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Deafness and Cochlear Implants
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Deafness and Cochlear Implants
Deafness is the partial or profound inability to hear. Congenital deafness occurs at birth while acquired or adventitious deafness occurs later in life. There are two types of deafness: nerve and conductive deafness. Conductive deafness occurs when the middle ear is affected or infected. The structure of the middle ear constitutes of three bones namely, incus, malleus, and stapes, which amplify the eardrum movement in response to sound waves. Conductive deafness occurs when the three bones fail to impart sound to the inner ear or when the eardrum fails to vibrate due to fluid build-up in the ear canal. Nerve deafness occurs when the cochlear nerve is affected by events such as trauma or disease. Electrical impulses do not reach the brain due to cochlear failure or a brain problem leading to lack of message translation from the cochlear nerve. In most instances, conductive deafness is treatable unlike nerve deafness, which does not respond to treatment.
Temporary deafness, which is treatable, is caused by various factors. Accumulation of wax and excess mucus in the ear canal causes a blockage of the Eustachian tube that deters hearing. Foreign substances such as an ear bud tip also cause temporary hearing when the ear canal is blocked. Middle and outer ear infections also lead to hearing loss because pus and fluid interrupt the normal transmission of sound waves. Some drugs such as chloroquine and aminoglycosides also cause hearing loss in susceptible individuals. Permanent deafness is also caused by various factors. Genetic and hereditary disorders are the leading cause of permanent deafness. Defective genes are passed on from the parent to the children at birth. A malformation in the inner ear and genetic disorders such as multiple lentigines syndrome and osteogenesis imperfecta are some of the factors that cause deafness. Prenatal exposure to certain diseases such as mumps, rubella, and influenza, and exposure to methyl mercury and quinine cause congenital deafness. Other diseases such as chickenpox, cytomegalovirus, Meniere’s disease, and meningitis also predispose an individual to deafness. Exposure to loud noises such as explosives, firecrackers, and gunshots cause damage to the delicate organs in the ear causing deafness. Traumatic events such as skull injury, eardrum perforation and changes in the air pressure also cause deafness. Old age is also a contributing factor to deafness, although it is on rare occasions (State Government of Victoria Web).
Cochlear implants are prosthetic, electronic devices that replace damaged cochlear to enable hearing. The device consists of various parts with the external part located outside the ear while the implant is placed surgically inside the ear. The external component consists of various parts which include the microphone, speech processor, transmitter and stimulator, and an electrode array. The microphone enables the device to pick up sound waves; the speech processor sorts out and arranges the waves picked by the microphone; the stimulator and transmitter convert the sound waves into electric stimuli, and the electrode array gathers stimuli from the transmitter and disseminates them to the auditory nerves (National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders Web). Deaf or hard-of-hearing adults and children more than one year old can be fitted with a cochlear implant. The device replaces the function of the damaged part of the ear and transmits sound waves directly to the auditory nerve. The implants work by generating signals that are directed to the brain through the auditory nerve for recognition and interpretation as sound. The implants have benefits such as enabling hearing better than with a hearing aid, focusing better in a noisy environment, talking and hearing better during phone conversations, enjoying music, and reconnecting with lost sounds. Although the device enhances hearing, the hearing is different from the normal one and it takes time before one learns or relearns how to hear using the device. I support cochlear implants because of their numerous benefits, as opposed to their setbacks.
I would recommend a cochlear implant for a child with congenital deafness in order to assist the child to hear. However, I would have to consider various factors such as the severity of the deafness and failure of alternative methods such as a hearing aid. The implantation is a surgical procedure and careful evaluation needs to be done before the surgery. I would also take precaution to ensure that the implant would be of utmost benefit to the child by conducting various tests and evaluation procedures such as CT scan, X-ray, audiological and ontological evaluations. The procedure is also a costly venture; thus, careful evaluation is essential before settling for it. Therefore, considering it as a way to aid hearing should be a last resort when all other means have failed.
Deafness could either be temporary or profound caused by different factors such as disease, injury, or could be a genetic disorder. Temporary deafness could be treated, but profound or severe deafness is irreversible and can only be rectified using hearing aids or cochlear implants. Cochlear implants serve the purpose of replacing the damaged part of the ear and transmitting sound waves directly to the brain for interpretation. Since the implants are inserted surgically into the ear, they should be the last resort since the procedure is quite costly to pursue and delicate. However, they have proved effective in enhancing hearing in deaf patients (National Dissemination Centre for Children with Disabilities Web).
Works Cited
National Dissemination Centre for Children with Disabilities. Deafness and Hearing Loss. July 2013. Web. 27 April 2014.
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. Cochlear Implants. 18 Nov. 2013. Web. 27 April 2014.
State Government of Victoria. Deafness – A Range of Causes. 21 Oct. 2013. Web. 27 April 2014.
since it is the last day before Lent. Lent is the season of prayer and fasting observed by the Roman Catholic Church and other Christian denominations during the forty days and seven Sundays before Easter Sunday. Easter can be on any Sunday from March 23 to April 25
since the exact day is set to coincide with the first Sunday after the full moon following the Spring Equinox. Mardi Gras occurs on any Tuesday from February 3 through March 9. The Gregorian calendar
DEADY HALL OF OREGON UNIVERSITY
DEADY HALL OF OREGON UNIVERSITY
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Deady Hall a building at the University of Oregon in United States of America is an historic building. Its construction started back in the year 1873 up to 1876. The building was constructed by W.H. Abrahams after having been designed by William Piper architecture. The building is the first building at the University of Oregon and it remained the only building at the university for almost a decade after its construction. The building was originally referred to as the old building after the construction of other new buildings until when it was named after Mathew Deady a judge of the territorial Supreme Court. Deady Hall being the only building at the university for several years, it housed a number of academic units and various university functions. ‘’Deady Hall building was completed in the year 1876 and was designed by William W Piper’’ (NATIONAL PARK SERVICE. 2010-7-9). The architectural style of the building is an Italianate style.
The building covers 1acre area in a place called Eugene in the United States of America. The building acted as classrooms for the university that is on the first floor on the north side of the building, it also hosted various departments and offices like offices of the then professor like Professor Bailey and Professor Condon. On the third floor of the building was the university auditorium. The building was never dedicated for a very long period something that was realized in the year 1926 at a time when planning of semi-centennial was being done. A suitable ceremony was then arranged by the committee that was in charge and memorial tablet put in place. Dr. Luella Clay Carson who was a former professor of rhetoric and later deal of women and thereafter became the president of Mills College, Oakland in California.
Deady Hall has a mansard roof that is for the main roof and the towers of the building. The windows of the building have ornamental flavor much more than the other parts of the building; this is a principal design element. The Deady Hall is designed such that the there is a sense of proximity between various elements. Deady Hall was built of sandstones according to what the designer wanted. The Deady Hall is a three storey rectangular building having end towers. It has a principal entrance at the west part of the building, though there is also another entrance at the east part of the building. It has tall narrow windows referred to as the Florentine tracery. The windows are flattened with pediments making them have modified consoles. Structurally deady hall is constructed of bricks and wooden trim. Thin layers of mastic and simple successive paints which sheathes the bricks exteriorly. The pattern in which the bricks are used is so perceptible.
The building has strip sections of brick which are on the same plane as base strips and frieze of each floor. The windows are set on much less salient plane of the walls. The strips are five and they articulate each other both south and north in the first and second floors of the building, the same happen in the east and west parts of the building. The same strips have been used to articulate elements that have been used to animate various sections around the building towers. All the windows are arranged in pairs of four with windows on the long sides and the towers on the shorter sides being flanked by the single windows. According to Dr. Joseph A Baird, ‘’Deady Hall was the first building on the university of Oregon campus, begun in 1873 and completed in 1876 and it was the focus of all university life until the construction of Villard Hall in the year 1886, it is a dignified building, tall rectangular silhouette with end towers and it is simple mansard Italianate style a happy choice for academic building’’. Both entrances east or west are accessed by flight of steps leading to a paneled bricked door. The doors are also made of strong wooden cornice. The door arches are headed by wooden keystones. Above the principal entrances doors are the windows with wooden tracery. The roof is lined with four chimneys both north and south part of the building. Originally the roof was made of wooden shingles but currently it is has been changed to gray-green asphalt while the trim has been painted cream in color.
The first floor of the building has a little theatre in the center extending downwards to the basement. The second floor currently has been divided into two levels horizontally. There is also a door that allows for entrance to the basement part of the building. The building has a concrete finishing. It is sixty nine feet wide and one hundred and fifty feet in length. The main articulating features of the Deady Hall the windows. The semicircular arched windows are used in all the faces of the building and in the second floor two elaborated window forms are introduced and on the last floor on all the faces seven windows both to east and west south and north they have been put in a salient section. All these structures have manifested a rhythm. The principle elements of design have been brought together in the design and construction of the Deady Hall given the fact that all the elements and principles have been followed to form one particular design. Deady Hall is unique from the other buildings it has a high end licensed sports art archival, it has a museum quality print, a perfect football fan gift, subject matter like the campus landmark and collegiate art. Deady Hall is an art because it is a designer building and in it metal prints which are works of art are made.
I believe that the architecture of the building was trying to communicate that brick could be used to make a storied building and that the work of art is real. The design of the building in itself is art work and the building is currently hosting various works of art like metal prints.
References
Deady, M. P., & In Clark, M. (1975). Pharisee among Philistines: The diary of Judge Matthew P. Deady, 1871-1892. Portland: Oregon Historical Society.
The encyclopedia of Oregon. (1999). St. Clair Shores, MI: Somerset Publishers.