How cochlear implants work
Nucleus® Freedom™ is designed to mirror natural hearing
The human ear is amazing. Did you know that the human ear is made up of the smallest bones in the body, is full size at birth, and that the cochlea is just the size of a pea?
The Nucleus Freedom works by picking up sound through tiny microphones on the sound processor, and converting the sound into digital signals. The implant (internal component) uses those signals to stimulate hearing nerve in your inner ear - which is how you hear sound.
How Nucleus Freedom™ works
1. Sound processor: External sound processor captures sound and converts it into digital signals.
2. Digital signals: Processor sends digital signals to internal implant.
3. Electrode array: Internal implant converts signals into electrical energy, sending it to an electrode array inside the cochlea.
4. Hearing nerve: Electrodes stimulate hearing nerve, bypassing damaged hair cells, and the brain perceives signals as sound.
How natural hearing works
1. Ear canal: Sound moves through the ear canal and strikes the eardrum.
2. Eardrum and bones: Sound waves cause the eardrum to vibrate, sending the bones in the middle ear into motion.
3. Inner ear: This motion causes the fluid inside the inner ear (cochlea) to move the hair cells.
4. Hearing nerve: Hair cells change the movement into electric impulses, which are sent to the hearing nerve into the brain; you hear sound.
