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!!!!!!
I also have Otosclerosis. I began losing my hearing at 17 and I'm now 39. I had the Stapes operations in both ears in 2004. The operation was successful for about a year until I got a bad case of the flu in 2005, which killed my right ear and my left ear has been deteriorating.
I seen my ENT surgeon in mid August, they sent me over to do an audiogram and he told me I was a candidate for a CI. He scheduled an MRI, CT scan and consultation with a CI audiologist. I had those appointments within a month. My CI audiologist performed the HINT test with my hearing aid in and I was asked to repeat words and sentences back. No psycological testing, I was simply asked what I expected from a CI and I told them I would like better speech recognition.
My paperwork was submitted to Medicaid on October 1. They called me on October 13 and asked if I could have surgery the 16th, as my doc had a cancellation and my insurance approved the surgery. Had pre-op on the 15th and surgery yesterday, the 16th.
I did not have the vaccine yet, my doctor told me to wait 2 weeks after surgery.
My activation date is October 29. I chose Cochlear because of the battery options and because it was slightly smaller than the AB. They all have amazing technology.
It moves pretty fast once you get the process going. Mine took less than 2 months.
I haven't talked to many people with Otosclerosis so I would love to hear more about your husbands journey. I am wondering if he's ever tried the flouride treatments? I suspect my 18 year old son may have Otosclerosis. I have an appointment scheduled for him in a couple weeks but was wondering if the flouride actually helps.
Well good luck and please keep us posted!
Dawne
Unfortunately there are *some* d/Deaf people who continue to spread misinformation (although I'm not saying that's what you were doing) about CIs despite being given the facts by those who have implants.