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Johanna Broome
Vicki Stallbird
English 1102
26 March 2017
Cochlear Implants: Does it Give You Hearing or Take Your Deafness?
What do you think of when you hear the word culture? Upbringing? Region? Skin

color? Religion? Not many people know many Deaf people consider being deaf not a handicap

or disability, but a cultural minority. Theyre very proud of their history and language The Deaf

have worked very hard to overcome a violent history where their language was banned to isolate

Deaf people from one another, as to avoid procreation and future Deaf children. They were put

through forced abortions and seen as demented. Now the Deaf community stands tall and proud.

Many of them love being Deaf and wouldnt give up their culture for anything. So why does the

hearing world keep trying to cure them? The cochlear implant is an electronic hearing device that

bypasses damaged ears to stimulate the auditory nerve. It sounds amazing right? A miracle. By

all means it could be, but its the misrepresentation that is dangerous. Many parents never learn

sign language because theyre made to believe that their child is no longer deaf. Because of the

way the brain works for learning language, the cochlear implant is most effective for learning

oral language if they get it very young. You can implant your child with a cochlear as young as

their very first birthday. Since its portrayed as a cure, too many parents will implant their deaf

babies and never consider their Deaf identity or the struggle that is still present for them in

joining the hearing world. Deaf children should not be implanted until they are old enough to

make an informed decision on if its what they want.

The first reason that a child should be of consenting age to get a cochlear implant is so

that they understand their deafness and what it means to them and their community before they

give it up. The search for a cure for deafness represents the desire of a majority culture to

impose its language and values on the Deaf rather than modify its institutions to take account of
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the perspectives and needs of members of another culture (Sparrow). While this is not the views

of all deaf people, it is a view a parent would need to take into consideration before getting an

implant for their child. How can someone, even a parent, decide for someone which world they

should belong to? Theres much history and pride and culture to being Deaf. Children need to be

raised with people who understand them, to help guide them to where they want to be. If they are

raised as hearing, they will miss out on a tight knit community that support each other. They will

be missing out on having a cultural history of accomplishments and heroes like Keller and

Gallaudet. Cochlear proponents discourage sign language, saying it will hinder their hearing and

oral abilities. Even though the child is still deaf, they would be deprived of their natural

language. In history, Deaf people had to fight for their right to use sign language. It was the only

language Deaf people felt that they could truly express themselves. Even if you get a cochlear

implant, hearing and oralism will not occur naturally. It will always be something you have to

think about and force yourself into. Sign language is the Deaf language and the only one that will

flow through a Deaf person naturally. To not teach it to a child and force them into a 100%

hearing life will keep them from ever being able to naturally express themselves to a full extent.

To give a child a cochlear implant before theyre old enough to understand their deafness would

deprive them of their Deaf identity.

Another reason not to give a baby a cochlear implant is the actual procedure itself. It is an

extremely invasive and irreversible procedure. There are two separate parts to a cochlear implant.

The first part is a receiver that they surgically insert into your brain. The second part is a

microphone that you wear like a hearing aid. This part has an extending piece that rest on the

side of your skull, held to the receiver in the brain by magnetism (Clark). This procedure has

been known to increase the odds of getting meningitis. Due to the surgery being on and near so
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many important nerves, it can also cause full paralysis of the side of the face that is implanted. It

also can injure the nerve used for taste. More common side effects include headaches and

vertigo. Sometimes these side effects happen just after surgery and fade. Sometimes the pain and

dizziness never goes away. This surgery is a recent and experimental one and the long term side

effects are still unknown. The nerves are stimulated through electrical currents and no one can

tell yet how safe this will be after long time usage. There is also a risk that it would not work.

Cochlears dont operate perfectly on every person. Many people have very little improvement to

their hearing. Some people have no benefits to their hearing at all. An implanted person also will

not be able to use many different medical examination equipment. For example, they cannot get

an MRI. It will not be an option no matter how much they need one. Even being close to an

MRI imaging unit will be dangerous because it may dislodge the implant or demagnetize its

internal magnet (FDA). And while these all may be risks and effects that you would be willing

to take to have something resembling hearing, should anyone be able to decide for their baby that

they will risk it, before the child is even old enough to understand that hearing is something they

dont have?
Another thing to consider about getting an implant for a child is the effectiveness of the

device. These devices are still in the early stages and are nowhere near perfect. It will not make

your child hear. On the other hand, each generation of cochlear implants is more effective than

the previous. The external parts of the implant may be switched out for the upgraded model, but

the internal part is inside of the brain and would have even bigger risks for a removal than

getting the implant. The cochlear implants version of sound is noticeably electronic. It can be

very difficult to grow accustomed to. Parents are discouraged from signing, but the child may

never entirely understand spoken language. They will have massive difficulty following along in

public school but most will not know ASL in order to assist them or to enroll in a Deaf school.
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There was a study by Emily Lund and Jessica Dinsmoor, women with PHDs in Behavioral

Science and Educational Psychology, to compare the taxonomic vocabulary knowledge and

organization of children with cochlear implants to children with normal hearing of the same age

and a matched vocabulary development. The children were given two tasks: A sorting task and a

naming task. The implanted children had accomplished the picture-sorting task in a manner

consistent with non-implanted children. However, for the naming task, implanted children were

comparatively delayed.
The most common argument for implanting infants with cochlear implants is that being

raised with language will make the transition from deaf to implanted easier on them. This is

entirely true. Being raised with oral language and having the cochlear as a baby drastically

improves their speaking and hearing abilities. But how is this the most important factor for your

deaf childs wellbeing? Like many Deaf people, they may have no interest in oral language or

being able to hear. They may grow up to love their Deaf identity and not want to give it up. They

could have difficulties orally speaking, but that wont hinder them from expressing themselves if

they know Sign, the most natural language for a Deaf person. Why implant them before theyre

even old enough to decide, due to your own values placed on hearing?
Even waiting until the child is five makes a huge difference.
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As this bar chart shows, children who are implanted under three years old have about a

ten percent chance of still knowing and using sign language, only five years later. This is one

eighth of the starting percentage. The ASL knowledge of those who were implanted between

three and five drops from nearly 70% to barely 40% within five years. For those who are

implanted over five years old, there is very minor change in the maintenance of their ASL

knowledge.
Another concern for parents is bullying and making friends. Children tend to pick on

those who are different or their weirded out by what they dont understand. While this is an

unfortunate part of being a Deaf or disabled person, being Deaf comes with a whole inner circle

of friends. If a child go to a Deaf school, nearly everyone will be friends because they enjoy

being around people who know their language. Anywhere a Deaf person goes, when you run into

another Deaf person, boom, instant friends. Anytime a Deaf person makes a big accomplishment,

theyll have a built in set of cheerleaders. And while parents may be worried people would stare

at them or make them uncomfortable. Much more people will stare in awe and fascination then

anything offensive. People will marvel at how beautiful the language is.
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One genuine issue that parents are concerned with is education. Because of the slightness

of the Deaf population, there are not many schools for the Deaf. Usually a few per state,

sometimes one or none at all. These schools often get shut down when the state has funding

issues. Some Deaf schools barely have students in the triple digits and some dont even have that

many. So, when a state has low funding, theyll shut shown schools with small populations.

When this happens, the Deaf children are divide up and sent to their nearest public. In public

school, they will more than likely be the only or one of several Deaf children. Since there is only

one or a few Deaf children in the school, public schools do not make many accommodations for

the Deaf. The rarely want to hire a specialized teacher or make building adjustments for a couple

kids when they could just throw them in the regular classes and hope for the best. They will hire

interpreters, but they are typically the most low budget ones the school can find. It is very

common to have poor interpreters at state facilities. This lack of specialized education is the

reason that graduating Deaf kids typically read at a fourth grade level.
While this is a genuine issue, getting a cochlear implant does not help this problem. They

will still need specialized education that may be difficult to receive. Theyll still need visual aid

that may not be provided or interpreters that cannot keep up. They would still belong in a Deaf

school with proper care to their needs that they might not receive. Having a cochlear implant will

not make them equivalent to a hearing child in their strengths and weaknesses. Parents would

still have to deal with the stresses of under accommodations for the Deaf.
Everyone wants their child to be at least a little like them. Many Deaf parents hope for

their child to be Deaf. But if youre a hearing adult who had a deaf baby, you need to accept their

differences. While your first thought may be to cure them of their differences, it may be

something they grow up to cherish. Parents should not make this choice for their baby. Love
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them as they are and when theyre old enough to decide for themselves on if they want to hear or

if they want to remain deaf, support whatever decision they make. It was theirs to make.

Works Cited
Carr-Elsing, Debra. "COCHLEAR IMPLANTS OFFER HOPE TO DEAF." n.d.: n. pag. Print.
Clark, Graeme. Cochlear Implants: Fundamentals and Applications. 2003.
Department of Health and Human Services. N.p., 6 June 2014. Web.
Lund, Emily and Jessica Dinsmoor. "Taxonomic Knowledge of Children with and Without

Cochlear Implants." Language, Speech & Hearing Services in Schools 47.3 (2016): 236-

245. Academic Search Complete. Web.

"National Association of the Deaf." National Association of the Deaf. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Mar.

2017.
Sparrow, Robert. "Defending Deaf Culture: The Case Of Cochlear Implants." Journal Of

Political Philosophy 13.2 (2005): 135-152. Academic Search Complete.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration. "Benefits and Risks of Cochlear Implants." U.S.