How to tune up after cochlear implantation

  Cochlear implants are turned on one month after surgery. Different cochlear implant devices have different design principles, different hardware and software, different tuning methods, different tuning processes and different tuning parameters. Cochlear implant devices consist of an internal implant and an external speech processor. Tuning is the process by which a professional adjusts the parameters of each cochlear implant to provide the most comfortable and effective stimulation for the patient and to allow the patient to hear a variety of sounds comfortably, using a computer and specialized equipment. The speech processor does not work unless the professional sets the appropriate values for a series of parameters through tuning.  The parameters that need to be adjusted after cochlear implantation include: speech coding scheme such as SPEAK, CIS, ACE scheme; electrical stimulation mode, either monopolar, bipolar, or co-local; channels to be used 1-22 channels; frequency assignment of the channel filter output, assigning a frequency range of 200 Hz to 8 kHz to each channel; threshold value for each channel (T-value) ) the minimum level of stimulation that can produce auditory stimulation; the maximum comfort stimulation (C-value) for each channel the maximum comfort stimulation that can be felt by the patient.  Start-up is scheduled 3-5 weeks after surgery, when the internal part of the cochlear implant, especially the electrode part, is more stable. After start-up, most patients have a gradual adaptation process to outside sounds, and it takes a period of psychological and physiological changes and development to stabilize.  The electrode parameters change the most and the fastest during the first 1-4 weeks after the machine is turned on, so the machine needs to be adjusted once a week, once every 2 weeks in the second month, once a month in the third month, and then once every three months, six months, or a year.