" Wants to know if Ci BTE will help with tinnitus"

deafskeptic said:
Opps... I found that my link doesn't work for me either and yes it's from the same page that I linked to.
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Heh heh no worries. It's a great website isn't it? Everything fell into place for me when I read that. I was even able to explain what recruitment was to my mother who was a former teacher of deaf children. A lot of people have never heard of it.
 
Ever since I got my CI, my tinnitus has been greatly reduced by about 90-95%. I am so happy about that because my tinnitus used to be very loud and annoying! :)
 
I'm not sure about the percentages of those with recruitment - apparently it always accompanies a further decrease in hearing so it would affect progressive losses mainly.
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Oh really? Well I remember that something like 10-20% of hoh kids will become deaf. Not sure about what percentage of hoh adults will become deaf. Sure would be interesting to find out...........I mean in cases of recruitment its basicly "upgrading" to a more sophisticated device......and upgrading b/c of nessesscity, not b/c it's the LATEST TrEnDy device.
 
Meniere's............that's the syndrome that causes ringing in the ears! I remember reading that it can really really help people with Meniere's!
 
DefLord said:
I had that issue on my right ear.. after I had my CI done - I have noticed it has gone down drastically for me. So, it has been a blessing for me. But then again the results varies amongst different people!
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You got that right! It certainly varies among different people. I had a mild case of it prior to my CI and afterwards...it has been blissful...no tinnitus whatsoever.
 
I'm sorry, I'd like to de-rail the thought of Menieres being the cause of Tinnitus. Almost everyone at some point in their life gets Tinnitus. For most, it goes away.

Menieres is so much more than Tinnitus. I have a minor case as I don't have the Vertigo attacks any more but do have a severe reduction in my balance, ear pressure, substantial hearing loss and yes, the Tinniuts remains in my Right ear. Left ear has CI and I don't think any Tinnitus. THANK GOD for no more Vertigo. Vertigo attacks are spontaneous uncontrolled violent spinning feeling which causes a total loss of balance which normally causes one to fall. These can be triggered by normal movements like turning your head to bending over, NOT spinning in a chair or drinking heavly.

4 things really go along with Menieres. Tinnitus, Pressure in the ear, Hearing Loss and Vertigo. If you have one or two of these, you may be classified by a Dr as having Menieres symptoms but probably do not have the classic Menieres syndrome. There is no way to test for Menieres. It is basically, rule out everything else then come to the conclusion that you probably have Menieres syndrome which is just a word to call what you have.

If anyone wants to read more about the life with Meneires and you think you have it bad, please go to Menieres.org and just read what some of these people go through. There are people there that have more drive to continue on with life than most can possibly understand unless they have lived with Menieres and the lovely vertigo attacks that which are the worst aspect of the syndrome.

Sorry, I didn't want people to think just because they have tinnitus, they have Menieres. It could be misleading.
Steve
 
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steve, I know tininituas doesn't always equate with Meniere's. I had just been trying to remember what that condition was called, that's all.
 
No problem.

Tinnitus can be an aughful thing since you just can't get away from it and it can be 24/7/365.
Tinnitus can come in a constant single frequency to multiple frequencies. low mid and high.
Some people experience a pulsing tinnitus to top it all off.

At one point, I could hear my pulse by the tinnitus changing frequency every time my heart beat. Talk about driving someone nuts. At another point, the tinnitus would sould close to the same frequency as the telephone ring.
Right now, I'm hearing roughly 4000hz at probably 40 db in my right ear. Left has CI and can't tell of any tinnitus but didn't have any before the CI either.
Sometimes the right has a very loud 80-90db ring like someone hit a bell with a hammer which lasts only a couple seconds to a few minutes. I figure this is a few more hair fibers getting yanked out or fall over and die. I have mapped the tinnitus by making the hearing test mimic the volume and frequency just so I knew what I was hearing back when I could hear. The worst was 2000 hz at 60 db when I could still hear without a hearing aid about 10 months ago.

Steve
 
Recruitment is an abnormal growth in loudness that is common among anyone with any degree of hearing loss. If you want to know if or how bad you have it, talk to your audiologist about doing two tests. An uncomfortable loudness level (UCL) and a most comfortable loudness level (MCL) The difference between the two is your dynamic range (the sweet spot that you want to have the amplification of a hearing aid in all the time). The smaller the dynamic range, the tougher it is to fit a person with a hearing aid, which it turn means they have more recruitment. For example, someone who has a UCL at 75dB HL for speech and an MCL at 65dBHL for speech, they have a dynamic range of 10dB (ie....going from most comfortable to uncomfortable happens in only 10dB, that isn't alot of wiggle room to program a hearing aid). That person has severe recruitment and are pretty difficult to fit with a hearing aid. There is also the phenomenon of hyperacusis, which is often confused with recruitment. Hyperacusis is a hypersensitivity to sound.


The reason why a CI may or may not help with tinnitus is because one theory as to what causes ringing in the ears is that anytime there is damage to the inner ear (hair cells), it can ring. Just like you stub your toe, you have pain. A CI destroys all the hair cells in the inner ear, hence the ringing may lessen or subside (or it may be worse initially after implantation). The other theory about Tinnitus is that is has more to do with the auditory nervous system in the brain, hence why we see people with normal hearing and tinnitus. THAT is the reason why there is no cure, no one knows exactly what causes is and the mode from one person to the other can be different.

Lastly, Meniere's disease in not a condition that is approved for a cochlear implant. Reason being, 85% of all people affected with it are only affected in one ear. CI candidacy is still deemed anyone with a moderately severe-to-profound sensorineural hearing loss in both ears with word recognition below 56%. No doctor will implant someone who still has one good hearing ear.
 
Dani9185 said:
...Im 85 Db now. and i use interpreters for the time this semester in college.
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I'm 92 dbl in both ears and use digital hearing aids. I get moderate benefit hearing aids , not satisfying enough though :( and my hearing aids greatly help me with my tinnitus at slight to moderate range .
 
Victorias mom said:
I am one of those people who doesn't understand. Can you explain tinnitus to me? Do children get it? I am trying to find a reason why Victoria hates the car. She REALLY hates the car. She can cry for entire car rides. Other times it's not so bad. I feel there has to be a reason for this. Could it be this?? I know I probably sound stupid, but this is all new to me!

Thanks
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If she has CI or HA's on in the car, try to remove them and see if the problem goes away. I am no expert but process of elimination works to solve many problems. Good Luck!
 
Tinnitus relief from CIs

(I posted this originally on answers.yahoo.com)

From what I've heard, people with existing tinnitus frequently experience improvement in the tinnitus after implantation. The American Tinnitus Association says 1/2 of CI patients who had tinnitus before implantation had improvements in the tinnitus post implantation. Nature abhors a vacuum, when there is no sound, the auditory nerve can go nuts and create its own sound (tinnitus). Stimulating the auditory nerve by implanting a CI kills the vacuum. We did one appeal where the patient had "hallucinatory music" (a form of tinnitus) so bad that she ended up in a psychiatric institution for a while. Completely disappeared when she got the implant. Of course if your tinnitus is bilateral, you will need to be implanted bilaterally to achieve this benefit. I have heard of tinnitus being a side effect of implantation, but I think that's when patients did not have tinnitus before the implant. YMMV.

American Tinnitus Association | About Tinnitus | Consumer | Treatment Options

Sheri

P.S. THIS IS NOT MEDICAL ADVICE !!!!!
 
Tinnitus and recruitment

Hi all,
You may think I'm crazy, but I actually hope my tinnitus doesn't go away when I get a CI. (Nor do I want it to get worse.) It used to really bother me when I was a teenager, but then I realized that I could make any kind of music I wanted with it. I often hear beautiful sounds, and even find it relaxing at times. Then again, there are times that it's annoying as well. For those of you that have it and don't really have ways to cope with it, perhaps this could be helpful. I have it 24/7 and pretty steadily.

I'd never known about recruitment before and that explains a lot of things to me-- why I can't wear hearing aids in the right ear, mainly. I've noticed that as my hearing gets worse in the left ear, low-pitched sounds get louder and more uncomfortable while high-pitched sounds get quieter. Recruitment is the obvious explanation to that, and I find that very helpful.
 
Franz K said:
Hi all,
You may think I'm crazy, but I actually hope my tinnitus doesn't go away when I get a CI. (Nor do I want it to get worse.) It used to really bother me when I was a teenager, but then I realized that I could make any kind of music I wanted with it. I often hear beautiful sounds, and even find it relaxing at times. Then again, there are times that it's annoying as well. For those of you that have it and don't really have ways to cope with it, perhaps this could be helpful. I have it 24/7 and pretty steadily.
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I sort of know what you mean, although I wouldn't go as far to say that I hope it doesn't go away. A lot of how we feel about tinnitus can be controlled by ourselves. It's very distressing when you first experience it but over time you just have to learn to live with it and let it become part of you. When I had my sudden hearing loss my tinnitus was a very upbeat jazzy kind of music and I just had to laugh. I was amazed that my brain could conjure up something so artistic and I don't have a musical bone in my body.

Chances are that you'll still still hear tinnitus at night when you take off your CI. I know I do but I don't even really think about it any more as it has become a part of me.
 
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