How to Decide on Cochlear Implant Surgery for Children

Status
Not open for further replies.
jillio said:
CIs can allow for both perception and discrimination, to be true. However, they do not always do so. And I think parents need to know the difference, and what the real life implications are.

Yes, a very different story.
Click to expand...

I think parents do know the difference, They are working with professionals and specialist and these things are explained well.
 
faire_jour said:
I think parents do know the difference, They are working with professionals and specialist and these things are explained well.
Click to expand...

Perhaps some parents do. There are just as many that do not. Unfortunately.
 
jillio said:
According to the implant industry, the medical field, and many of those concerned with the rehab end, simply adding sound that was not present prior is "miraculous". We see news articles posted on here consistently that suggest such. However, what might appear to be "miraculous" from the outside looking in is quite different when the perspective is from the inside looking out.

Your experience of raising that child are first hand. The experience of growing up deaf is not. And, quite frankly, you have virtually no idea how many CI users I deal with on a daily basis. To attempt to compare those numbers is really rather childish.
Click to expand...


Stop evading the question. You said the "results" are not "miraculous". Define what YOU, not the implant industry, the medical field, etc. mean by the term. If you do not know what you mean by a term than do not use it.


And you have no idea of the extent of my experience with children with cochlear implants. You only can surmise based upon what I have elected to provide you. I do know that you are not a doctor, nor an audiologist nor a deaf educator, nor a special education teacher nor are you deaf and you are definitely not the parent of a child with a cochlear implant.
 
rick48 said:
Stop evading the question. You said the "results" are not "miraculous". Define what YOU, not the implant industry, the medical field, etc. mean by the term. If you do not know what you mean by a term than do not use it.


And you have no idea of the extent of my experience with children with cochlear implants. You only can surmise based upon what I have elected to provide you. I do know that you are not a doctor, nor an audiologist nor a deaf educator, nor a special education teacher nor are you deaf and you are definitely not the parent of a child with a cochlear implant.
Click to expand...

I was referring to the suggestion of miraculous as presented by the implant industry, and therefore, am not evading the question, but have indeed answered it completely and thoroughly. Personally, I have yet to witness a miracle in any capacity, but would assume it would be a restoration to full and complete hearing as would be compared to the hearing of one from birth without medical intervention. However, one man's miracle can also easily be another man's curse.
 
faire_jour said:
They would be provided the information by audiologists and an SLP or AVT,
Click to expand...

That is the point. The difference between the two and the real life implications of such are not always explained. That is one of the reasons that children are being mainstreamed without support based on an audiogram of dB levels in an isolated environment.
 
jillio said:
That is the point. The difference between the two and the real life implications of such are not always explained. That is one of the reasons that children are being mainstreamed without support based on an audiogram of dB levels in an isolated environment.
Click to expand...

I have never known an audiologist NOT to do speech discrim testing. An audiogram gives much less information than open and closed set speech testing does.
 
faire_jour said:
I have never known an audiologist NOT to do speech discrim testing. An audiogram gives much less information than open and closed set speech testing does.
Click to expand...

Ah, therein lies the rub. A) discrimination testing is done in a controlled environment and cannot be extrapolated to a real world environment. and B) doing the testing does not mean that the parents have been given an understandable explanation of the differences or the impact of such. And the perceptions of the general public are even more easily distorted.
 
jillio said:
Ah, therein lies the rub. A) discrimination testing is done in a controlled environment and cannot be extrapolated to a real world environment. and B) doing the testing does not mean that the parents have been given an understandable explanation of the differences or the impact of such. And the perceptions of the general public are even more easily distorted.
Click to expand...

There are several varieties of testing and many of them contain various levels of noise. The noise can be anything from just background "white noise" to actual prerecorded cafeteria noise to several voices carrying on a competing conversation. The audiologist can change the signal to noise ratio from anywhere from +5 db to -10 db. While they are "controlled" in the booth they translate to the real world.
 
you all talk like doctors around the patient. This is a deaf forum :)
 
faire_jour said:
There are several varieties of testing and many of them contain various levels of noise. The noise can be anything from just background "white noise" to actual prerecorded cafeteria noise to several voices carrying on a competing conversation. The audiologist can change the signal to noise ratio from anywhere from +5 db to -10 db. While they are "controlled" in the booth they translate to the real world.
Click to expand...

Yes, I am well aware of the various kinds of background noise that can be reproduced. However, there are more variables than just the production of noise that determine the differences between results in a controlled environment and results in the real world, and those variable are what are responsible for the differences we see. Not the least of which is related to attention. In a booth, no matter the noise level being reproduced under control, it is not the same experience as being in the cafeteria with visual distractions to attend to that alter the way stimuli are processed. A child in a booth is not in a position of using split attention. In the real world, they are. That one difference alone effects actual results.
 
A said:
you all talk like doctors around the patient. This is a deaf forum :)
Click to expand...

Sorry about that. Let me put it on a "non-doctor" plane.:P What the audiologist thinks the deaf person can understand in a sound proof booth is never the same as the deaf person is able to understand in real life.

And trust me...I have never considered a deaf individual to be a "patient". They aren't sick.:P
 
I knew that a long time ago, even with my CI. I had hearing aids way before preschool, and cochlear implant since 2003

One-in-one conversation in a quiet room is all I can really handle.
 
A said:
I knew that a long time ago, even with my CI. I had hearing aids way before preschool, and cochlear implant since 2003

One-in-one conversation in a quiet room is all I can really handle.
Click to expand...

Sure. All deaf know that...at least all deaf I have ever come in contact with. The ones that seem to have trouble understanding it are hearing parents, teachers, audiologists, and surgeons.:giggle:
 
I think some of them understand it, which is why they provide FM system for the school
 
A said:
I think some of them understand it, which is why they provide FM system for the school
Click to expand...

Ahhh...the FM system. Yet another misconception. While it does filter background noise, it does nothing for the other things that interfere with discrimination. But yes, it would show that some have a better understanding than others. Problem is, the number of teachers that assume that a child hears like the hearing students with an FM system, or a CI, or any other assistive devise. I guess what I am trying to say is that hearing like an assisted deaf kid, and hearing like a hearing kid is the difference that too many don't understand.
 
The FM system I had was annoying. I could not hear the kids around me. It shut me off from the world except the teacher. Funny how people say they want to teach speech so we can be part of the hearing and not in our little deaf world. That FM system did that to me. except recess but during recess it was very noisy so I was still shut out. you just can't win.
 
jillio said:
Sorry about that. Let me put it on a "non-doctor" plane.:P

And trust me...I have never considered a deaf individual to be a "patient". They aren't sick.:P
Click to expand...

Oh, I am sure everyone understand what everyone is saying. I'm talking about bunch of hearing talking about deafness in a deaf forum :)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top