GISJason

What would be the best route for me to go to get speech theraphy? I have 98/97 loss with no speech recong at all and rock a Naida S ix UP my old speech therapist said she would provide the theraphy at no cost if I'd get the CI which I'm in the process of setting up an appointment to see if I'm a good candiate for it. But I'm in no hurry as I know once done and if it fails there's no going back to aids that route is long gone. So really why is she being like this??!!! Is that much compression bad and diffrent from a CI??

Given the fact both are going to be DIGITAL hearing singals not True hearing signals. Also who knows HAs may actually get up to par even better as technology becomes available for them to use down the road.

Deafness

__________________
This advertising will not be shown in this way to registered members.
Register your free account today and become a member on AllDeaf.com

green427

I would say that your speech therapist should keep her opinions to herself when it comes to what kind of hearing device is best for you. Unless she is a surgeon or ENT doctor herself, she should let other professionals decide.

Sounds to me like she has other motives for pushing you to get a CI. Not everyone qualifies.

I speak like a hearing person and have had similar hearing loss as you since I was a toddler....all because I had speech therapy for many years.

__________________
Warning: Anything I post may not make any sense. All advice is for entertainment value only. Sarcasm might be present. Interpret at your own risk.

GISJason

Awesome good to know!! Now I got years to go... Is it possible for me to train myself using software on the pc? I notice even some speak2text programs can' t get the saying right like from my kids who are hearing and can talk fine so finding the best software would be the first step if I wanted to do it on my own without a speech speclist. I'm like just starting my journey into speech recong...

I watch TV and can listen and notice the speaking line up with the captioning. I think she speaks more from experince since she's in charge of interpreters at schools and teaching speech to a group of kids that have been implanted and even some with HAs. Over 30 years of messing around with HA / FM systems. Don't see motives other than ignorantly thinking its the best quickest route to take. She's literally well off already.

A multi-millionarie and hubby's raking in serious cash each year as a lawyer, along with carlots and rental properties they own never had to break a sweat for a dollar but pick up her silver spoon and feast away 'n spoil her kids. LOL But yeah she's been it a bit too long. Time for her to retire. She acts like she's better than everyone even like this towards tentured interpreters. But yeah who knows I may be wrong.

Could have friends at the CI implant center like elite richie pants like to help each other out. Corruption is rampant in this town as well. Wouldn't be surprised. Scandals get exposed like every other month here in my neck of the woods LOL. Thanks for the reply!!!

cdmeggers

yeah if you don't want the CI, don't worry about it. If you have an ipod touch/ipad/iphone, you can download an app called Hear Coach for free. it's an app designed by Starkey Labs, an auditory practice sort of app. It'll say a word and you have to listen for the word and tap on the word you think the app is saying (there's like 4 choices of words at first, and as you get better at hearing and picking the right word, then you get 6 word choices, then so on and so forth). There's different levels. There's also a part where it'll say a series of a few numbers and you have to punch in the numbers you think the app says. I've been using it for auditory rehab with my CI so far. Also, the Listening Room at hearingjourney.com has a variety of auditory rehab materials all for free too. More aimed for CI users, but I'm sure you can work with the materials with your hearing aids to improve your speech recognition.

If you want actual speech therapy though, if the therapist you spoke with will only work with you if you have the CI... how about a friend or someone you're close to that could help you out? I don't know if you're wanting to improve your speech or if it's speech recognition you want to work on, my mind's kind of all over the place right now and I can't think straight.

__________________
My Ear Blog
Advanced Bionics BEA Volunteer Mentor

BleedingPurist

I think it's far more likely she genuinely wants to help you.

After getting an idea of your hearing history from your other posts, I doubt you'll get much benefit from a CI (or even a hearing cure.)

No amount of Hearing Aid technology is going to improve your hearing. Amplification cannot help profound loss.

GISJason

Thanks for the replies!! Grabbed Hear coach for the ipod touch couldn't find it on the google market and yeah my kids and wife are going to work with me on speech ;-) Dunno how none of that can help profound hearing loss as green427 seems to be in the same boat with me on the profound loss.. I mean if it couldn't help much at all then I wouldn't be able to hear a bird or woodpeckers goin ape nuts let alone reconig the words on TV. Which I.couldn't at all when I had my ole senso aids. I'm mainly wanting to work on both speech and reconig simulatously. But yeah I can see where ya coming from in a way especially with the fact HA and CI is artifical hearing and mearly lifting these sounds to the freq I best hear at yet I'm sure it gets distorted in the process of that occuring tho still hopefully could program and rewire my brians to reconig these sounds and hopefully output them excatly right. Just gotta have the will and patience to work on it.

green427

I have two CI's now after wearing HA's for many years. Yes, it is a big improvement over HA's, however, CI's are a lot more expensive to have than HA's (unless you are living off welfare, which taxpayers will foot your bills).

We can spend weeks debating CI's vs HA's, but it is up to you, your ENT, and your audiologist to decide which is best for you. If you have a desire to explore CI territory like I did, go for it, but if you feel just fine with new HA's, then stay with HA's. Some folks think the CI is the answer to all deaf people, which is far from the truth.

No matter what, you will have the medical community (and the hearing community) pushing you to get a CI, and the pro-deaf community pushing you to stay deaf. Do what your heart tells to.

__________________
Warning: Anything I post may not make any sense. All advice is for entertainment value only. Sarcasm might be present. Interpret at your own risk.

Frisky Feline

just following your heart.

if you have passinate for listening better and speaking better then it will tell you what you want to.

soutthpaw

You need to be clear in your hearing goals and also clear about what if any benefits you get from using HA.
I have generally recommended to people, if you can hear on the phone with HA don't get CI... The sound is much different with CI and takes lots of effort and practice and mappings as well as AVT, etc to get good at listening. The results are very individual. much more so than with HA's you CANNOT compare the results of one person with similar hearing loss to what you will achieve yourself. Your results may be better or worse.

But if you have one totally Dead ear then really no harm done if you get CI in that ear

BleedingPurist

The sound is different from a hearing aid? Absolutely. The sound is different from natural hearing? Not really. Most post-linguals report sound eventually sounding like they remember it from before they lost their hearing. The issue is whether a prelingually deafened person is going to be able to handle it. A CI can give access to hearing, but it doesn't guarantee that you'll be able to use it or get maximum benefit. Neither would a cure. Your brain has been wired differently due to being deaf for so long. If what you know is hearing aid hearing, your brain may not make optimal use of the auditory information it is receiving. If you've been blind your whole life or had very limited vision... all of that extra information suddenly coming in adulthood can simply be blinding rather than helpful.

Actually, the harm in getting a "totally dead ear" done is that it will not likely be optimal. This is why, when both ears qualify, physicians recommend the "good" ear be done. I've seen time and time again those that do that (post-linguals) tend to take off running with their CI. Those that get the "bad" ear done tend to have a long road ahead of them. I've also seen those who get the bad ear done have poor results go on to get the good ear done.... it was an eye opening/life changing experience with the difference being night and day between the ears. So the point is, if you get the bad ear done, don't think you know what a CI is capable of.

cdmeggers

I had my dead ear implanted, as I wasn't ready to give up my "good ear". No, nothing sounds normal, everything sounds weird/odd/electronic, but I'm just happy I have sound in the left ear so... I am working at it and hoping it'll improve to the point where things do sound more normalish, but I know it's going to take a long time. But I'm fine with that.

__________________
My Ear Blog
Advanced Bionics BEA Volunteer Mentor