Florence, SC (PRESS RELEASE) – One year ago, three Pee Dee area residents were “turned on” to a whole new world of hearing experiences when their new cochlear implant devices were activated by Dr. Lesley Kirby, a licensed Doctor of Audiology and owner of Lifetime Hearing Services.

On Monday, July 13, all three implant recipients will visit Dr. Kirby for their one-year follow-up visits. Post-procedure care and maintenance are critical to the success of cochlear implant surgery, and having your Audiologist in close proximity is a definite plus.

“These patients had to travel to Columbia for their actual surgical procedures. Having their Audiologist nearby for activation and follow-ups helps to ensure that they get the best and most personalized care in the shortest amount of time. We are looking forward to checking their progress and hearing the stories of everything they have experienced in the past year,” Dr. Kirby says.

A cochlear implant is a small device, but it can make a huge difference in the lives of recipients, literally reconnecting them with the sounds of the world around them. A severe loss or absence of hearing is often linked with stress, depression, and loneliness due to a tendency to avoid social interaction.

While it cannot restore normal hearing, a cochlear implant can give a deaf person, or someone with extreme hearing loss, a useful representation of sounds in the environment, and can help him or her understand speech. This advanced technology can make significant progress in helping recipients to function more effectively, healthfully and happily.

A cochlear implant looks like a state-of-the-art wireless transmitter, and that’s exactly what it is. The device consists of two separate pieces – a speech processor with an external microphone that is worn over the ear, much like a traditional hearing aid, and an internal electrode array that collects the impulses from the transmitter and sends them to different areas of the auditory nerve. A magnet connects the two sections to one another.

Cochlear implants are very different from hearing aids. Hearing aids amplify sounds so that damaged ears can detect them, while cochlear implants bypass the damaged portions of the ear altogether, and stimulate the auditory nerve directly. They are then sent to the brain, which recognizes the signals as sounds.

“A cochlear implant doesn’t restore ‘normal’ hearing, and of course there is an adjustment period of almost a year after the procedure. However, it does eventually allow many people to understand everyday sounds around them and even resume familiar activities like talking on the telephone and enjoying music on their iPods and other electronic devices,” Dr. Kirby says.

“It truly can help people get their lives back.”

About us: With locations in Florence, Hartsville and Lake City, Lifetime Hearing has been providing Pee Dee patients with old-fashioned service and friendliness, combined with state-of-the-art technology, for the past 15 years. Appointment times are guaranteed within 10 minutes or your visit is complimentary, and most insurance claims will be filed for you.

Lifetime Hearing Services is located at 522. W. Palmetto Street in Florence; at 696 Medical Park Drive in Hartsville; and at 33 Mercy Street in Lake City. For more information, call the Florence and Lake City locations at 843.662.4327. To reach the Hartsville office, call 843.309.9230.Contact: To speak with Dr. Kirby and/or one of our cochlear implant patients, contact Cathy Elliott, Community Coordinator, at 843.662.4327/cathy.lifetimehearing@gmail.com. Cochlear Implant Fast Facts

  • A cochlear implant is a small, complex electronic device that can help to provide a sense of sound to a person who is profoundly deaf or severely hard of hearing. The implant consists of an external portion that sits behind the ear and a second portion that is surgically placed under the skin.
  • The FDA first approved cochlear implant devices for adults in 1985 and for children in 1990. Cochlear implants can be provided for children as young as 12 months old.
  • More than 219,000 individuals worldwide have received cochlear implants. Over 70,000 individuals in the United States have received cochlear implants.
  • Cochlear implants are designed to help severely to profoundly deaf adults and children who get little or no benefit from hearing aids.
  • Audiologists are among the professionals who may work as part of the cochlear implant team, along with surgeons and other medical professionals. Audiologists are involved in many components of the cochlear implant program, including determining the candidacy of an individual for implantation, as well as activating and programming of the speech processor after surgery.
  • Audiologists also provide aural rehabilitation services to implant recipients to facilitate their ability to detect and understand speech with the cochlear implant.
  • Adjustments (called “mapping”) are an integral and essential part of cochlear implant rehabilitation. Mapping is done by trained audiologists who adjust the speech processor to help improve hearing.
  • Ideal candidates are motivated to work hard in their rehabilitation after surgery. It helps to have good family support and to live close to your audiologist in order to conveniently make the follow-up trips for mapping and adjustments.

For more information or to speak with Dr. Kirby about cochlear implant technology, contact Cathy Elliott, Community Coordinator, at 843.662.4327/cathy.lifetimehearing.com.