Q&A

Subject: Hearing nerve

From: AM

Hi, my name is Andy. I am 22 years old and I live in Linz (Austria). I have got an important question (I hope you will understand my English!). Do you know if it is possible to repair an hearingnerv (or earnerv) (in german: Hrnerv). ???? I would be very pleased to receive an answer from you!! Thank you very much,

Hi Andy, We asked Doctor Stephen Epstein (the ear doctor who has an office next door to ours) your question. He replied:

"There is no medical or surgical procedure available that can repair the nerve of the inner ear. If the hearing loss is moderate to severe, one can be helped with hearing aids. If the hearing loss is profound, one should consider a cochlear implant where electrodes are inserted into the inner ear to connect to the nerve endings. This can help some people."

He said that if you could describe your problem in more detail, he might be able to give a better answer. For example, cochlear implants work better for people who have had some hearing earlier in their life. People who have been "totally" deaf all their lives have poor results with the implant.

Solveig