Can You Shower with a Cochlear Implant?

Let us start with basics before we get to matters of showering with a Cochlear Implant device. So, do you know how the device works? It is an electronic gadget with two parts, that is responsible for stimulating the auditory nerve in response to sound effects.

How a cochlear implant works

The outer part of the device is located right at the back of the ear and it collects sound, refines it, and forwards it to the interior part. The interior part contains small electrodes that lead sound towards the auditory, also known as cochlear. The cochlear nerve is then signaled, which in turn signals the brain to initiate a hearing sensation. Patients with hearing impairment use this, and in as much as it doesn’t reinstate normal hearing, with the required therapy, it can increase the environmental awareness of an individual.

Therefore, the cochlear implant allows individuals with hearing impairment to improve their capacity to hear and internalize spoken word. The implant shouldn’t be confused with a hearing aid whose work is only to magnify sounds. While the propensity of understanding the spoken word is the work of implants. Thus, where hearing aids have failed to help an individual properly, cochlear implants come to aid.

Who Needs A Cochlear Implant?

Your Doctor of Audiology can only consider an implant once your hearing loss gets out of hand, and you have to work with lip-reading to understand the spoken word. Here are some of the individuals that should be fitted with the organ:

1. Individuals that can’t be helped to hear by use of hearing aids.
2. Individuals who have extremely poor clarity to discern spoken word.
3. Individuals who have to rely on lip-reading, irrespective of whether they are using hearing aids.

Recovery and therapy after a cochlear implant

For tolerable hearing loss, a cochlear implant is partly lodged while, in extreme cases, the implant is fully lodged to preserve and fully achieve electrical hearing. Individuals react differently to implants. Some can achieve quick recognition between one to one and a half months after it has been installed. Going for therapy can aid the recovery process, which can go for a maximum of six months.

Showering with A Cochlear Implant

Can the implant get damaged when it comes into contact with water? Is it waterproof? You have to ask yourself some questions before getting into the shower while wearing the cochlear implant.

Cochlear implants are water-resistant, but not waterproof. This means that once exposed to water, they can survive but briefly! They, therefore, shouldn’t be exposed to water for an extended period. Usually, the outer part of the implant is not supposed to be exposed to soap and water for long and should be taken off. The internal part is safe from water damage. If you ever want to shower with the implant on, attach it to it an accessory that can make it fully waterproof (Aqua Accessories). That is if you want to hear while showering. In that way, you can protect the device from damage due to wetness because if the implant stops working, you’ll need surgery to remedy the problem.