The so called "Cochlear implant" by vendors is really a system with an actual implant and an external sound processor and a transmitter. https://media.arkansas

The so called "Cochlear implant" by vendors is really a system with an actual implant and an external sound processor and a transmitter. https://media.arkansasonline.com/img/photos/2015/07/13/cochlear_implant_graphic_t728.png?268341e6cd9f2dbb5da7a7ef3377e116f3d68a26 https://media.arkansasonline.com/img/photos/2015/07/13/cochl... The "external sound processor and transmitter" is an electronic appliance, like a phone, which the patient removes and puts on, like glasses. It can be lost or damaged. The reason that the external device is abandoned by the manufacturer is the same for abandoning phone software and batteries: market strategy. My personal opinion is that the most basic product line must guarantee quality and two or three decades of support. Part of the product is INSIDE of the patient. State of the art devices for people who can afford them are another matter entirely. However, sometimes the difference between Basic and "State of the art" in medicine is non existent, and the patient only pays for it because they don't know better. Most of them don't like it when they get the full story.