Bimodals users- CI and HA's users

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Lissa

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Here's a question for bimodal users- CI and Ha's users

DO you prefer to wear them together? Do you hear better together or do you prefer one to the other e.g do you prefer ci on its own etc etc.
 
Because I cant really hear as much with just my CI Alone, I prefer to wear both my CI and HA which therefore gives me more sound.
 
When I had my first surgery, I was able to hear quite a lot...sometimes TOO much (for example - I was able to hear my cat go to the bathroom across the room...I don't think I want to hear that for the rest of my life. LOL!). After a month or so, I decided to try on my HA because I'm so used to hearing out of both ears, not just one. However, because my HA is set up so I can hear a LOT more of the low frequencies over the highs...it became a little too overpowering over the CI. The CI gave me the clarity that I needed, the HA just gave me the volume. After trying that for a little while, I realize this is not working...it just felt so off balance. Hence why I decided to get my 2nd surgery. It was strange because I can hear better through my right, but it was obvious on how much I was missing.

There *are* some people that find Bimodal approach work for them. It's probably because they have much better balance between the CI and the HA. I didn't. A good friend of mine has told me that he can't hear too well out of the CI, until I told him that he needs to get better mapping out of the CI. When he did, he felt a lot more balanced hearing out of both.

I'm a strong supporter of the fact that you need to focus on your CI ear FIRST and have that mapped out FIRST, then focus on your HA. HA overpowers the CI (mainly the low frequencies), so you're not allowing your CI ear to get used to certain sounds.

Having said that, if you feel that you're hearing pretty much everything when wearing both...that's just perfect for YOUR situation. It may not be the same for someone else...like me. Make sense?
 
I dont like to be with my cochlear implant alone cos i do not find that i dont hear as much as i do with the CI on its own. I may try this week with just my CI
 
I'd be interested in reading about this. A couple of characters in the book I am writing are deaf with CI and HA (one is a success one is a failure). I've heard they can work well if their is still usable hearing in the HA ear and less usable hearing in the CI ear.

Could anybody tell me if you get any benifit from sound direction if say you have a CI in one ear and a 90 db loss in the other?
 
I do wear my CI and HA together and love it.

Sure, HA produces much weaker sounds than CI and does not give much benefit with regards to speech comprehension, but it enables me to hear some lower frequencies I cannot get with the implant, simplifies recognizing surrounding sounds, permits me to hear somewhat better in noise, and makes the music sound good :)

CI lets me hear better - with HA only I feel quite deaf :) while HA makes sound much richer and closer to natural. So long as I have some usable residual hearing in my non-implanted ear, I would like to stay bimodal.
 
Sure, HA produces much weaker sounds than CI and does not give much benefit with regards to speech comprehension, but it enables me to hear some lower frequencies I cannot get with the implant, simplifies recognizing surrounding sounds, permits me to hear somewhat better in noise, and makes the music sound good
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exactly.....together it creates a WHOLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
The Loss in my unimplanted ear is 90db and I still wear a hearing aid in it. The HA fills in some of the Lower tones and I prefer to listen to Music with both the HA and CI because it has a richer sound. The hearing aid does not give me anywhere near the speech discrimination the CI does but I do get some environmental sounds which helps with sound localization. If my hearing stays the way it is there is no reason for me to consider a second CI.
 
very interesting to read of people's bi-modal experiences, as I am considering CI in left ear and continuing with HA in right ear. Just nice to be able to see other people's experiences, both positive and negative. :)
 
There *are* some people that find Bimodal approach work for them. It's probably because they have much better balance between the CI and the HA. I didn't. A good friend of mine has told me that he can't hear too well out of the CI, until I told him that he needs to get better mapping out of the CI. When he did, he felt a lot more balanced hearing out of both.

I'm a strong supporter of the fact that you need to focus on your CI ear FIRST and have that mapped out FIRST, then focus on your HA. HA overpowers the CI (mainly the low frequencies), so you're not allowing your CI ear to get used to certain sounds.
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Lady......do you think most people should start out with one CI and then play it by ear to see what works for them?
Just wondering.
 
DeafLissa90 said:
Here's a question for bimodal users- CI and Ha's users

DO you prefer to wear them together? Do you hear better together or do you prefer one to the other e.g do you prefer ci on its own etc etc.
Click to expand...

I have bilateral CIs now, but I used to wear CI/HA for 6 months following the activation of my first CI. I loved wearing both together, but over time, my CI overpowered my HA. The hearing in my nonimplanted ear also decreased and I could no longer tell whether my HA was on or off. That's when my CI surgeon recommended I have a second CI. Although I've had problems with dizziness and nausea, I'm very happy to have 2 CIs. :D
 
When I got activated, my HA was overpowering my CI. So I decided not to wear it for several months. Now I'm comfortable with the CI, I've started wearing my HA again once in a while. However, when I do CI therapy, obviously I only wear the CI in order maximize my chances of learning to hear. The HA's loudness can be quite distracting.
 
Iv worn my HA since day 1 and i dont think ill ever stopp using my HA unless my HA ear gets completely useless. Im quite happy to wear both. Although my implant does sound so quite when I wear it with just ci alone but think thats a mapping issue
 
So it seems it depends on how well the non implanted ear works. What kind of decible loss would you need for a CI and HA to work well together?
 
dreama said:
So it seems it depends on how well the non implanted ear works. What kind of decible loss would you need for a CI and HA to work well together?
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It's impossible to say with any degree of accuracy.

However, it seems that people with greater amounts of residual hearing benefit more from a bimodal approach than those with less.

In my case, the unaided hearing in my left (implanted) ear started at 95 dB with NR at
1000 Hz and above. In my right (nonimplanted) ear, my unaided hearing started at 90 dB with NR at 1000 Hz and above.
 
Thanks for the explanation. When you used HA and CI together before your HA deteriated How well could you determine the direction of sound?

I'm interested in all this since in the book I am writing one of the caracters has CI and HA. 2 actually. One is a success one is a failure. The successful character: Liza has 90 db in her non implanted ear (same as you did) and her CI is in good working order. She only gets implanted in the hope of it improving her chances of joining the police force. She also has poor sight but she can see a lot in good lighting but not much in glare or in the dark. She does get to join the police but not on the beat. She gets the job of training the police dogs and helping as signed interpreter whenever that's needed.
 
dreama said:
Thanks for the explanation. When you used HA and CI together before your HA deteriated How well could you determine the direction of sound?
Click to expand...

I could localize sound quite well with the exception of middle and high frequency sounds. (According to what my former CI audi told me, this was due to the fact that I had no aidable hearing at 1000 Hz and above.) I had my HA programmed specifically to work with my CI so that one did not overpower the other. I think having my HA gradually turned up in accordance to my CI made all the difference in my being able to localize sound. If my HA overpowered my CI or vice-versa, I think sound localization would have been very difficult for me, if not impossible.
 
Hear Again said:
I could localize sound quite well with the exception of middle and high frequency sounds. (According to what my former CI audi told me, this was due to the fact that I had no aidable hearing at 1000 Hz and above.) I had my HA programmed specifically to work with my CI so that one did not overpower the other. I think having my HA gradually turned up in accordance to my CI made all the difference in my being able to localize sound. If my HA overpowered my CI or vice-versa, I think sound localization would have been very difficult for me, if not impossible.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the explanation. When they were both working together what db range were you able to hear at aided? How long did it take you to relearn speech with this setting?
 
Also wondering? What would you call your CI and HI? I mean If you wanted to refere to both of them?
 
dreama said:
Thanks for the explanation. When they were both working together what db range were you able to hear at aided? How long did it take you to relearn speech with this setting?
Click to expand...

With my CI I could hear at 35-40 dB across all frequencies. (Note that this was during the first 6 months my CI was activated. I now hear at 15-30 dB in the low and mid frequencies.)

With my hearing aid I heard 60 dB at 250 Hz, 70 dB at 500 Hz and 70 dB at 750 Hz with NR at 1000 Hz or above.

It took me 3 months to understand speech well enough to communicate without a tactile terp.
 
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