September 2008: Cochlear Celebrates 120,000 Milestone

For more than 25 years, Cochlear has delivered unsurpassed hearing performance
with the most reliable implant devices on the market.

Dear Colleague,
Cochlear is pleased to bring you the September Clinic Newsletter.

Clinic-to-Clinic Tip

A cochlear implant clinic in the midwest has submitted this tip:

"We send a few pages from the adult rehabilitation manual home with EVERY patient for practice material.  We ask them to spend at least 15 minutes twice a day in structured listening exercises.  When patients practice, they can see measurable improvements in their performance over time.  They feel great about how they are doing.  Our patients feel that they have a role to play in the improvement of their hearing.  Their family and friends are really part of their success too.  When they come to see us, we are all part of a team working toward the same goal.  It is really empowering and rewarding for the patients and their loved ones."

If you have tips that you would like to share, please submit them to awollan@cochlear.com

Research Summarized

In the July Cochlear Newsletter, we included a summary of Dr. Roland’s research on insertion forces.  This month, we are pleased to provide a summary of Dr. Balkany et al.’s research on “Conservation of residual acoustic hearing after cochlear implantation.”  While FDA-approved labeling for cochlear implants currently states that any residual hearing will be lost upon implantation, independent research is starting to suggest that hearing may be preserved in some cases.  Download the Report Summary.

120,000th Cochlear Implant Milestone!

Cochlear reached a milestone in hearing restoration on Friday, July 25, 2008 when Dr. Thomas Roland, Jr., MD of NYU Langone Medical Center performed the 120,000th cochlear implant surgery on 72-year old New York resident, Susan Grossman.  She successfully underwent simultaneous bilateral implantation.

A few weeks later, William Shapiro activated Susan’s implant, where she responded to hearing real sounds once again.  Susan's activation was a great success!  Susan is a bright, articulate woman who was excited to help us spread awareness of Cochlear implants.

To support this milestone and to help build awareness of cochlear implants, Cochlear designed a PR program around Susan's hearing journey.  Media pick up of this story was tremendous and included print, television, on line and radio.  An estimated 9.7 million viewers/readers were reached with this great awareness story.  In addition, an online interactive map was created to showcase the Cochlear Community.

To read Susan's story, view the video of her activation and to add yourselft to the map visit: www.cochlearamericas.com/susan

Below are a couple of key media pickups:

The New York Times
Noise to You, but Music to Her Ears, By Jim Dwyer, August 12, 2008

WCBSTV.com
Implant Ends 4 Decades Of Deafness For NYC Woman, By Cindy Hsu, August 12, 2008


Thank you for reading and for your continued support.

Cochlear