Are you listening to the All Ears Podcast from Child’s Voice? If not, you should be! They have some great guests and really interesting conversations about all things hearing loss. They feature, parents, graduates of their program, children of Deaf adults, and most recently, a cochlear implant surgeon.

In episode 16, they interview Dr. Nancy Young. Dr. Young was actually the first surgeon to do a cochlear implant surgery in Chicago on a child in 1991. She describes how she became interested in becoming a cochlear implant surgeon, how the surgery has changed, some of the research she’s done, and so much more.

Here are some of my takeaways from the podcast…some things I didn’t know, and things I find really interesting:

• Cochlear implant surgery isn’t very painful to recover from–Dr. Young explains that because bone doesn’t sense pain, it’s a lot less painful for children to recover from than other surgeries. She gives the example of a tonsillectomy and how that is much more painful.
• The importance of a team–Some parents will feel more comfortable with different professionals, and so it’s important to keep asking or looking so you can find someone you connect with.
• How much surgery has changed–Dr. Young describes how she used to make incisions for CI surgery that were huge, and now are much smaller. It also used to require stitches to be removed, and now there aren’t even stitches on the surface of the skin, instead she uses glue.
• There is fascinating research going on–one of the studies they’re doing is investigating whether or not MRIs can help to predict outcomes for certain children.
• I didn’t know that vaccinations are an important consideration in the CI surgery process.

I hope you’ll all take a listen, especially if you’re considering surgery for your child or have a child with a CI. Also, if you’re in the process of thinking about it, check out this post about questions to ask when you’re choosing a cochlear implant company.