Hear Again

Lady is correct. My left ear has always been my poorer ear and as a result, I hear low frequencies better with it whereas my right ear was my better ear and I hear higher frequencies better with it. You can't go wrong with any of the 3 CIs. A person may do well with any of the 3 brands or they may not. It all depends on your hearing loss history and ability to work hard in order to learn how to hear with your CI among other things.

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

Phi4Sius

Well, I have an appointment this coming Monday morning with my primary physician so that they can refer me to a CI clinic for my first CI evaluation!!!! The next appointment after this one will be my CI evaluation. OMG the anticipation is killin' me. I'll finally find out one way or the other. I'm trying not to get too excited in case I'm not a candidate. It's hard though, considering many of the other results I've seen so far.

Hear Again

Phi,

I know how you feel. When my first CI evaluation was scheduled, I was as excited as a child the night before Christmas. I hope you'll continue to keep us updated on your CI journey!

overthepond

I wasn't, I was nervous wreck!!! it's probably understandable because i was turned down for referal by another hospital.

Take chill pill and relax LOL!!

Phi4Sius

Hear Again - Definitely. I'll keep adding updates as things progress to the point of surgery and activation (hopefully...if I'm deemed to be an appropriate candidate).

overthepond- Did they give a reason for why they turned you down for the referral?

Hear Again

Each CI center must be different because I wasn't required to have a referral. All I needed was an application which outlined the difficulties I was having with comnication, the communication methods I used, the reasons why I chose to get a CI, my general attitude about my hearing loss/deafness, what I expected to receive from a CI, a signature from my audi confirming the fact that I had severe-profound hearing loss and could not benefit from hearing aids, several character references as well as a current audiogram.

Phi4Sius

Hear Again - Well, the CI centers might not require a referral, but my insurance does if I'm going to follow the correct procedures for having them fund my surgery + CI.

Hear Again

Sorry, Phi. I wasn't aware of that. I have Medicaid and in Wisconsin they don't require a referral which is why I never mentioned it.

Phi4Sius

Hear Again - No problem! I didn't realize other insurance companies didn't require referrals either. Learned something new today. hehe.

Hear Again

LOL! I did too! Sometimes I forget how other insurance companies work because I've become so used to dealing with Medicaid and Medicare for the past 19 years.

overthepond

When i went in for my hearing tests, my hearing stayed same but the hearing aids were ineffecive, i was having real problem communcating at work, so i asked for new hearing aids, they said the ones i had is fine i was like WTF, I had it for 8 years and it was consantly at the repairers (at my own money not the NHS) Surely a new HA is needed. So i asked about the CI, The audi said it won't benefit me and wouldn't refer me to an ENT. So when my job requires me to move, I moved to another county. I went to the HA dept to try and get new HA's, they was shocked at the state of my old HA's, gave me new ones straight away and immedatetly refered me to ENT who then refered me to CI, I nearly fell off the chair when he said... "have you thought about having CI since your speech is very good, i thought you would be great with CI" (his words) Very nice ENT!! I had explained to him what happened. So Here i am with very good results (it is much more than what i asked for pre CI)

Phi4Sius

Overthepond - Those previous professionals (who I will lovingly refer to as idiots for this post) obviously had no idea what they were doing. 8 year old hearing aids and they did that?! I would have said WTF?! myself. That's asinine.

But, anyhow, another update: my CI evaluation is next Friday, March 6th at 10 AM!!!!!

Hear Again

Good luck at your CI evaluation, Phi!

etalton

Medicare and Medicaid are not "insurance companies". All insurance companies, as far as I know, require referrals and the "going through hoops" to get approval. There has to be no doubt in their minds that a CI is the only choice. "Hoops" include audi testing, CT scans, MRI's and in some cases blood tests.

__________________
E.T.



Left Ear Implanted 11-07-08 (Nucleus Freedom)
Activation 12-18-08

Right Ear Implanted 3-3-2010(N5)
Activation 3-11-10


http://et-mybionicjourney.blogspot.com/

nicknrm

Medicaid and Medicare are both "governmental coverage" which is always more strict and more a pain in the butt. I use to use it for my son, when he was born, but they basically said they wouldn't cover any treatment and said I needed to get a CI...well, I got my own insurance (and have for a while, after becoming an interpreter), and he remains deaf not hearing/deaf.

etalton

My bad..since I can't use either, I don't really have knowledge of how either works. I just know how insurance works, or at least am learning.

__________________
E.T.



Left Ear Implanted 11-07-08 (Nucleus Freedom)
Activation 12-18-08

Right Ear Implanted 3-3-2010(N5)
Activation 3-11-10


http://et-mybionicjourney.blogspot.com/

nicknrm

We weren't in need of the insurance by the government (but since he was deaf, they gave it to us)...we wouldn't qualify now, since he has full language skills and income requirements are way lower than ours...once you have full language, they tend to drop the insurance anyway.

overthepond

NO!!! that soon!! Ha, i am excited for you. Good luck, look forward to your posts on that..

Foxrac

I'm profound deaf and got very little or no benefit for HA but it used to work so good when I was little kid and hearing effective on HA has went down.

__________________


In Moto We Trust

deafdude1

Phi4Sius, I read the entire thread and I wish you luck too! You said your bad ear has no audiogram? How loud was the audiometer capable of? You didn't hear even a faint beep at any frequency? Have you found out why your bad ear is so deaf? As for CI, do you expect it to give you hearing close to what you get with the good ear or do you just want to hear in both ears for direction?

Phi4Sius

@deafdude1: Thank you very much! Not exactly - there is an audiogram for my left ear, but it reads that I have nearly no hearing. The audiometer was capable of up to 110 dB. We didn't get any response out of my left ear until my audiologist got down to 100 dB. That's where the "tactile" response occurred, or the sensation of sound. There is no auditory response, nor an ability to discriminate between any frequencies. It felt like a dump truck was hitting me on the left side of my head and I nearly jumped 50 feet out of my chair - I haven't heard out of my left ear since I was 3-4 years old. My audiogram for my left ear starts *at* 100 dB and moves down from there (105 dB, etc.). As best as the doctors could tell at the time, an infection was responsible for destroying nearly all of my hearing. I have sensorineural loss, which means that the hair cells of the inner ear are gone.

I don't know what the CI is going to do for me yet. Everyone's different, and it's my plan to go through this with low expectations, so that it doesn't turn into a huge disappointment in case I'm determined not to be a candidate anyways. Like the Jim Alsup video from Advanced Bionics, if I'm a candidate, I don't want to go into activation day expecting to have normal hearing the first day. I'm sure I'll require a lot of rehabilitation to get my left ear up to where my right ear is today.

etalton

__________________
E.T.



Left Ear Implanted 11-07-08 (Nucleus Freedom)
Activation 12-18-08

Right Ear Implanted 3-3-2010(N5)
Activation 3-11-10


http://et-mybionicjourney.blogspot.com/

deafdude1

Hi again Phi4Sius, did it feel like vibrations rather than true sound? Up to what frequency were you able to feel? Do you plan to get retested with an audiometer capable to 120db? As for CI, do you plan to wait for CI technology to get to the point that you hear as well as you do with a hearing aid on the good ear? One more thing, have you read into BAHA?

Phi4Sius

Hello again deafdude1,

Yeah, it felt like a MAJOR vibration rather than true sound. It starts at 100 dB. Here's a fuller picture of my left ear hearing loss:

250 Hz 100 dB
500 Hz 107-ish dB
1000 Hz 115 dB
1500 Hz 120 dB
...and then nothing.

I guess I was wrong...it looks like they WERE able to get down to 120 dB for my left ear.

Here's what it looks like for my right ear unaided:

250 Hz 50dB
500 Hz 60 dB
1000 Hz 65 dB
2000 Hz 70 dB
3000 Hz 85 dB
4000 Hz 100 dB
...and then nothing above 4000 Hz

As for the CI, it sounds as if some people with my level of hearing loss have attained hearing far better than what the strongest HAs on the market have been able to do. I've read into the BAHA, and it sounds like an option, but I'm not going to know that much more until we go through all the tests for my CI evaluation next Friday.

I know everyone's different - and I don't want to get my hopes up if the surgeon determines that I'm not a candidate.

Hear Again

Phi,

Is your hearing loss conductive or sensorineural? If it's conductive, a BAHA would be the best option. If it's sensorineural, a CI would be the better choice.

Phi4Sius

Hear Again - Yeah, it's sensorineural.

Hear Again

Gotcha. In that case, a CI would be most appropriate for you if that's what you decide.

Phi4Sius

Hear Again - That's pretty much why I chose the CI in the first place. I'll stick with my decision for the CI.

Hear Again

Good for you, Phi!

deafdude1

Interesting. Were you able to feel the vibration at 1000Hz? 15000Hz? I never could at frequencies much above 500Hz so im guessing your left ear does hear true sound, albet very faint due to the near total loss. You should try a Phonak Nadia V UP, especially in the left ear. Youd probably be aided to 40db with max gain. Deafdoc who posts here has hearing as bad, if not worse than your left ear, yet he still benefits from hearing aids. He said hes looking into a CI in the near future.

Did they try 6000Hz for the right ear and how many db was that audiometer capable of at 6000Hz? Look at your audiogram, was it marked on the 110db, 120db line with an arrow pointing downwards(meaning your hearing is out of range) on my audiogram, the 6000Hz is on the 110db line and the 8000Hz on the 100db line. Audiometers aren't capable of 120db at every frequency, mine did 120db up to 4000Hz(and probably down to 500Hz too)

What sounds does your right ear hear unaided? How well does it hear aided at every frequency and have they tried increasing the gains and did this help? Could they get your aided score down to 0-10db in the lower frequencies with enough gain?

Your left ear probably will be a candidate for a CI according to your surgeon. But getting any funding from insurance is a different matter, especially since your right ear has so much residual hearing. You may have to save the $50,000 out of pocket for a CI. To be honest a CI in your left ear probably won't even match your aided hearing in the right ear. But youd still benefit from bilateral hearing and better be able to sense direction of sound. If you can wait for a cure, your left ear will be great when they start doing clinical trials. Itll be lower risk since you hardly have any hearing to lose if the cure doesn't work. I myself am waiting for a cure or at least CI technology much better than what's out today.