The Pros And Cons Of Cochlear Implants

Humanity is currently in the golden age of technological advancements. As of the 21st century, the cure for physical disabilities have been developed through the usage of artificial implants. The life of Claire Stancliffe, a MED-EL cochlear implant recipient, for the first time in her life was gifted the ability to hear. But of the many miracle stories that share Claire’s experiences, the controversy with implants involves the community. According to Bahan and Lane(1998), influential figures in the American Sign Language literature and writers for deaf culture, cochlear implants are viewed as a threat to the traditions and diversity among deaf social movements. The issues of ethnocide, the loss of culture, is the main opponent against the

Sensors that will change the way humans see, hear, and feel may ultimately conflict with privacy issues but also influences people’s lives positively. The sensory implants suggested by Dublon and Paradiso(2014) incites new meanings to human boundaries and will create implications regarding the technology’s application. As advised by Vannostrand(2014), a professor from the University of Pittsburgh at the Swanson school of engineer, ethics plays a major role in the decision of future breakthrough to create a better world for society. The assessments of a technology's impact on society is crucial in determining its

Prior to cochlear implants, the deaf community has adapted to their hearing inability. The commonplace usage of sign language in all forms of service suggest that having a hearing impairment is not a disability. In fact, the deaf community views deafness as a cultural or semantic minority and seperate themselves from a disability. Instead, Howard A. Rosenblum, CEO at the National Association of the Deaf advocate the fault is “ primarily due to the philosophy of medical doctors that being deaf is a physical abnormality that should be cured (Praderio, 2017, para. 7). ” The inability to hear is not an issue, instead, it is a cultural singularity. Society tends to view the cochlear implant as a miraculous device that will cure the deaf. However, in reality, cochlear implants may be a potential destruction to the lives the deaf community admires. For example, the “bionic ear” as it is called has the capability to give its user the ability to hear again, but it has been highly criticized. The deaf community claims their society and social traditions may be on a drastic decline. The decline is a result of a death in culture and traditional roots which have been around for decades. The community argues that as the population regains their hearing ability, the years of self-movement and rights for