1984
Dr. Pierre Ferron, ENT specialist, performs the first cochlear implant surgery at HDQ.
1987
HDQ and the IRDPQ join forces on the Programme québécois pour l’implant cochléaire (Québec cochlear implant program) to offer comprehensive cochlear implant services.
Dr. Ferron operates on the first child in Canada to receive a multielectrode cochlear implant.
2000
Dr. Ferron installs a cochlear implant in a 5-month-old baby, a world first.
2003
A research study allows people with a visual impairment to receive bilateral cochlear implants.
2006
Another research study on bilateral implantation gets underway in Québec City, this time on young children.
The first auditory brainstem implant is installed in Québec City, at Hôpital L’Enfant-Jésus.
2007
The program is granted formal recognition under the name of Centre québécois d’expertise en implant cochléaire.
In order to offer quality services as close as possible to users’ homes, other regional rehabilitation centres can now provide intensive functional rehabilitation services (following initial programming).
2008
Dr. Bussières operates on the oldest person in Québec to receive a cochlear implant, a 90-year-old woman.
2012
Dr. Bussières operates on a 4 1/2-month-old baby, who remains one of the youngest children in the world to receive a cochlear implant.
Bilateral implantation is now covered in Québec by the Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux, in limited numbers and according to certain criteria.
2016
The first cochlear implantation surgeries are performed for people with single-sided deafness and tinnitus as part of a research study.
2019
Early activation of cochlear implants. For the first time in North America, cochlear implants are activated the day after surgery.
Today
More than 4000 cochlear implantation surgeries have been performed to date, including on the youngest patient, who was 4 months old, and one the oldest patient, who was over 91.
To learn more about the history of cochlear implantation, you can consult the article “Petite histoire de l'implant,” published in the journal Sourdine, no. 221, December 2017. This article is taken from the video “Le moulin à sons,” presented at the 3e Colloque québécois sur l’implant cochléaire (3rd Québec conference on cochlear implantation) on May 30, 2014, to mark the 30th anniversary of the first cochlear implant in Québec.
Click here to watch Le moulin à sons