Profound hearing loss + hearing aid questions

i tought in order o be a ci candaite one must have 40% or less spech cdiscrmiination in the worseear and 60% or less in the better ear/
 
alleycat,

i never said getting a ci ws a lihgt decision. sigh. hec, i took 6 onths to decide that it was the right decion for me.
 
hohDougRN said:
No, please, don't tell me Im wrong! I don't wanna be wrong, I can't be wrong, I won't be wrong. Oh shite Im wrong.

That was doug's satire, ok, don't nobody freak out :D

If I could get 15db perception with CI guaranteed- I'd do it tomorrow. But I have an illness called fear, and though Im a healthcare professional, it doesn't necessarily mean I trust them. (yes, I've seen CI audi and verified candidacy already) I have 70% perception aided and 60% in other ear, Aided. Almost nothing with noise.

Faire Jour, maybe I need to have interview with your family to alleviate my hesitancies. Im not trying to be weird, mabye wanting that last little thing to convince me. I often do contemplate the difficulties in my career and possible logical obtainable solutions. I am definately afraid of leaving the bubble I call my life. Could you maybe PM me?
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Taking the plung was scary, especially since I was making the decision for my child. I just knew that since she wasn't able to actually access and use spoken language, we really had nothing to lose. I also asked the audiologist if she could end up worse with the CI, and he told me "No. If she is a candidate, she will do better with a CI than she does with hearing aids".

Now, he never said that she would use the CI well, or develop spoken language, just that it would improve.
 
Hear Again said:
that wbsite doesn't tell me aything faire jour.
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Young children: 12 months to 2 years

Profound sensorineural hearing loss (nerve deafness) in both ears
Lack of progress in development of auditory skill with hearing aid or other amplification
High motivation and realistic expectations from family
Other medical conditions, if present, do not interfere with cochlear implant procedure


Children: 2 to 17 years

Severe-to-profound sensorineural hearing loss (nerve deafness) in both ears
Receive little or no benefit from hearing aids
Lack of progress in the development of auditory skills
High motivation and realistic expectations from family


Adults: 18 years and over

Severe-to-profound sensorineural hearing loss in both ears
Receive little or no useful benefit from hearing aids
Qualified candidates are those scoring, with a hearing aid, 50 percent or less on sentence recognition tests in the ear to be implanted and 60 percent or less in the non-implanted ear or bilaterally.
 
a for the requirments for adults, if one has medicaid, their speech discrimination must bt 40% or less in the poorer ear and 60% or less in thebetter ear..
 
Well, I guess I have another question. This is more for those that have had unilateral hearing with a hearing aid in one ear most of their life (like me) and then finally were able to obtain a hearing aid that gave them a useful benefit out of their profound ear (in my case it's my left ear that's profound). I think I have a ton of questions that I probably haven't thought about yet. Hehehe. This forum is great, BTW!!! Gotta love Google!! :wave:

What was it like when you first turned on that hearing aid? Were you able to notice any discrimination in sounds (such as speech, etc.)? Or, did it take awhile to adjust to such new circumstances? How long did you have that profound loss for? What is it like to finally have binaural hearing after all those years? I'm sure it took quite a period of adjustment and speech/sound training to finally have some discriminatory abilities after having no use out of that ear for so long.
 
if one has medicaid, their speech discrimination must bt 40% or less in the poorer ear and 60% or less in thebetter ear..
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Oh so that's where you got the implantation criteria from. As I have stated before, I think that's a very good baseline for implantation. HOWEVER, with private plans there can be a lot of wiggle room, for implantation canidates.
I do think that the percentage of "wiggle room" CI canidates is low. It's probaly akin to the number of people who claim that their wittle Smashlie has "ADD" to explain why she needs special accomondations to get into an Ivy League school. Meaning I don't believe that EVERYONE who's interested in a CI, is automaticly a "Smashlie". However, I do think that private insurances need to be a little stricter as to who gets a CI. That way, it will be easier for the people who REALLY need a CI to get it....see what I mean?
 
deafdyke said:
Oh so that's where you got the implantation criteria from. As I have stated before, I think that's a very good baseline for implantation. HOWEVER, with private plans there can be a lot of wiggle room, for implantation canidates.
I do think that the percentage of "wiggle room" CI canidates is low. It's probaly akin to the number of people who claim that their wittle Smashlie has "ADD" to explain why she needs special accomondations to get into an Ivy League school. Meaning I don't believe that EVERYONE who's interested in a CI, is automaticly a "Smashlie". However, I do think that private insurances need to be a little stricter as to who gets a CI. That way, it will be easier for the people who REALLY need a CI to get it....see what I mean?
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Why?
You respond this way a lot and I want to know why? Who are these people that you know with great hearing who are running out to get implants? It is a surgery! People don't take that lightly. I think I once read that less than 2% of CI candidates will ever be implanted. Why do you think it should be stricter? I think insurance should be easier! I think there are people out there fighting to get the proper amplification they need and want, but are being held up by paperwork and burocrasy. Why should it be more difficult?
 
faire_jour said:
Why?
You respond this way a lot and I want to know why? Who are these people that you know with great hearing who are running out to get implants? It is a surgery! People don't take that lightly. I think I once read that less than 2% of CI candidates will ever be implanted. Why do you think it should be stricter? I think insurance should be easier! I think there are people out there fighting to get the proper amplification they need and want, but are being held up by paperwork and burocrasy. Why should it be more difficult?
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:gpost: :gpost:
 
deafdyke said:
Oh so that's where you got the implantation criteria from. As I have stated before, I think that's a very good baseline for implantation. HOWEVER, with private plans there can be a lot of wiggle room, for implantation canidates.
I do think that the percentage of "wiggle room" CI canidates is low. It's probaly akin to the number of people who claim that their wittle Smashlie has "ADD" to explain why she needs special accomondations to get into an Ivy League school. Meaning I don't believe that EVERYONE who's interested in a CI, is automaticly a "Smashlie". However, I do think that private insurances need to be a little stricter as to who gets a CI. That way, it will be easier for the people who REALLY need a CI to get it....see what I mean?
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to be honest, i don't know what you mean. if someone is a ci candidate, they're a ci candidate and deserve to be implanted. let's not differentiate one ci candidate from another because as long as they meet the criteria for implantation, that's all that counts.
 
i've never met a ci candidate who rushes to be implanted because they have good hearing. ci centers won't implant anyone who is able to function with hearing aids. my ci audi told me about someone who came in for a ci evaluation and had moderate hearing loss. needless to say, she was written off as a candidate immediately and told to come back again if her hearing reached the severe-profound range. furthermore, even though my ci center is the largest in the midwest, they only implant 7 people/year. that means they don't implant everyone who comes walking through their door.
 
While it is true that "one bad apple spoils the whole bunch" I don't think that is a big problem with CI. Yes, there are people out there that "want the newest gadget" but unless the doctor/audi is dishonest, they are not going to get an implant. I can't speak for "private" insurance, as mine is through the military. My first audi has a special sound booth set up where you can't see what he is doing. Your back is totally to him. All you have is the headphones. You have no notion of his body language or anything. No way to cheat. (Since it is the military, they think ahead and know there will be cheaters looking for an easy out of active duty.) It just becomes the norm for him, even when dealing with retirees, dependents, etc. He even mentioned it to me when I had my first hearing test.
Anyway, the criteria is strict and any reputable audi/doctor will not recommend a CI implant on anyone that can still hear/comprehend speech, even if they are frustrated or don't like wearing a ha.
Also, most insurance companies are super tight with their money and will not agree to pay without the proper medical proof.
Like I said..there may be a few out that there that will try, but what person in their right mind would want to have their scalp peeled back and have an implant with a magnet that means you can't go through airport security without hassles, can't have an MRI without special procedures/precautions?? It's not for vanity, since the processor is bigger than a normal hearing aid. jmho
 
...not to mention the fact that 99% of the time, all residual hearing is lost in the implanted ear.
 
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