About Us
The mission of the Children’s Cochlear Implant Center at UNC is:
- Maximize hearing access for optimizing communication potential
- Provide quality audiology and speech-language services to children and their families regardless of their ability to pay
- Coach Professionals in the skills and knowledge to serve children with hearing loss
- Empower parents and families to be primary teachers and advocates
The Children’s Cochlear Implant Center at UNC is part of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Department of Otolaryngology at the University of North Carolina Hospital and Clinics. Our pediatric cochlear implant program, which is independent of the adult program, is staffed by 4 full time audiologists and 6 full time Listening and Spoken Language certified speech and language pathologists. In addition to world renowned pediatric cochlear implant care, we feature individualized therapy for children with all levels of hearing loss, and learning opportunities for hearing care professionals through mentorships and continuing education programs. We serve children with hearing loss from birth to 21 years of age and provide the complete range of diagnostic and habilitative hearing-related services.
The Children’s Cochlear Implant Center at UNC is a cooperative team of professionals currently serving over 1000 children. Our population of children comes primarily from North Carolina, but also from surrounding states and some international locales. Newborn hearing screening programs have been successfully implemented in North Carolina and many of our patients are referred to us as infants. We serve an extremely diverse patient population in social, economic, and medical backgrounds. Tracking patient performance with standardized clinical tools is a priority of our program. Ensuring that habilitation has been optimized by working closely with a child’s local team of early interventionists and educators is also a cornerstone of our intervention philosophy.