot of detail? Am I talking over or under people's heads?) - but I think I've figured it out! Here's what I'm going to tell anyone else who asks me, "what's that on his ear?" (or words to that effect...)

"It's called a Cochlear Implant. It is like a hearing aid. But, whereas a hearing aid is an entirely external thing, part of this device is actually implanted in his head. Plus, a hearing aid's job is just to amplify sound. A Cochlear Implant goes much further - it actually picks sound up with a microphone (the blinking light part), translates that sound into electrical impulses (using this processor on his back), and sends that information to his brain (through this magnet on his head) which then interpret those impulses and understands them as sounds.


OR

i can follow the explanation from a 4 year old boy i met at the hospital the other day....Big brother and Little brother were playing in a little house that was inthe waiting room.A girl who was probably 20 something asked Big brother what was on Little brothers head. I was just about to jump in and offer an explanation when Big brother(as confident as anything) said simply, "It's a Cochlear Implant, it helps him hear."

I guess I could learn a thing or two from him...

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its always hard to explain how the implants work even with diagrams. I think this animation is the best so far.

http://69.20.19.211/cdrh/cochlear/implantpop.html

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