Cochlear Implant Center

NYU Langone’s Cochlear Implant Center has a long and distinguished history of performing cochlear implants. Opened in 1984, we were the first facility in the eastern United States to implant a multichannel cochlear prosthesis in an adult. This cochlear implant provides a representation of sound for a person by dividing incoming signals into various frequency bands and stimulating the neural elements in the ear’s cochlea so the brain can hear.

Our experts have also been on the advisory or planning committees of virtually all major national and international meetings about cochlear implants for the past decade.

The purpose of a cochlear implant is to provide eligible hearing-impaired children and adults with direct electrical stimulation of the auditory nerve, which facilitates hearing, by placing one or more electrodes adjacent to the nerve. Pediatric otolaryngology services are provided through Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital at NYU Langone.

Our team is skilled in evaluating patients to determine their suitability for a cochlear implant or auditory brainstem implant. We offer a variety of devices for you to choose from, including devices from Advanced Bionics, Cochlear, and MED-EL, and treatment options for single-sided as well as ski-slope hearing loss, which is worse in high frequencies.

Preoperative and real-time operating room radiologic studies ensure that each device is placed at the best location possible for you. After implantation, our expert cochlear implant audiologists program the device.

Our approach to hearing loss and cochlear implantation includes both pre- and postoperative speech and language evaluation, along with educational recommendations and support for children.

Our Services

Eligible hearing-impaired children and adults may choose NYU Langone’s Cochlear Implant Center for:

• evaluation to determine candidacy for a cochlear or auditory brainstem implant
• treatment plans for single-sided deafness
• treatment plans for ski-slope hearing loss
• surgery at NYU Langone’s Tisch Hospital
• preoperative and operating room radiologic studies to ensure correct device placement
• device choice and an explanation of Advanced Bionics, Cochlear^®, and MED-EL devices
• both pre- and postoperative speech and language evaluation and therapy
• educational recommendations and support for children
• intraoperative device monitoring to ensure proper device function
• device programming by expert cochlear implant audiologists
• ongoing device and performance monitoring
• second-opinion evaluations and consultations
• troubleshooting for problems with implants
• bone-anchored hearing aids

For older adults with hearing loss who are not candidates for receiving a cochlear implant using general anesthesia, or who are hesitant to have surgery due to general anesthesia side effects, our doctors can implant the device using local anesthesia with sedation. This approach reduces surgery time and offers more people the option of a cochlear implant, improving their quality of life. The Cochlear Implant Center is one of only a few centers in the world that offer the option of placing the implant using local anesthesia with sedation, and our doctors are experts at performing this procedure.

We are a member of the American Cochlear Implant Alliance, a nonprofit organization that works to advance access to the gift of hearing through cochlear implantation.

Learn more about our clinical research and clinical trials at the Cochlear Implant Center.

For more information about our services or to schedule an appointment, call 212-263-7567 or email cochlearinquires@nyulangone.org.