Commercial cochlear implants were developed in the early 1980s as a therapeutic intervention for patients with a bilateral severe–profound sensorineural hearing loss. Designed as an ‘aid to lip reading’ these devices have proven to be very successful, with many users being able to communicate in a near normal fashion in quiet conditions. By 2013 over 330,000 cochlear implants had been implanted worldwide. As clinical performance has improved, patient selection criteria have expanded to include children as young as 6 months of age, and patients with some level of residual hearing. This chapter reviews the pathophysiology of a severe–profound hearing loss, presents an overview of contemporary cochlear implants and central auditory prostheses and reviews the future directions of this technology.
