I am looking for personal experiences with the switch from HA's to CI's. I have some residual hearing and I get some benefit from HA's, however, I still have substantial loss in both ears, almost identical loss in both ears. I'm looking for experiences where people with residual hearing went from hearing aids to CI's and how they differ.
I have to get a copy of my most recent audiogram but basically I hear fairly well in the low sounds and then basically no hearing in the mid to high sounds. We were at a basketball game yesterday and the pep band. My HA's are in the "shop" and my old one are horrible so I went to the game without them. I could hear the tubas and the low woodwinds fairly well, but none of the other instruments. With my HA's I can hear melody lines, sort of, but nothing great. I can't hear whistles, I could see people clap but couldn't hear it, the PA announcer sounds like Charlie Brown's teacher or mom--whaw, whaw, whaw... My husband sitting next to me, if he faced me and yelled I could sort of understand, if he wasn't looking at me, forget it.
Speaking voices--men obviously better than women but with background noise, forget it. I have a setting on my hearing aids to turn off the back mic so that helps localize sound if we are at a restaurant, for example, but I still only understand about 1/4th of what is said. I smile and nod a lot.
I can hear the dog barking in the next room, but can't understand a word that is said on tv or at a movie with or without hearing aids. So I can "hear" a lot, just little understanding. My last test showed about 30-40% speech recognition.
I had sudden hearing loss about 18 years ago. I lost about 50% in the mid-upper registers. That has progressed over the past 18 years to about 70% with a sizable difference in speech recognition from 2011 to 2012 (December).
So, knowing that I will most likely lose my residual hearing, how can I expect CI's to be different/better than HA's? I can read all of the technical data but I'm interested in personal experiences, specifically from people that had a sudden loss like I did.
My current hearing aids are Starkey iQ's with 4 programs, BTE, for severe loss. My old HA's were ITE, Micro Tech's, which at the time were top of the line (bought in 2003 or so). My Starkey's are 2 years old.
I have to get a copy of my most recent audiogram but basically I hear fairly well in the low sounds and then basically no hearing in the mid to high sounds. We were at a basketball game yesterday and the pep band. My HA's are in the "shop" and my old one are horrible so I went to the game without them. I could hear the tubas and the low woodwinds fairly well, but none of the other instruments. With my HA's I can hear melody lines, sort of, but nothing great. I can't hear whistles, I could see people clap but couldn't hear it, the PA announcer sounds like Charlie Brown's teacher or mom--whaw, whaw, whaw... My husband sitting next to me, if he faced me and yelled I could sort of understand, if he wasn't looking at me, forget it.
Speaking voices--men obviously better than women but with background noise, forget it. I have a setting on my hearing aids to turn off the back mic so that helps localize sound if we are at a restaurant, for example, but I still only understand about 1/4th of what is said. I smile and nod a lot.
I can hear the dog barking in the next room, but can't understand a word that is said on tv or at a movie with or without hearing aids. So I can "hear" a lot, just little understanding. My last test showed about 30-40% speech recognition.
I had sudden hearing loss about 18 years ago. I lost about 50% in the mid-upper registers. That has progressed over the past 18 years to about 70% with a sizable difference in speech recognition from 2011 to 2012 (December).
So, knowing that I will most likely lose my residual hearing, how can I expect CI's to be different/better than HA's? I can read all of the technical data but I'm interested in personal experiences, specifically from people that had a sudden loss like I did.
My current hearing aids are Starkey iQ's with 4 programs, BTE, for severe loss. My old HA's were ITE, Micro Tech's, which at the time were top of the line (bought in 2003 or so). My Starkey's are 2 years old.
