About the Cochlear Implant department

In this section you will find key information about the Cochlear Implant department at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH).

We are part of the Audiological Medicine department and work closely with surgeons in the Ear, Nose and Throat department here at GOSH.

We are now based in the Sight and Sound Building in Queen's Square.

The aim of the Cochlear Implant Programme (CIP) is to provide an effective and efficient service to the children and their families who undergo assessment, surgery and rehabilitation for cochlear implants.

The child’s needs always must come first and the child’s wishes will always be ascertained when possible. We are committed to ongoing research and analysis of outcomes of our implanted children.

The CIP at GOSH was set up in 1992 under the leadership of Dr Susan Bellman. The CIP team is made up of a dedicated multi-disciplinary group of professionals, which includes specialties not always found on other teams.

The CIP team is comprised of audiologists, speech and language therapists, psychologists, teachers of the deaf, a hearing therapist and the administrative team.

Co-ordinated by a consultant audiological physician, it is one of the largest paediatric cochlear implant teams in the UK and is based in a world-renowned centre for the care of children.

From the outset the team has developed a holistic, child centred approach which has enabled it to implant profoundly deaf children who are unable to derive benefit from conventional hearing aids, some of whom have more complex medical histories. In particular a dedicated programme has been developed to meet the needs of deaf-blind children.

The Team benefits from close links with the Institute of Child Health. We have dedicated research programmes in place covering subjects such as research into Ushers Syndrome and the genetic causes of hearing loss, along with the impact of cochlear implantation on cognitive functioning.

In 2015 we reached the milestone of having carried out 1000 cochlear implants at the hospital. As expected, that number has continued to rise since. We offer bilateral implants for suitable candidates following the NICE guidelines.

As part of our aetiological investigations we identify children who are at risk of developing visual impairment and we strongly recommend bilateral implantation for these children.

From the outset this programme has accepted referrals of children with additional special needs and has built up expertise in this area. The team is now developing special expertise in working with multi-sensory impaired children.

All children who are referred are given a preliminary assessment appointment and have the advantage of access to the very wide range of specialities within GOSH.

Find out more about our Cochlear Implant Programme.