Not every patient is a good candidate for hearing aids. For many patients with bilateral severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss, even the most advanced hearing aids can only hear noisy sounds. This is because hearing aids only amplify sound, but do not make it clearer, and for patients with severe hearing loss, it is difficult to achieve functional hearing. Worse yet, even with all the amplification, the sound is difficult to conduct into the patient’s ear. Cochlear implants, on the other hand, take a completely different approach, with their transmission of electrical stimulation to the auditory nerve, which produces hearing. Therefore, for a large number of patients with severe sensorineural deafness, the cochlear implant approach is the only way to restore the patient’s hearing. So what kind of people are suitable for cochlear implants. If you are an adult who has the ability to speak, and if you are currently using hearing aids, you may be considered for a cochlear implant if you answered “yes” to any of the following questions: 1) Talking in a quiet room where you need someone to repeat words, even word for word. 2) Talking to someone in a quiet room where you need someone to repeat words, even word for word. 2) You need to rely on your lips when talking to others. 3) You are afraid of social activities because you don’t know what people are saying 4) You feel exhausted from listening too much every day. 5) Are you no longer able to enjoy listening to music? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you may want to consider a cochlear implant. If your child is an infant and you suspect that he or she has a hearing impairment, how do you know that your child needs a cochlear implant? 1) At 3 months of age, the child is not startled and does not respond to noisy sounds. 2) At 9 months of age, your child does not imitate sounds on his or her own. 3) The child will not turn his or her head in the direction of your voice. 4) At 12 months of age, the child cannot understand simple words such as “wave goodbye” or “clap” by hearing alone. 5) The child does not vocalize or speak like children of the same age. 6) Lags behind other children in comprehension and vocabulary use. If your child has one or more of these problems, your child may be experiencing some degree of hearing loss and it is recommended that you bring your child in for a hearing screening as soon as possible to prepare for a cochlear implant. If you or your child needs a cochlear implant, the earlier the implant, the better. For adults who are deaf, the earlier the cochlear implant, the faster your speech will be restored. For children, the sooner the implant is given, the sooner their lives will be turned upside down. In the years following birth, a child’s mind is maturing and needs to learn basic language skills, so the sooner a child’s hearing is restored, the more opportunities they have to master language skills.