Unlike hearing aids, which amplify sound, a cochlear implant helps the brain process sound. Peakstock/Shutterstock
The first sound Mary Beth Klatt heard after her cochlear implant was switched on wasn’t music. It was voices—and they sounded like liquid sand.
Klatt, now in post-surgery rehabilitation, is one of more than 1 million people worldwide living with a cochlear implant—an electronic device that can help restore hearing for patients who are deaf or have significant hearing loss. It fits over the ear and feeds signals to an internal component, which communicates with the brain to process sound.
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