Prof Timms is widely experienced in cochlear implantation surgery in patients ranging in age from 8 months to 60 years. He was the first surgeon to routinely perform simultaneous 2 sided CI on babies in the Middle East. He also has experience of treating complications of CI surgery in cases treated at other centers. Before any decision is made on surgery, patients undergo extensive hearing assessment and CT and or MRI scanning. CI surgery is complicated, but not traumatic. Patients usually go home one or two days after surgery and experience minimal pain.

Some babies are born with no hearing and so, no ability to learn to speak. This is a tragedy if not picked up and treated early. This condition can be detected just after birth by an automated hearing screening test.

It is important to detect hearing loss early, as most of these babies can be treated with a cochlear implant and will learn to speak and go to a normal school. The older the child, the more difficult is the rehabilitation.

The operation of cohlear implantation is usually straightforward and safe. At most the child needs one night in hospital after the general anaesthetic. It cannot damage the patient’s inner ear as these patients have no hearing already.

After surgery these children need strong support from audiologists and speech therapists to get the best hearing and speech results from their implant.

Prof Timms is an experienced cochlear implant surgeon. He introduced routine cochlear implantation of both ears at the same time into the Middle East and also has wide experience of operating on patients who developed problems after cochlear implant surgery by other surgeons.