Tools

Links to listening demos (acoustic simulation), videocasts and other online resources

American Academy of Audiology
In the consumer section, the video Giving your Baby a Sound Beginning is available online in English and Spanish

Cochlear Americas
www.cochlearamericas.com/americas/what/158.asp
View animations that show how hearing works and the surgical process.
Practical tools are available for purchase to help achieve the best outcomes with a Nucleus cochlear implant: “Sound and Beyond”, an interactive software program for adults with a hearing impairment and “Listen Learn and Talk”, an auditory habilitation program for children with hearing loss who were less than 12 months old when it was identified. Consists of a book and three videos. Available for purchase on the web site.

Cochlear Implant Lab, University of Texas at Dallas
http://www.utdallas.edu/~loizou/cimplants/acoust.htm
Description of cochlear implants provided in different formats: text, video, slides

Discovery Health Channel
http://health.discovery.com/tools/blausen/conditions/coc.html
Acoustic simulations of cochlear implants

FDA
www.fda.gov/cdrh/cochlear/
Flash presentation of the normal ear, the ear with hearing loss, and the cochlear implant procedure.

Hearing and the Aging Ear
The House Ear Institute and the University of Southern California
http://www.ageworks.com/hearingcourse/
This online educational module provides an overview of the hearing process and common hearing problems. It covers four aspects of hearing: how we hear, hearing evaluation, hearing changes with aging and the psychological effects of hearing loss. The program consists of animated illustrations and narrated presentations.

Hearing Center Online
Provides two flash presentations:
Interactive ear: how the ear works, the process of hearing
http://hearingcenteronline.com/ear.shtml
Interactive hearing aid: how the hearing aid works
http://hearingcenteronline.com/howaid.shtml
Also contains a video:
Getting the Most out of Your Hearing Aids, a 5 minute excerpt with C. Everett Koop, MD, the former Surgeon General.
http://hearingcenteronline.com/prod.shtml

House Ear Institute
http://www.hei.org/research/depts/aip/audiodemos.htm
The site provides audio demos for speech perception. The demonstration simulates what speech and music would sound like through a cochlear implant. While the quality of the sound is not necessarily the same as what a person hears with a cochlear implant, laboratory tests have demonstrated that the intelligibility of speech with this simulation is very similar to that of a cochlear implant.

Med El Corporation
http://www.medel.com/ENG/INT/10_Understanding_CI/60_Cartoon_CI_journey_for_children/210_children_overview.asp
Part of the Kid’s Corner, this cartoon cochlear implant journey takes children through the steps of getting and using a cochlear implant.

MedlinePlus
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/hearingdisordersanddeafness.html Hearing Loss (Patient Education Institute) - Requires Flash Player
This interactive tutorial covers anatomy, causes, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment of hearing loss and impaired hearing tips. It is available in English and Spanish.

National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders
Videocast: “Cochlear Implants: Past, Present and Future”
http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/animations/cochlea/coc_middle_frames.htm
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Both music and the structure of the inner ear are integrated in this fascinating illustration of how we hear sound. .

Neurobiology: anatomy of the cochlea
http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/hearing/cochlear_videocast.asp
This videocast on cochlear implants can be viewed using RealOne or RealPlayer software.

University of Texas at Dallas
http://www.utdallas.edu/~loizou/cimplants/cdemos.htm
Two listening demos are offered: sine-wave simulations (number of channels) and insertion depth simulations.