Samsung Medical Center Reaches 2,000 Cochlear Implant Surgeries

25 years after its first procedure in 2001 — the 2,000th patient underwent surgery this past June

Samsung Medical Center (SMC) announced on the 13th that it has recently reached 2,000 cochlear implant surgeries.

A cochlear implant is an implanted device that helps patients with severe-to-profound hearing loss — those who have lost cochlear function — perceive sound by directly stimulating the auditory nerve.

An estimated 1 to 3 in every 1,000 newborns are born with congenital hearing loss. Because delayed treatment can lead to speech and learning disabilities, cochlear implant surgery is generally performed at around 12 months of age.

Adults may also require cochlear implantation when severe-to-profound hearing loss develops from causes such as sudden sensorineural hearing loss or age-related hearing loss, and auditory rehabilitation with hearing aids or other means proves difficult.

Samsung Medical Center, which performed its first such procedure in 2001, operated on its 2,000th patient on June 19.

The 2,000th patient was a three-year-old child. Delayed speech development prompted testing, which found hearing so diminished that the child could perceive only sounds at the level of an airplane or a gunshot. Professor Moon Il-joon of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology performed the cochlear implantation.

According to a study by Professor Moon published in the Journal of the Korean Society of Otorhinolaryngology, analyzing 1,430 patients who underwent cochlear implant surgery at SMC between 2001 and 2023, 93.4% of implants were maintained over 10 years without revision surgery — an indication of how well established the procedure has become.

Through sponsorship from a number of companies, Samsung Medical Center has run a cochlear implant support program for patients in financial hardship. Approximately 500 patients have received surgical cost assistance under the program, and cumulative rehabilitation therapy support has reached some 80,000 cases.

The hospital has also held an annual cochlear implant information session each year, offering education alongside peer support groups to assist implant recipients.

Starting this year, SMC plans to provide free genetic testing to pediatric hearing loss patients who are candidates for cochlear implantation, in order to inform the prognosis and direction of treatment.

"For patients with severe-to-profound hearing loss, the cochlear implant is virtually the only option for escaping the suffering caused by hearing loss," said Professor Jung Won-ho, Director of the Cochlear Implant Center (Department of Otorhinolaryngology). "We will devote ourselves to research and patient care for a world in which everyone can hear."