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A cochlear implant is a surgically implanted device for children with severe to profound hearing impairment who receive reduced benefit from hearing aids. Our Cochlear Implant and Auditory Rehabilitation program is recognized nationally as a leading program for pediatric implantation and provides ongoing therapy and long term support to children and families, both before and after cochlear implant surgery. We also collaborate in the community with the Clark school for the hearing impaired.

Learn More About Our Cochlear Implant & Auditory Rehabilitation Program »

We offer two implantable hearing devices for children, age 5 years and older, with conductive or mixed hearing loss. These devices can also benefit children with single sided deafness — and both devices can be worn in a softband prior to age 5 years or if implantation is not desired.

BAHA (Bone Anchored Hearing Aid)

The BAHA is a surgically implanted system that works through direct bone conduction. The system works by enhancing natural bone transmission as a pathway for sound to travel directly to the inner ear, bypassing the outer and middle ear. The implant is placed during a short surgical procedure, which over time integrates with the skull bone usually 3-6 months, depending on the age of the child. Once integrated, the processor is worn on the external abutment and transmits sound vibrations via the abutment to the implant. The implant vibrates, sending vibrations within the skull and inner ear. Hair cells within the inner ear stimulate nerve fibers, allowing hearing to occur.

Sophono Bone Conduction Hearing System

The Sophono is an innovative, new abutment-free device. This system eliminates the need for a protruding abutment by utilizing a magnetic titanium implant, which securely holds the external processor in place through intact skin and hair via an external spacer magnet. The Sophono is implanted in a short, single stage procedure. The processor can be fitted for the patient in about 4 weeks after surgery or once the incision has healed. Like the BAHA, direct stimulation to the cochlea via vibrations allows for hearing to occur.

Neuro-Otology focuses on the neurological (related to the body’s nervous system) aspects of the auditory (hearing) and vestibular (balance) systems. Working with the pediatric neurosurgery division at Wolfson Children’s Hospital, we are one of only a few centers in the nation with expertise in treating children with balance problems (dizziness, falling or the sensation of falling, disorientation, or nausea). Nemours Children’s Clinic, Jacksonville houses the only balance facility dedicated to children in the region and our state-of-the-art and child-friendly equipment helps pinpoint both the cause and the most effective treatment for balance problems in children. Our Balance Lab is also a leading center for research in vestibular diseases in children.

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Facial Anomalies (irregular or abnormal growth of head and facial bones) are congenital, meaning present at birth, and include conditions such as cleft lip and/or cleft palate. Our program is taking a critical role in the treatment of children with craniofacial disorders, offering leading edge treatment and surgical procedures never before offered in area.

These include a very successful “distraction” program for children with Pierre Robin sequence (PRS). PRS is a rare, life-threatening condition that causes the tongue to fall back into the throat, making it difficult for babies to breathe and swallow. Children with this condition often need a breathing and feeding tube until age 5, but our surgical team performs a state-of-art procedure that helps grow new bone in the jaw and treats the disorder by helping to expand the airway without the need for breathing or feeding tubes.

We also offer advanced treatment, unique in Northeast Florida, for children with vascular anomalies (blood vessels that have developed abnormally).

Learn More About Our Cleft and Craniofacial Anomalies Program »

Our Airway Center provides specialized care for children with voice and swallowing disorders, including advanced endoscopic airway procedures which use a thin, flexible viewing instrument (endoscope) to provide an inside view of the airway. State-of-the-art voice and swallowing equipment allow our doctors and speech pathologists to evaluate and treat children with range voice and swallowing disorders, such as Velopharyngeal insufficiency (VPI). VPI occurs when the soft palate muscle in roof of the mouth (velopharyngeal sphincter) fails to close off airflow during speech, allowing air to escape through the nose instead of the mouth. This can cause a resonance disorder or “nasal” speech. In our VPI clinic, our ENT team will diagnose the type and cause of your child’s problem and recommend treatment that may include speech therapy, surgical correction or both.

Our ENT specialists provide the newest techniques available in treating nasal (rhinology) and sinus problems in children. These techniques including the latest endoscopic surgical procedures which use a thin, flexible viewing instrument (endoscope) to provide an inside view of the nose and sinuses. Our center was the first in Florida to use a new balloon sinuplasty procedure to treat sinus disease in children. Because nasal and sinus problems are common in children with cystic fibrosis (CF), we’ve also become a leading treatment center in Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia area for children with CF.

Members from different specialties collaborate to create solutions to treat and meet your child’s needs. Health professionals who may be involved include:

• surgeons
• audiologists
• speech and language pathologists
• behavioral health experts
• deaf educators
• neurologists (doctors who treat problems of the nervous system)

Our doctors and teams provide advanced ENT care that takes your whole child and not just the condition into account. We address areas and conditions that include:

• Rhinology (nose and sinuses): sinus and nasal diseases
• Facial plastic surgery: including rhinoplasty (nose surgery) and otoplasty (ear surgery) growths, lesions and tumors of the head, face and neck, including thyroid tumors salivary gland diseases   
• Laryngology: treatment of diseases and disorders that affect the larynx (voice box)
  • airway problems and diseases
  • foreign body aspiration: inhaling food or objects into the airway or lungs
  • voice disorders
  • drooling and aspiration
  • seizure disorder: treated with vagal nerve stimulators implants designed to prevent seizures by sending regular, mild pulses of electrical energy to the brain via the vagus nerve in the neck
• Otology and neurotology: hearing and balance disorders and diseases of the ear
  • balance (vestibular) and dizziness disorders
  • auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder
  • hearing loss 
  • ear drum abnormalities
• General pediatric otolaryngology  
  • recurrent ear infections
  • adenotonsillar disease/strep throat
  • adenoidal enlargement or disease
  • tonsil enlargement/infection
  • foreign bodies of the ears or nose 

  We also work together to address ENT-related concerns associated with complex conditions such as Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, cleft lip and palate, and skeletal dysplasia.