Bilateral Implants

[Boult]

Can you please back up as to why you think it's okay for people with auditory neuropathy to get simultaneous CIs when studies have shown that they have more variable results with CIs than the general CI population? Also, I've told you this before, there has been reports of very young children with auditory neuropathy having their hearing issues clear up with age.

The advice you are giving is worrying. That's why it's best just to encourage people who are thinking about bilateral to seek an evaluation with a qualified specialist at a reputable clinic if they are thinking of going bilateral and also to talk to those of us who have done it. And don't worry - most clinics are qualified to fit hearing aids and will trial people as a matter of course and will screen out the "I don't need it but I've gotta have the latest gadget" types.

spot on! +1

 

[kimpossible]

kim, could it be that they only have bilateral CI for specific popultions?

Pardon me for not really reading the rest of the posts in this thread. But I'm not sure what you're asking me. Specific populations? Like what? From what I understand, based on what the audi told me, it's simply people with my type of hearing loss that they most often recommend bilateral CIs to.

 

[Oceanbreeze]

jag, you just proved my point! There are people out there with WORSE losses then yours who are very good hearing aid users. You guys are missing the point that it's very difficult to tell how well someone will respond to more tradtional hearing technology. If the person has consistantly demonstrated that they don't respond well to HA or other kinds of amplification.............FINE. Get them implanted. However, most of the posters who are criticizing me are GUILTY of assuming that bilateral CI is ALWAYS the best.
All I'm saying is that people are very indivdual. Bilateral CI is good for SOME people, but other people may be perfectly satisfied with bimodal.
That's all..........
and yes, I know that some kids outgrow AN. That's good. That's actually why I think that kids with AN should wait a bit to be implanted. However, if its clear and obvious that they have AN, they should automaticly get bilateral implants....without even the HA trial!

Let me ask you something...

What the heck is your beef with cochear implants? And, please don't tell me you're not anti CI, because you sure as heck come across very negative about them.

 

[jag]

jag, you just proved my point! There are people out there with WORSE losses then yours who are very good hearing aid users. You guys are missing the point that it's very difficult to tell how well someone will respond to more tradtional hearing technology. If the person has consistantly demonstrated that they don't respond well to HA or other kinds of amplification.............FINE. Get them implanted. However, most of the posters who are criticizing me are GUILTY of assuming that bilateral CI is ALWAYS the best.
All I'm saying is that people are very indivdual. Bilateral CI is good for SOME people, but other people may be perfectly satisfied with bimodal.
That's all..........
and yes, I know that some kids outgrow AN. That's good. That's actually why I think that kids with AN should wait a bit to be implanted. However, if its clear and obvious that they have AN, they should automaticly get bilateral implants....without even the HA trial!

No I don't miss your point.

You are obviously missing mine and that of others.

FYI we who have implants and those who have 2 have all gone the HA route. We did not get the necessary imput.


Again FYI when testing is done it IS DONE in best aided conditions. It IS done with no speech reading. You are happy with your results from HA's. But even with what you concider great results could you go into a booth and respond over 60% without access to speech reading? JUst because you are satified with your results does not mean someone else is.

IT is done with noisy background. In my case no sentence testing was done without HA's. (they also take into concideration how old your HA's are, mine were about a year old) they do do tone tests without HA's to get the baseline hearing loss.

You really do need to do some research into exactly HOW testing is conducted. Yes insurance companies will qualify people like me. And I can tell you life is much less stressful, even if in speech testing I still test as only 'functionally' hoh. Thank God for functionally hard of hearing, much better then severe loss with HA's. Also much better then moderate loss with HA's or none.

Bi lateral probably is the future of CI's, especially in the very young. I'm happy with one and I look at it as I have one ear left to implant when 10 yrs down the line something better may come along.

As for why bi lateral is best and will become more common, hearing natually uses two ears. Hearing with HA's uses 2 ears. So hearing with CI's would actually be better using 2. Many of the young children I see in my center already have 2. I'm very happy that over the past 35 yrs things have progressd from the thinking that 1 (HA or CI) is just as good as 2.

 

[Oceanbreeze]

No I don't miss your point.

You are obviously missing mine and that of others.

FYI we who have implants and those who have 2 have all gone the HA route. We did not get the necessary imput.


Again FYI when testing is done it IS DONE in best aided conditions. It IS done with no speech reading. You are happy with your results from HA's. But even with what you concider great results could you go into a booth and respond over 60% without access to speech reading? JUst because you are satified with your results does not mean someone else is.

IT is done with noisy background. In my case no sentence testing was done without HA's. (they also take into concideration how old your HA's are, mine were about a year old) they do do tone tests without HA's to get the baseline hearing loss.

You really do need to do some research into exactly HOW testing is conducted. Yes insurance companies will qualify people like me. And I can tell you life is much less stressful, even if in speech testing I still test as only 'functionally' hoh. Thank God for functionally hard of hearing, much better then severe loss with HA's. Also much better then moderate loss with HA's or none.

Bi lateral probably is the future of CI's, especially in the very young. I'm happy with one and I look at it as I have one ear left to implant when 10 yrs down the line something better may come along.

As for why bi lateral is best and will become more common, hearing natually uses two ears. Hearing with HA's uses 2 ears. So hearing with CI's would actually be better using 2. Many of the young children I see in my center already have 2. I'm very happy that over the past 35 yrs things have progressd from the thinking that 1 (HA or CI) is just as good as 2.

Damn !!!!

 

[vallee]

No I don't miss your point.

You are obviously missing mine and that of others.

FYI we who have implants and those who have 2 have all gone the HA route. We did not get the necessary imput.


Again FYI when testing is done it IS DONE in best aided conditions. It IS done with no speech reading. You are happy with your results from HA's. But even with what you concider great results could you go into a booth and respond over 60% without access to speech reading? JUst because you are satified with your results does not mean someone else is.

IT is done with noisy background. In my case no sentence testing was done without HA's. (they also take into concideration how old your HA's are, mine were about a year old) they do do tone tests without HA's to get the baseline hearing loss.

You really do need to do some research into exactly HOW testing is conducted. Yes insurance companies will qualify people like me. And I can tell you life is much less stressful, even if in speech testing I still test as only 'functionally' hoh. Thank God for functionally hard of hearing, much better then severe loss with HA's. Also much better then moderate loss with HA's or none.

Bi lateral probably is the future of CI's, especially in the very young. I'm happy with one and I look at it as I have one ear left to implant when 10 yrs down the line something better may come along.

As for why bi lateral is best and will become more common, hearing natually uses two ears. Hearing with HA's uses 2 ears. So hearing with CI's would actually be better using 2. Many of the young children I see in my center already have 2. I'm very happy that over the past 35 yrs things have progressd from the thinking that 1 (HA or CI) is just as good as 2.

Double Damn!

 

[rick48]

No I don't miss your point.

You are obviously missing mine and that of others.

FYI we who have implants and those who have 2 have all gone the HA route. We did not get the necessary imput.


Again FYI when testing is done it IS DONE in best aided conditions. It IS done with no speech reading. You are happy with your results from HA's. But even with what you concider great results could you go into a booth and respond over 60% without access to speech reading? JUst because you are satified with your results does not mean someone else is.

IT is done with noisy background. In my case no sentence testing was done without HA's. (they also take into concideration how old your HA's are, mine were about a year old) they do do tone tests without HA's to get the baseline hearing loss.

You really do need to do some research into exactly HOW testing is conducted. Yes insurance companies will qualify people like me. And I can tell you life is much less stressful, even if in speech testing I still test as only 'functionally' hoh. Thank God for functionally hard of hearing, much better then severe loss with HA's. Also much better then moderate loss with HA's or none.

Bi lateral probably is the future of CI's, especially in the very young. I'm happy with one and I look at it as I have one ear left to implant when 10 yrs down the line something better may come along.

As for why bi lateral is best and will become more common, hearing natually uses two ears. Hearing with HA's uses 2 ears. So hearing with CI's would actually be better using 2. Many of the young children I see in my center already have 2. I'm very happy that over the past 35 yrs things have progressd from the thinking that 1 (HA or CI) is just as good as 2.

Damm, Damm, Damm great post!

 

[WendiWendy]

Hi everyone,

I'm new here (this is my first post!) so I hope I'm doing this correctly. I just recently became deaf -- it's been about 6 or 7 weeks now, I guess. Up til then I wore bi-CROS hearing aids, with my left ear being the one I actually heard things in and the right ("dead") ear just had a transmitter on it. I really loved those hearing aids -- they gave the impression of hearing from both ears and there was a huge difference to me when I had to just wear one hearing aid in my left ear only (i.e., a regular hearing aid instead of the bi-CROS setup).

Anyway, I had this episode of sudden hearing loss (for no explainable reason) and now I'm completely, utterly deaf. I mean, I hear nothing. No loud noises, no speech at all. Well, I hear the tinnitus in my head...LOL! So my beloved hearing aids are now useless.

Anyway, after trying steroids and not getting any hearing back, the doctor recommended that I be evaluated for a CI. Since I was already used to sorta-kinda hearing from both ears with the bi-CROS hearing aids, I asked about bilateral implants. I mean, it's not like I can wear a hearing aid in either ear and get any benefit. (They tried the most powerful hearing aids they had for one of the CI assessment tests and all they did was vibrate my head...eeergh, that was horrible! But no sound.)

I'm at the stage where I'm waiting to see if my insurance company approves the bilateral implants or just chuckles heartily and tosses my approval request back in my lap. In the meantime, I'm just trying to get as much information as I can about bilateral implants, and also to find out how people came through simultaneous bilateral surgery. (It sounds like more people that are bilateral are getting the implants at different times though.)

I'm really encouraged at what I've been reading about bilaterals! Hopefully someday soon I'll be back posting my own CI experiences.

 

[Cloggy]

Welcome to AllDeaf,
You'll find tons of information here.
A tip:
You can start your own thread in the specific forum section, (click here for example) and ask specific questions.
Great way to meet people that share your experiences directly..

Looking forward to hear more from you!

 

[vallee]

Hi everyone,

I'm new here (this is my first post!) so I hope I'm doing this correctly. I just recently became deaf -- it's been about 6 or 7 weeks now, I guess. Up til then I wore bi-CROS hearing aids, with my left ear being the one I actually heard things in and the right ("dead") ear just had a transmitter on it. I really loved those hearing aids -- they gave the impression of hearing from both ears and there was a huge difference to me when I had to just wear one hearing aid in my left ear only (i.e., a regular hearing aid instead of the bi-CROS setup).

Anyway, I had this episode of sudden hearing loss (for no explainable reason) and now I'm completely, utterly deaf. I mean, I hear nothing. No loud noises, no speech at all. Well, I hear the tinnitus in my head...LOL! So my beloved hearing aids are now useless.

Anyway, after trying steroids and not getting any hearing back, the doctor recommended that I be evaluated for a CI. Since I was already used to sorta-kinda hearing from both ears with the bi-CROS hearing aids, I asked about bilateral implants. I mean, it's not like I can wear a hearing aid in either ear and get any benefit. (They tried the most powerful hearing aids they had for one of the CI assessment tests and all they did was vibrate my head...eeergh, that was horrible! But no sound.)

I'm at the stage where I'm waiting to see if my insurance company approves the bilateral implants or just chuckles heartily and tosses my approval request back in my lap. In the meantime, I'm just trying to get as much information as I can about bilateral implants, and also to find out how people came through simultaneous bilateral surgery. (It sounds like more people that are bilateral are getting the implants at different times though.)

I'm really encouraged at what I've been reading about bilaterals! Hopefully someday soon I'll be back posting my own CI experiences.

Wendi,

It is Valerie from tales from a CI gal. I am one of the few, wait I think I might be the only one on here that as an adult had simultaneous bilateral. If you go back the earliest part of blog, I did blog about it. You can see a pic of what it looks like. I will tell you the surgery and recovery is rough! I would never do it any other way.

 

[Cloggy]

Heyyy, I'm Back, I think lol, actually I had been here for awhile, mostly lurking around reading posts lol. Anyway I got to thinking about bilateral implants.

Those who are new or haven't read my original posts, I first came here in 2005? Can't remember what year, but I came here asking questions about ci, and got some great informations. I had been implanted since I was 19 and I am very happy with it, and I am now 21, but I am thinking of getting another implant. So I am wondering if anybody here had any successful stories or not so successful stories to share about bilateral implants, I would like to hear about them.

I know all about the risks and pros and cons about getting an implant itself since I already went through that once, but I just would like to know if its worth it to try to get a second one or not.

Thanks

Have a look here....