Esteem ear implants

stream2525 said:
Esteem is only for moderate loss or maximum severe with good speech recognition. It doesn't work for deaf.
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How does the Esteem® differ from a Cochlear Implant? Are they the same?

A cochlear implant is an inner ear implant and the Esteem® is a middle ear implant. They address different degrees of hearing loss. A cochlear implant is for the profoundly deaf (greater than 90+ dB of loss). The Esteem® is indicated for moderate to severe hearing loss (40dB to 90dB).
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Frequently asked questions

The only requirement is based on amount of hearing loss...not on the ability on speech recognition. This is for those 18 years and older. The procedure is not for children.
 
kokonut said:
Frequently asked questions

The only requirement is based on amount of hearing loss...not on the ability on speech recognition. This is for those 18 years and older. The procedure is not for children.
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kokonut said:
Yes, on speech discrimination scores.......
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And ... ?? You just got done saying "The only requirement is based on amount of hearing loss." Now you acknowledge speech discrimination too? That's exactly what stream just said.
 
AlleyCat said:
And ... ?? You just got done saying "The only requirement is based on amount of hearing loss." Now you acknowledge speech discrimination too? That's exactly what stream just said.
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I don't consider speech recognition the same thing as speech discrimination. Speech discrimination is the ability to understand or discriminate the spoken word.
 
DeafCaroline said:
how is that different from speech recognition?
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I can recognize someone speaking in Italian but wouldn't be able to discriminate Italian speech one whit. Or a person who can recognize somebody is obviously talking (in the same language) but not understand the words. Recognizing speech and being able to discriminate speech are two different things in my mind.

Saying "speech recognition" doesn't sound right to me.
 
Playing the semantics game again, Kokonut? Go watch the pre-superbowl news if you're that bored.

Typically, the Deaf use "recognition" and "discrimination" as meaning about the same thing.
 
AlleyCat said:
Playing the semantics game again, Kokonut? Go watch the pre-superbowl news if you're that bored.

Typically, the Deaf use "recognition" and "discrimination" as meaning about the same thing.
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That may be, but again it doesn't sound right to me. I've put out a link that links all the qualifications to have an Esteem implant.

Game will come on in 1 hour. Don't worry about me.
 
kokonut said:
Not so. Anyone over 18 can get it if they meet the requirements. Sarah Churman is in her mid-20s or so.
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I meant that it was targeted to and will most likely be used by old people who are ashamed of being HOH and don't want a visable processor.
 
It is targeted to anyone with a hearing loss that fits their criteria. Older people would have a better chance of affording a $30,000 implant than a younger one.
 
kokonut said:
It is targeted to anyone with a hearing loss that fits their criteria. Older people would have a better chance of affording a $30,000 implant than a younger one.
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Kokonut, no......it's targeted mostly to people who are ashamed of being HOH and thinks a hearing aid makes them look old. That is mostly old people or kids who were raised to see themselves as hearing impaired and hate their hearing aids.
 
In other words Koko, while there are some young adults who wear the dinky aids like the CICs and ITEs, most people who wear the dinky aids are old people....that is exactly the market that its targeting. I doubt there are a lot of Alldeafers who would opt for something like this. Why? We've got hearing aids! And this implant has been around for awhile....it's just new marketing. There was some weird implantable hearing aid (not BAHA...it was a hearing aid that didn't have a tube and was implanted) that was all around the news...gee where's that product now?
 
deafdyke said:
Kokonut, no......it's targeted mostly to people who are ashamed of being HOH and thinks a hearing aid makes them look old. That is mostly old people or kids who were raised to see themselves as hearing impaired and hate their hearing aids.
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Mostly? No, but I can see it as a stigma for some of them on wearing visible hearing aids. However, over the last 10 years there has been a 42% jump on the number of hearing aids sold. It just so happens there are more older people with hearing loss than a younger generation with hearing loss. Granted, it's an invisible hearing aid and that's one of the great benefit including being able to shower and swim with it on and hear it all, and hearing much better sound quality that's more natural than hearing aids. You have to consider many selling points about this implantable hearing aid. Again, the target is for anyone with a hearing loss that fits their criteria.
 
deafdyke said:
In other words Koko, while there are some young adults who wear the dinky aids like the CICs and ITEs, most people who wear the dinky aids are old people....that is exactly the market that its targeting. I doubt there are a lot of Alldeafers who would opt for something like this. Why? We've got hearing aids! And this implant has been around for awhile....it's just new marketing. There was some weird implantable hearing aid (not BAHA...it was a hearing aid that didn't have a tube and was implanted) that was all around the news...gee where's that product now?
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The Esteem is fundamentally different from the Vibrant Soundbridge and other middle-ear-implants (MEI) in that it does not have a microphone, or deal with sound at all. It intercepts the vibrations of the small bones in the inner ear and amplifies them. It only came to market in the US less than 2 years ago, so no, it hasn't been around for a while.

The Esteem shows a lot of promise in treating those with relatively normal low-pitch hearing but severe-to-profound hearing loss in the upper pitches, who derive little benefit from traditional hearing aids. This profile of hearing loss is very common, and clinical trials have shown significant benefits from use of the Esteem (Shohet, et al, 2010). The primary reason is that hearing aids must block the ear canal in order to amplify these high pitches to high volume, which produces feedback, occlusion and "unnatural" sound. The Esteem is not restricted by these factors, and thusly has scored very well in terms of user satisfaction, word recognition scores and speech discrimination tests.

It would be foolish to write off the Esteem as a PR stunt or just a hidden hearing aid marketed to those ashamed of their hearing loss.
 
Esteem isn't for deaf people. It is only for hard of hearing people .You need to have good speech scores to get these.
 
deafdyke said:
I meant that it was targeted to and will most likely be used by old people who are ashamed of being HOH and don't want a visable processor.
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Or Hoh people who have trouble wearing traditional HAs, or are athletes etc - I know a lot of people who sweat so much that they ruin HAs in less than a year - even using all the protective gear (superseals etc). Equally there are thousands of Hoh people who can't afford HAs, however would qualify for the Esteem one because it's considered "surgical" so is covered differently by insurance etc.

It's a new technology that's available for those who want it (and qualify) ...
There's no need, or benefit of attaching a stigma/negative connotations regarding those users are.

What if someone who IS proud to be Hoh and uses HAs found the implantable worked significantly better for them, or helped with tinnitus issues, or allowed them to do something they enjoy, etc? ... should they'd have to put up with being accused of being ashamed, even though they aren't?

It's a tool ... and I'm a bit surprised that you being the "whole toolbox" proponent you are have decided to poke fingers and assign identities to a groups of Hoh, based on the TYPE of hearing aid they choose.
 
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