American Sign Language (ASL) has been the primary means of communication for deaf people for many years and is also extremely important to deaf culture. To the hearing world, being deaf has always been considered a disability and it is for this reason that they invented what is called a cochlear implant, causing a great debate within deaf culture. The invention of the cochlear implant has made the deaf fear that their culture will be destroyed, while the hearing world discovers that they live better there, without realizing that this procedure is not a cure and will leave the deaf perplexed as to their place. While hearing aids amplify sounds so that a damaged ear can pick them up, cochlear implants send electrical signals directly to nerves in the inner ear, via implanted electrodes and wires, and are used for people whose Hearing loss is so profound that hearing aids are not effective ("Cochlear Implants" n. pag). They emerged in the early 1980s and have caused many problems within the deaf community ever since. Many supporters of the cochlear implant believe that it is the best chance babies have at living a normal life, that it is a huge technological advancement, and that it can change the way deaf people interact with each other ("Cochlear Implants" n.page). This is the case of Chris Hall whose son received implants in 1998, he says "If a child can't walk, you give him a walker, you do what you can to help him get along in society. » If their minds were less narrow-minded, they would consider the real effects this would have on deaf culture and see that deaf people are not incapable of performing the tasks that hearing people do due to the fact that they have hearing loss. According to most pixies... middle of paper ... that's all they need, and the rest will be up to them. If they are not given this chance, as mentioned previously, cochlear implants will not heal. the deaf person, this will only confuse them and raise a question in their head: “Where do I really fit in?” » Works Cited « American Sign Language (box). » . Facts On File News Services, July 12, 2002. Web. November 2, 2011. “Cochlear Implants.” Facts On File News Services, July 12, 2002. Web. November 2, 2011. Manning, Anita. “Implants sound better.” USA Today (May 2, 2000) [accessed November 2, 2011]: Spencer, Patricia & Marschark, Marc. “Cochlear implants, problems and complications” Oxford Handbook Of Deaf Studies Volume I: n.pag. Oxford University Press, 2003. web. November 2. 2011.