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Also, Auditory Neuropathy (in my experience) is the source of less than 2 % of all congenital profound bilateral hearing impairments. Other sources are 98+ %. I just want to keep reiterating that point because it would be very sad if people read this article and think "oh, maybe I should delay...

Sorry to hop back on the ossification bandwagon, but Hyperion needs to figure that out first. If they are partially ossified, they may be limited in their choice of implant manufacturers. . . It would really stink to convince yourself that you want implant manufacturer "A" only to discover that...

Once again, a disagreement in semantics. My daughter has Branchio Oto Renal Syndrome. That syndrome affects 1 in 50,000 people, which fits my definition of "relatively rare." 15 % is better than 1 in 7. I don't consider that relatively rare, especially when you are looking at a situation...

That is only true for Medicare. There are actually no FDA rules specifying audiological guidelines for bilateral implantation. Medicare has decided to go with the most conservative approach which is that to get the second one, you still have to meet the guidelines to get the first one. Most...

The data shows that bilateral implants are already an accepted recommendation in the otology community, and will become a standard practice as more and more insurers start covering them. We did a comprehensive survey last year of all US cochlear implant centers where 73 % of centers reported...

Depends on your definition of "a lot of benefit". If it is PTA scores but doesn't translate into speech recognition scores, then I would say they are implant candidates anyways on the dead side. Speech isn't the same as beeps. Another question is whether or not the person is known to have...

Some insurance companies follow Medicare guidelines, which requires 40 % for normal implantation and 60 % if you are in a clinical trial. So it's a YMMV sort of thing -- depends on whether your insurer follows a) Medicare, b) FDA, or c) whatever it wants to make up itself. Sheri

It's all about expectations. People with meningitis don't always get as good of results as people with other sources for their hearing loss. Have you had a CT yet to see whether or not there is any cochlear ossification present? This is extremely important for folks who've had meningitis. At...

It is my personal position that anyone who qualifies for one implant under the strict interpretation of FDA criteria, should qualify for two. Therefore, my answer is that anyone who wants a second one should get a second one, unless there is some significant reason why they don't qualify on the...

On the hearing aid issue, I agree with you. If I had a child with a 70 dB bilateral hearing loss, and my options were buying a $6000 pair of hearing aids every four years that weren't reimbursed that I couldn't afford (which means my child might not get any treatment at all) and surgery which...

I think it is 97 % of the children who are candidates are implanted in Ontario. The had some extremely interesting study results which were presented in the CI conference in Charlotte last April regarding the differences between simultaneous bilateral implantation and sequential bilateral...

Both of these are true. I heard about the center in Portland, there is a second one in Georgia that I know shut down because they were losing something on the order of $20,000 every time they did an implant surgery due to extremely low Medicaid/Medicare reimbursement. In addition, there are...

Insurance companies rarely approve anything outside of FDA criteria for implantation without a very large fight. So someone with 80 % with aids is going to have a hard time getting an insurance company to pay for his surgery, unless he can write a very large check himself, he is not going to...

Actually, we've got a very good track record for getting denials overturned -- 260 cases completed, 260 wins. The medical literature is strongly in support of the medical benefits of bilateral implantation, and there is at several studies which support Bi-CI over bimodal CI (meaning CI + HA)...

Alas, that is not what the movie is about. That topic is a whole different movie, which should also be made. The focus of this movie is regarding situations where people supposedly have perfectly adequate insurance, when the insurer refuses to provide authorization for a particular treatment...

Medicare has a whole bunch of problems that are specific to it that don't always apply to other insurers. I've dedicated an entire page on my web site to it, located at Let Them Hear Foundation :: Advocacy Bottom line is our clinic did a "test" Medicare implantation April 05 (15 months ago)...

I'm very proud to say that the case with the child with the bilateral implant was one of mine. I'm not in the movie, but we did get coverage for the child, after another botched appeal by CIGNA in the same state, the Florida Attorney General started an investigation, and 3 weeks after that...

For an interesting take on how even a sound processor upgrade can change a CI users appreciation of music, read Michael Chorost's award winning article published in Wired last summer My Bionic Quest for Bolero He's been haunted by Ravel's masterpiece since he lost his hearing. A deaf man's...

I spoke at last year's AG Bell conference in PA, and there were terps or CART (and for my talk, both terps AND CART) at every session I attended Sheri

Disclaimer: I do work for the non-profit putting on this conference, and if you come, you WILL have to find me and introduce yourself :whip: Sheri -------------------------------------- HELPING EVERY CHILD ACHIEVE THEIR PERSONAL BEST WITH A COCHLEAR IMPLANT (The I in IEP Stands for...