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clarity in the good ear and 50 percent or less in the bad ear." The cochlear implant essentially picks up where the hearing aid leaves off. "Word recognition or discrimination can deteriorate as we age, and hearing aids do nothing to correct this," Feehs says. "If on audiometric testing [tests that measure pitch and loudness] your word discrimination is only, say, 40 percent, meaning you only understand four out of 10 words given, your hearing aids are not going to Marcia Robertson correct that. The cochlear implant has the potential to improve this." After enduring numerous hearing tests as her hearing declined, Robertson's hearing loss finally qualified her for cochlear implants. Cochlear implants consist of two main pieces—one that Feehs places under the scalp along with an electrode into the inner ear while the patient is under general anesthesia. An audiologist then tests the electronic device in the O.R. Once the patient heals, she returns for a fitting of the external piece, which fits over the ear. "Denver Ear Associates has performed hundreds of implants over the years," says Dr. Robert Muckle, a neurotologist at Denver Ear Associates. LiStEn uP the Colorado Cochlear implant institute Helps Patients and Families The Colorado Cochlear Implant Institute at Denver Ear Associates was established to help patients and their families manage hearing loss and improve their quality of life. CCII's goal is to educate, assist and cooperate with each patient during the preand peri-operative period, and to provide lifelong care for each implant patient while taking into account the individual and often specialized needs of all its patients. "A whole different world has to come to life. It's stunning." "The big difference between cochlear implants and traditional hearing aids is the discrimination ability—how the ear can process sound. A hearing aid makes sound louder, but the cochlear implant stimulates electrically, so we can get clarity." That doesn't mean hearing aids are outmoded. "For people who have mild to moderate hearing loss, the hearing aid is all they need," Feehs says. "There are millions of people who wear hearing aids, and that's the best thing for them." But for people like Marcia Robertson, hearing aids weren't enough. The cochlear implants have made a huge difference in her ability to discriminate sounds. For one thing, as a "bird fiend" all her life, she can now identify birds by their calls. "A whole different world has to come to life. It's stunning," she says. Still, Robertson, a pharmacy technician at Rose Medical Center, is candid about the adjustment. "When I got my first implant, my husband sounded like Darth Vader, and when my dog barked, he sounded like Mickey Mouse." But periodic re-mapping of the implants has finetuned the sound discrimination so her husband sounds like himself and her Papillon sounds like a dog instead of a cartoon character. Now Robertson can also hear what's going on behind her which has enhanced her feeling of safety. Wearing a hearing device takes getting used to, Robertson admits, but it's worth it to enjoy sounds she couldn't discern before. "It takes work. Some people take them off because they can be hard to get used to, but my advice is, be determined; decide you want the help." (From left) Kathy Simmon, Jennifer Mansanares, M.S., Jennifer Wright, M.A., Elizabeth Coughlan, M.A., Jennifer Torres, M.A., CCC-A (not pictured) Colorado Cochlear Implant Institute 303-788-7880 www.denverear.com 401 W. Hampden Place Suite 240 Englewood, CO 80110 Medical Profile • 43