Eli5: How do people who’ve never had any hearing, but who receive cochlear implants later in life, understand their “native” language?

Question

I’ve seen videos of people sitting in the doctor’s office getting their implants turned on, and they’re responding to questions like, “Can you hear me?” or “How is the volume?” How do they know what they’re being asked if they’ve never before heard how language sounds?

In: 672

Answer 1

Cochlear implants help with hearing loss, so the person usually has had some semblance of hearing prior in their life before the implants is installed.(hence they can understand is that to loud?) Or they try to install it from ages 2-5 in kids so the device is there in the formative years of language development.