Single Or Bilateral?? Ci

Fo'Shizzle

Fo'Shizzle

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Should I Get Single Or Bilateral ?

Will Single Put Out Enough Sound?

Or Will Bilateral Be Better?

My Audiologist Said They At First Will Only Implant One Ear And The Other I Will Wear My Hearing Aids. I Thought It Would Be My Choice If I Get Bilateral?

I'm New At This Whole Cochlear Implant. I'm Getting One Really Soon.
Wondering How Long Does It Ususally Take Before You Get Your Cochlear Implant. Like After All The Test Done And Stuff?
 
Cassbugs said:
Should I Get Single Or Bilateral ?

Will Single Put Out Enough Sound?

Or Will Bilateral Be Better?

My Audiologist Said They At First Will Only Implant One Ear And The Other I Will Wear My Hearing Aids. I Thought It Would Be My Choice If I Get Bilateral?

I'm New At This Whole Cochlear Implant. I'm Getting One Really Soon.
Wondering How Long Does It Ususally Take Before You Get Your Cochlear Implant. Like After All The Test Done And Stuff?
Click to expand...

Its different for everyone. Talk to your audiologist and you will find out what is best for you. Not everybody has two healthy implantable ears. Some medical plans only cover one CI and not both. Explore your options with your audie - they will be able to answer all your questions the best possible way.
 
I agree with Neecy. Best to talk to your audi first.

Most insurances (probably even Medicaid) won't cover bilateral CI's due to the high cost. So most people only get one.

I have been profoundly DEAF (meaning I was so deaf I could not even hear a plane taking off if it was coming over my head) for most of my life since I was 7 years old. I got my CI- just one-when I was 29 years old and I am amazed at how much I can hear with just one. Many other people report that one CI is plenty! For example now I can hear even a tiny sound like a kitchen egg-timer ticking away WHILE I AM IN ANOTHER ROOM. And this for someone who was deafer than a doorknob for more than 20 years! :)
 
Yes, good advice everyone! Most of the time it is a BUGGER to get bilateral CIs. Most folks who have bilateral CIs either have incredibily generous insurance plans, or are VERY skilled in dealing with insurance companies.
 
If you are bilateral (a big if as the others have mentioned for a variety of reasons), the only real advantage is sound localization (need two "ears") and better all around sound processing. In the scheme of things, it does not give you the same benefit in terms of increased quality as one does when you can't hear or use HAs anymore. This is another way of saying that the benefit from one CI is enormous while getting the second is much more minor.

Personally, I have one and I love it and really have no desire to get a second one.
 
Actually, unless both your ears are so deaf, that they can't benifit from aiding, one way to get bilateral "hearing" is to use a hearing aid in the unimplanted ear.
 
deafdyke said:
Actually, unless both your ears are so deaf, that they can't benifit from aiding, one way to get bilateral "hearing" is to use a hearing aid in the unimplanted ear.
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That depends on the individual's circumstances as well. I discovered that I didn't like what I "heard" when wearing a HA in my unplanted ear. I found the "gibberish" that the HA picked up distracted me from what I heard with my CI so I stopped wearing the HA completely.
 
That's true........but everyone is different! It's good to experiment with the unimplanted ear.....that would probaly be my best advice, to experiment with the unimplanted ear.
 
sr171soars said:
If you are bilateral (a big if as the others have mentioned for a variety of reasons), the only real advantage is sound localization (need two "ears") and better all around sound processing. In the scheme of things, it does not give you the same benefit in terms of increased quality as one does when you can't hear or use HAs anymore. This is another way of saying that the benefit from one CI is enormous while getting the second is much more minor.

Personally, I have one and I love it and really have no desire to get a second one.
Click to expand...
I agree that the added benefit is rather small.

My daughter (3½) has bilateral and she seemed to benefit from it in noisy environments. (By the way, Norwegian government payed for them, so in that respect in was an ëasy"choice.)

But 3 weeks ago, one of the CI's broke and she had to go with only 1. Had she had only 1, she would have lost her sounds and that would have been a shame since she loves to put the CI on in the morning.
We also noticed that noisy environment was more of a problem.

From my point of view, for children, pre-langually deafened, bi-lateral is a good thing. They do help. For grownups, I'm not sure. The cost might outweigh the extra performance.
 
Cloggy said:
I agree that the added benefit is rather small.
...
From my point of view, for children, pre-langually deafened, bi-lateral is a good thing. They do help. For grownups, I'm not sure. The cost might outweigh the extra performance.
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There is one exception that I feel where bilaterals would be of great benefit for adults...those who are visually impaired (i.e, those who are blind or have significant visual problems).
 
sr171soars said:
There is one exception that I feel where bilaterals would be of great benefit for adults...those who are visually impaired (i.e, those who are blind or have significant visual problems).
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That's true.. I wear one HA and my eyes help me with overcoming lack of sound directionality by supplying visual directionality .. if a person is blind then she/he absolutely needs sound directionality in order to feel the world around her/him..

Off topic, but I so long for sound directionality :aw:
I've been using only one of my ears since 1989 :(
hopefully I'll get my digitals and smell sound directionality soon.. :)
 
Cloggy said:
...From my point of view, for children, pre-langually deafened, bi-lateral is a good thing. They do help. For grownups, I'm not sure. The cost might outweigh the extra performance.
Click to expand...

That's true.. the insurance in my country doesn't pay for second implant.. so if one wants second implant she/he would pay for it .. terribly expensive :eek:
 
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