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cb3228

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My hubby has had hearing aids since he was 28 and is now 54 years old. He also had a 100% successful stapes operation due to otosclerosis at that time in his left ear. In the past two years his hearing has dramatically deteriorated. He has a mixed loss of conductive and nerve. Yesterday he had an audiogram which showed profound loss in both ears:

Right ear - air/nerve 110db bone/70db
Left ear - air/nerve 90db bone/70db

Word recognition - Right ear 32% @ 110db
Left ear 40% @ 105db

MCL - right 110db
left 105db

This ENT felt that he was a very good candidate for a CI and referred us to University of Penn in Philadelphia and we have an appointment on Nov. 7th. We have been cramming info off of the net and trying to understand what will happen. So now the questions:

1. What is the qualifying period like in general and how long does that process take? What type of tests are to be expecteded during that period?

2. Does he need to receive a meningitis vaccine and if so is it just one shot or a series of shots over a period of time?

3. The HINT or sentence recognition testing.........do they administer that with or without the hearing aids?

4. From the time you receive the approval/qualification for the cochlear implant from the doctor.........how long before you received the surgery?

5. Penn uses Advanced Bionics, Cochlear World Nucleus and Med El. Does anyone have experience with any of these?

6. Disposable batteries and rechargeable.......which do you like best? Hubby's day starts at 5:15 wakeup and he goes till 10:30/11:00pm.....so I'm assuming the disposable would be best for him unless he gets more than 1 rechargeable battery.

7. How long do the rechargables have to charge in order to get a full charge?

I appreciate any and all input as this is a very stressful and frustrating time, as you all know only too well.

Thank you!!!!!!
 
cb3228 said:
This ENT felt that he was a very good candidate for a CI and referred us to University of Penn in Philadelphia and we have an appointment on Nov. 7th. We have been cramming info off of the net and trying to understand what will happen. So now the questions:

1. What is the qualifying period like in general and how long does that process take? What type of tests are to be expecteded during that period?

2. Does he need to receive a meningitis vaccine and if so is it just one shot or a series of shots over a period of time?

3. The HINT or sentence recognition testing.........do they administer that with or without the hearing aids?

4. From the time you receive the approval/qualification for the cochlear implant from the doctor.........how long before you received the surgery?

5. Penn uses Advanced Bionics, Cochlear World Nucleus and Med El. Does anyone have experience with any of these?

6. Disposable batteries and rechargeable.......which do you like best? Hubby's day starts at 5:15 wakeup and he goes till 10:30/11:00pm.....so I'm assuming the disposable would be best for him unless he gets more than 1 rechargeable battery.

7. How long do the rechargables have to charge in order to get a full charge?

I appreciate any and all input as this is a very stressful and frustrating time, as you all know only too well.

Thank you!!!!!!
Click to expand...


A lot of these questions can be answered by a CI audiologist. I suggest you to find one first. They can recommend you good surgeons and which company to go for (Cochlear, Advanced Bionics, or Med El).

Questions answered:

1 - MRI, blood tests, physical examination are the basis. If they all look good, then he's good to go.

2 - Yes, it is required to get meningitis shot. Only one shot. No big deal. :)

3 - With hearing aids. Mine was: Left - 6%, Right - 22%

4 - My situation was an exception. For my left, I waited a week, for my left I waited 2 days. The norm would be around a couple weeks to a couple months. Out of America patients tend to wait a lot longer due to free health care.

5 - I only have experience with Cochlear. :) Others have experience with the others. I will send you a direct link to a post about pros and cons about all of them that I posted a while back. Then you can compare.

6 - I like both. Rechargeable batteries last depending on the MAP (programming). If it's a stronger map, it will last shorter time. For me, it lasts for about 2 1/2 days. Disposables lasts me a week. Cochlear is the only one that has disposables. If he is only getting one implant, then he most likely will get two rechargeable batteries. So, he can charge both of them overnight, then carry one as a spare. Same goes for the other brands.

7 - A couple hours for Cochlear. I *think* it's the same for the others. I'm not sure about how long it takes to recharge.


Check a lot of blogs - check out my blog from the start and you can see the process and what to expect. Check others...make sure that you know the negatives, but do not allow it override the positives. It's important to know this stuff because many people who got CI get very disappointed the first day and expected to hear everything. It's so far off from the truth. In the infamous words of my audiologist on the first day of activation - "It is going to sound like crap!"

Over time, the brain adjusts and going through the training. Most he can do on his own or simple training tools such as some websites, listening to music he never heard before, audio books (popular one way), etc.

If he has pretty good auditory memory, he will do well. If he has very poor auditory memory, then it may take just a little longer.

I wish you best of luck!
 
Thanks Lady Sekhmet.........sorry about the block. I'm not sure how to turn that off so that I can receive pm's.
 
cb3228 said:
1. What is the qualifying period like in general and how long does that process take? What type of tests are to be expecteded during that period?
Click to expand...
All doctor are different, mine ordered CT scan, psychological test, hearing aid trial with best and most powerful one and audiologist tested me with sentence and word test. It took doctor from May 2007 to January 2008 (day of my surgery was January 12th 2008)
2. Does he need to receive a meningitis vaccine and if so is it just one shot or a series of shots over a period of time?
Click to expand...

Yes, its one shot.
3. The HINT or sentence recognition testing.........do they administer that with or without the hearing aids?
Click to expand...
Yep and I failed with 0% on all of them with and without hearing aid except lipreading I got 42% with hearing aid on
4. From the time you receive the approval/qualification for the cochlear implant from the doctor.........how long before you received the surgery?
Click to expand...

I don't remember the day I got approved only the day I begin the process (may 2007 and got surgery january 2008) sorry
5. Penn uses Advanced Bionics, Cochlear World Nucleus and Med El. Does anyone have experience with any of these?
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Nobody has experience with all 3 brands only one or rarely 2 but I have knowledge on all 3 brands.
Cochlear has 22 electrodes. (stimulation sites in cochlea) It can hold 4 programs in 1 processor. Disposable and rechargeable battery option. It have SO many different sound processing choices I only can name a few. ACE for fast processing sound (basic part of program) and SPEAK for slow processing, and extra part in program there's smartsound, there's BEAM for focused listening, ADRO for changing evironment, many many others. It have color option in black, brown, beige, silver, blue and pink. It have upgradeable option for future technology and backward compatible if for any reason he need go back to previous processor. It has self-curling array and soft tip to reduce any damage to the cochlea. He can have MRI with magnet removed up to 1.3 tesla. Water resistant.

Advanced Bionics have 16 electrodes. Hi-res S for single electrodes sending in info and Hi-res P for pulsatile electrodes send in info 2 at a time.
Upgradeable, have funky color snap on option, rechargeable battery, hold 3 programs. Water resistant. I'm sure there's much more information that I'm forgetting to add I'm tired.

Med-el have 12 electrodes. They have the longest array so it get in deeper to get more low frequency. They have many different array option for unique cochlea. There's short/compressed array for malformed cochlea, there's medium length I forgot what for I think mildly ossified cochlea, regular length for normal cochlea and split array (one have 7 and one have 5) for severely ossified cochlea. They also have vibrant sound bridge its middle ear implant for conductive deafness. And right now I believe they're developing hybrid (short electrode to cover high frequency and hearing aid amplify the low frequency). I don't know the programs option, but I know they have couple wearing option, and they have 2 different implant housing option one made out of ceramic its smallest implant and other made of titanium.

But everyone is happy with their implant so you can't go wrong with any of them :)
6. Disposable batteries and rechargeable.......which do you like best? Hubby's day starts at 5:15 wakeup and he goes till 10:30/11:00pm.....so I'm assuming the disposable would be best for him unless he gets more than 1 rechargeable battery.
Click to expand...
Rechargeable lasted 3 days for me and disposable battery lasted little over a week. I prefer to wear Mini BTE processor (its 30% smaller than regular bte but it don't have jack to plug in to listen to ipod and no rechargeable option) so I'm forced to use disposable battery.

7. How long do the rechargables have to charge in order to get a full charge?
Click to expand...

Couple hours, never leave rechargeable battery out uncharged for too long if not using them or it will run out that can't be recharged back up (happened to me once)

Keep all of us updated we love to read about people experience!
 
cb3228 said:
Thanks Lady Sekhmet.........sorry about the block. I'm not sure how to turn that off so that I can receive pm's.
Click to expand...

If I'm not mistaken, AD users with less than 90 posts are not allowed to send or receive PM's.
 
cb3228 said:
1. What is the qualifying period like in general and how long does that process take? What type of tests are to be expecteded during that period?

The whole candidacy process took me 6 months to complete, but this was due to some testing equipment that needed to be repaired at my CI center. The amount of time it takes for someone to complete the process differs from one CI center to another as well as how quickly one is able to receive insurance approval. I know some CI users who went through the entire process in a day while others took longer. Some of the tests I received included a hearing test with and without hearing aids, a CT scan, physical exam and blood tests.


2. Does he need to receive a meningitis vaccine and if so is it just one shot or a series of shots over a period of time?

Yes. It's only one vaccination.

3. The HINT or sentence recognition testing.........do they administer that with or without the hearing aids?

My CI center administered the HINT to me with and without hearing aids. Since I also used an FM system (a device which amplifies speech and blocks out background noise) to better help me hear environmental sounds, I wore that as well. My percentages were 8% for my left ear and 21% for my right.

4. From the time you receive the approval/qualification for the cochlear implant from the doctor.........how long before you received the surgery?

If I remember correctly, surgery was scheduled within a few weeks (2 or 3) following insurance approval.

5. Penn uses Advanced Bionics, Cochlear World Nucleus and Med El. Does anyone have experience with any of these?

I only have experience with Cochlear, but I know others who have Advanced Bionics and Med-El who are very happy with their CIs. There are specific reasons why I chose Cochlear, but in general, as SkullChick has said, you really can't go wrong with any of the 3 brands.

6. Disposable batteries and rechargeable.......which do you like best? Hubby's day starts at 5:15 wakeup and he goes till 10:30/11:00pm.....so I'm assuming the disposable would be best for him unless he gets more than 1 rechargeable battery.

I've been using disposeable batteries most of the time which last me 3-4 days, but this past summer I tried rechargeables and have found that I really like the convenience of charging the batteries overnight and using them all day without having to change them. It usually happens that my batteries die at the worst possible moment (although I always carry spares), but it's nice to know I have the rechargeables available to me. As to which one I like best, I still haven't decided since I'm still getting used to using the rechargeables.

7. How long do the rechargables have to charge in order to get a full charge?

A full charge usually takes about 2 hours.

I appreciate any and all input as this is a very stressful and frustrating time, as you all know only too well.

Thank you!!!!!!
Click to expand...

Good luck with you and your husband's CI journey! :)
 
The HINT scores - is that the same as speech discrimination? I didn't realize there were different % for each ear. Nevertheless, I bet mine has to be close to 0% !!!

And good luck on your husband's journey - I am about to start mine!! :)
 
AlleyCat said:
The HINT scores - is that the same as speech discrimination? I didn't realize there were different % for each ear. Nevertheless, I bet mine has to be close to 0% !!!

And good luck on your husband's journey - I am about to start mine!! :)
Click to expand...

I think HINT scores is part of the "whole" speech discrimination, but that's pretty much the biggest thing. I never had any of the other tests done such as scores in noisy environment, scores with lipreading, etc.

So I should say that my HINT scores is basically repeating words and sentences without any visual clues.

It's usually different for each ear as there's one dominant ear over the other.
 
AlleyCat said:
The HINT scores - is that the same as speech discrimination? I didn't realize there were different % for each ear. Nevertheless, I bet mine has to be close to 0% !!!

And good luck on your husband's journey - I am about to start mine!! :)
Click to expand...

I believe HINT (hearing in noise test) scores represent a person's overall speech discrimmination meaning their ability to understand single words and sentences (in quiet and in noise). When I asked my CI audi what kinds of tests were given to me during my evaluations, she told me I was given the HINT. I was tested using single words (in quiet) and sentences (in quiet and in noise). Since I'm totally blind, I was not given a lipreading test.
 
Thank you both for your responses. Hear Again, since you stated you are totally blind, did you derive a big benefit out of the CIs? (As compared to before-CIs?)
 
AlleyCat said:
Thank you both for your responses. Hear Again, since you stated you are totally blind, did you derive a big benefit out of the CIs? (As compared to before-CIs?)
Click to expand...

Yes, the difference is like night and day. :) My first CI audi (who eventually left the field) concluded that she thought my blindness played a positive role in my overall success with a CI. Pre-CI, I couldn't hear speech well enough with HAs and a Comtek FM system (except to hear environmental sounds), so I used a variety of alternative communication techniques for the deafblind including tactile sign (PSE), TeleBraille (Braille TTY), print on palm (tracing block letters into the palm of the hand), Braille/raised print alphabet card (in which my finger was placed on individual letters to spell out words). Many of these techniques (with the exception of tactile sign) were slow and time consuming. Sometimes it was also difficult to find tactile interpreters in my area (as you may know, the deafblind community as a whole is very small). Now that I have CIs, I'm able to communicate on a cell or landline phone, hold a conversation one on one with ease, enjoy TV, movies and music -- and hear (with some difficulty) in background noise. I use an FM system for meetings and college lectures. (As a supplement to my FM system, I use Braille real-time captioning in which a captionist types out what is said and I read this information on a Braille display.) I'm now able to freely communicate with anyone without my deafblindness being a factor. Since getting my CIs, it has become so much easier to make friends at my university -- something that has been problematic for me given the communication issues of trying to interact with classmates through a tactile interpreter. I'm also able to enjoy a closer relationship with my family without having constant frustrations because of my inability to hear. I no longer feel left out of family gatherings and feel more a part of what's going on. In reading this, I hope you and other ADers won't take offense to what I've written because I don't mean to imply that being unable to hear is a bad thing. It's not. I just felt that given my circumstances with communication it was time to look into CIs as a possibility to help make my life easier. Oh and that reminds me...My CIs have also made traveling independently so much easier. I no longer have to carry a communication card (a card which indicates that I'm deafblind and need assistance crossing the street) and rely on other pedestrians to help me. I'm now able to travel with greater ease. In fact, I actually enjoy my walks more because I no longer have to put so much concentration into making sure I don't accidentally veer into traffic. Gosh, I've written a book! LOL. Sorry about that! I guess you could conclude by reading this response that I'm quite happy with my CIs. :)

P.S. I know of one totally blind person who did not benefit from her CI. She was legally blind at the time she received her CI and relied on lipreading to help her with communication. Once she lost the remainder of her sight, she found it impossible to understand what she was hearing through her CI. When I think about her story, it makes me feel lucky that my CIs worked as well for me as they did because when I first considered getting a CI, I was concerned that my inability to lipread would negatively impact my success. However, my former CI audi and I agree that my blindness allowed me to fully concentrate on what I was hearing without being distracted by other visual stimuli. The only real difficulty I had was identifying certain sounds in the enviroment, like traffic, unless someone told me what I was hearing. Then again, I'm not sure if that has to do so much with blindness per se since I know sighted CI users who encountered the same difficulty.
 
HearAgain,
well you did grow up baiscly hearing right? It's understandable that hearing is to you as sight is to us.
The more options the better..........it's all part of the full toolbox philosophy.
 
cb3228 said:
1. What is the qualifying period like in general and how long does that process take? What type of tests are to be expecteded during that period?
I was approved in one day. I went for audie test, then CAT and finally saw the doctor. I knew I qualified before I walked out. My insurance took over a year to get approved for bilateral implants.
2. Does he need to receive a meningitis vaccine and if so is it just one shot or a series of shots over a period of time?
One shot one time
3. The HINT or sentence recognition testing.........do they administer that with or without the hearing aids?
I had to take them with my hearing aids. My insurance had to see that I did not have speech discrimation with hearing aids.
4. From the time you receive the approval/qualification for the cochlear implant from the doctor.........how long before you received the surgery?
Over a year. My process was not normal. I wanted bilateral implants. My insurance approved one cochlear implant, but I had to fight for bilateral. In my case it was so worth it.
5. Penn uses Advanced Bionics, Cochlear World Nucleus and Med El. Does anyone have experience with any of these?
Personal choice, I have AB. I love it. All are fantastic. Take some time to research and explore.
6. Disposable batteries and rechargeable.......which do you like best? Hubby's day starts at 5:15 wakeup and he goes till 10:30/11:00pm.....so I'm assuming the disposable would be best for him unless he gets more than 1 rechargeable battery.
AB has a completely different recharagable battery. That was one of the main reasons I picked them. I was tired of buying batteries after 27 years. My AB 24 hour battery last about 20 hours and my 12 hour battery last around 10 hours.
QUOTE]
Click to expand...
 
Hear Again, I'm very happy to hear you are so happy with your CIs. Thank you for your informative post.
 
deafdyke said:
HearAgain,
well you did grow up baiscly hearing right? It's understandable that hearing is to you as sight is to us.
The more options the better..........it's all part of the full toolbox philosophy.
Click to expand...

DD,

Yes, I did. I was born with normal hearing. By age 3 I was diagnosed with a mild hearing loss, but didn't receive hearing aids until age 15. By the time I was a sophomore in high school, it progressed to moderately-severe. I was still able to function quite well through the remainder of high school with hearing aids until my loss became severe-profound. That's when I started learning alternative communication techniques and using tactile interpreters, etc. Another AD member (who I won't name) said it was strange that no one in my school district prepared me for the eventuality that I would lose more hearing given my total blindness. I couldn't agree more with this person. It wasn't until I was referred to my local deafblind center for training that I finally began to learn and use alternative communication techniques.
 
cb3228 said:
My hubby has had hearing aids since he was 28 and is now 54 years old. He also had a 100% successful stapes operation due to otosclerosis at that time in his left ear. In the past two years his hearing has dramatically deteriorated. He has a mixed loss of conductive and nerve. Yesterday he had an audiogram which showed profound loss in both ears:

Right ear - air/nerve 110db bone/70db
Left ear - air/nerve 90db bone/70db

Word recognition - Right ear 32% @ 110db
Left ear 40% @ 105db

MCL - right 110db
left 105db

This ENT felt that he was a very good candidate for a CI and referred us to University of Penn in Philadelphia and we have an appointment on Nov. 7th. We have been cramming info off of the net and trying to understand what will happen. So now the questions:

1. What is the qualifying period like in general and how long does that process take? What type of tests are to be expecteded during that period?

2. Does he need to receive a meningitis vaccine and if so is it just one shot or a series of shots over a period of time?

3. The HINT or sentence recognition testing.........do they administer that with or without the hearing aids?

4. From the time you receive the approval/qualification for the cochlear implant from the doctor.........how long before you received the surgery?

5. Penn uses Advanced Bionics, Cochlear World Nucleus and Med El. Does anyone have experience with any of these?

6. Disposable batteries and rechargeable.......which do you like best? Hubby's day starts at 5:15 wakeup and he goes till 10:30/11:00pm.....so I'm assuming the disposable would be best for him unless he gets more than 1 rechargeable battery.

7. How long do the rechargables have to charge in order to get a full charge?

I appreciate any and all input as this is a very stressful and frustrating time, as you all know only too well.

Thank you!!!!!!
Click to expand...

cb3228,

You also need to know, which no one else has brought up, that having a CI done is a one time shot deal. That means that if . . . and only if . . . the CI does not take, all residual hearing is gone and he will be completely deaf with no sound ever again.

Secondly, he will be thoroughly examined to make certain he is a good candidate, including psychological testing. This isn't something that is done overnight but over a period of a few weeks if not months. He has to demonstrate that he knows what he's getting into and, once it's done, there is no going back.
 
pek1 said:
Secondly, he will be thoroughly examined to make certain he is a good candidate, including psychological testing. This isn't something that is done overnight but over a period of a few weeks if not months. He has to demonstrate that he knows what he's getting into and, once it's done, there is no going back.
Click to expand...

Not all CI centers require psychological testing. Mine didn't.
 
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