The Cochlear Implant team at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center includes audiologists, speech therapists, social workers and developmental pediatrics. We work together with children and their families to create an individualized plan for each child.

Cochlear implant in infants for remarkable speech development

To improve speech development, children who are born with severe to profound hearing loss must be aided, using hearing aids, before or by the age of six months. If hearing aid placement is not helpful, cochlear implants can be indicated by the age of one year. Such timely treatments are essential for the development of speech, as well as the ability to understand speech.

Multidisciplinary team expertise

The Cochlear Implant team at Penn State Health Children’s Hospital consists of two surgeons – Mark Whitaker, MD, our neurotologist, and Thomas Chung, MD, our pediatric otolaryngologist, a team of audiologists, speech therapists, social workers and developmental pediatrics

• Assess the need
• Confirm candidacy
• Select a device
• Implantation surgery
• Follow up care
• Patient and family education 

Patients with hearing loss are immediately evaluated to determine the need for a cochlear implant. The relationship with the patient continues beyond identification of hearing loss and surgical implantation to include a post-operative programming session, evaluation of progress, and speech therapy. The cochlear implant team works closely with other ancillary services within or outside of the institution to ensure the patient and family are receiving the appropriate care and services.

Special masks are worn for the Hearing Impaired