Anyone who got 2nd CI more than 10 years after the first one?

[zajko]

Hi

I'm considering getting second CI, but the fact is that I have my CI more than 12 years now. And the second fact is that in my country bilateral CIs aren't standard (we have only 4-5 bilaterally implanted people), so I guess I'll need to "fight" with my health insurance company, therefore I need some good arguments.
There are some resources which say that second CI should be done less than 5 years after the first one or something similar. And there are also some people who went bilateral more than 10 years after their first CI and are happy.

So I would like to ask if here is anyone who experienced similar situation and got his/her second CI more than 10 years after first one. I'd be happy if you could tell me something about your hearing experience .. like:
- how long did it last to get used to it
- how well do you hear with the newer CI only
- if you have some kind of directional hearing
- how do you feel with only one CI "on"
- if you are happy with your decision or if you can still imagine your life with only one CI
- and so on.. maybe I'll ask some questions later.

Or if you know some good sources of informations about this case, I'd appreciate it. I found something via google, but everything counts

If you don't want to answer here, you can send me a PM or email (I think I enabled it now, so hopefully it will work if not, ask via PM)

Thanks for answers. And please .. no flames

 

[bbaseballboy123]

lol your sitation is eaxctly like mine. I got my 2nd implant after 12 years (left ear)

I never got used to it, still getting used to it but rarely wear it.

I'll post a complete response soon, but not in the mood right now, but i can Skype if you want.

 

[zajko]

lol, I expected that you'll be one of first posters I read some of your topics before, but I don't remember writting very much about feelings of being bilateral.. maybe I just overlooked it? Or you didn't really write about it?

Maybe posting a compete response here would be interesting for more people?
It's up to you.. if you prefer skype, we can use it but we can use it anyways, right?

 

[drphil]

zajko: I think it depends on your age when first implanted as in bbaseballboy123 situation.

In my situation-latedeafened a second implant would not be of much value to justify the additional cost. I did ask about this almost 5 years ago and that is their answer. I don't worry about it. Happy that the one I have has exceeded my expectations.

Good luck in your circumstance.

 

[Bon]

zakjo,

I met a lady a couple of days ago who had meningitis 27 years ago when she was 22 and lost hearing in both ears.

In her right ear she has an old implant from ~25 years ago (not sure how long exactly), in her left ear she has Freedom implanted roughly 1.5 years with the N5 external processor. She said it didn't take her long to pick it up with the second implant and that the quality from the new technology is SO much better.. she can hear on the phone with the left one now. The sound of the radio has improved, she can hear people talking on it, she is still improving and picking things up to this day. She said she could also notice a difference in the quality when she upgraded the external speech processor from Freedom (4?) to the N5.

She said the left one doesn't sound as good, but when combined with the right one things sound very good.

Because she had normal hearing for 22 years, her situation is probably different from yours?

Do you have any hearing in your other ear? If you have no hearing in your other ear, then I personally don't think you have anything to lose. I was implanted in my right ear that had no hearing and after a month of being switched on, I am already contemplating getting my left ear done as well.

 

[zajko]

drphil: hm, I would say that at late-deafened it makes sense to go bilateral - if you heard normally before, why should you have only one "ear" after? Interesting.

Bon: thanks for answer. When I was implanted 12 years ago, I got the CI into my worse ear (left), which has no benefits from HA (as far as I can remember). HA on my right ear worked. But after activating CI I stopped using it. Maybe it wasn't good decision, I don't know. I could be at least bimodal today
But last year when I had some testing, I didn't hear absolutely anything from their headphones, so maybe it went completely deaf.. although I feel that I can hear veeeeery loud sounds when they are placed directly to that ear.


I already had CT scan to prove if there is space for CI in my right ear (there is) and at the end of February I'm going to visit the doctor who is approving potential CI users (on his decisions are based further decisions of health insurance companies). He usually says that he doubts about CI benefits, so I heard that he's not very popular Unfortunately we don't have any other choice as we are small country but at least our CI surgeon for adults can sometimes force him to change his decision (if he sees that the person really wants CI), so probably the only problem would be health insurance company. So I want to ask them if they could cover it and I need some arguments for that. If they won't cover it, then OK, nevermind... but I can give it a try


But I still can't imagine exactly what to expect.
I read some stories from Rachel at CIonline, I met personally a bilaterally implanted young American woman last summer when she went to Prague for a month and both of them are really happy for being bilateral. Both of them got second implant after more than 10 years.. their stories caused that I started thinking about trying it too On the other side, it's quite an expensive experiment. So I would like to know how big is the chance that I'll get used to it and be able to benefit from it. I know that it's individual and noone can tell me it for sure, but if there is more satisfied people, I could be satisfied too.. maybe.

Another question: I read that bilateral CIs allow to hear and understand better in loud environment than only one CI. Myth or truth?

 

[bbaseballboy123]

Hi

I'm considering getting second CI, but the fact is that I have my CI more than 12 years now. And the second fact is that in my country bilateral CIs aren't standard (we have only 4-5 bilaterally implanted people), so I guess I'll need to "fight" with my health insurance company, therefore I need some good arguments.
There are some resources which say that second CI should be done less than 5 years after the first one or something similar. And there are also some people who went bilateral more than 10 years after their first CI and are happy.

So I would like to ask if here is anyone who experienced similar situation and got his/her second CI more than 10 years after first one. I'd be happy if you could tell me something about your hearing experience .. like:
- how long did it last to get used to it
- how well do you hear with the newer CI only
- if you have some kind of directional hearing
- how do you feel with only one CI "on"
- if you are happy with your decision or if you can still imagine your life with only one CI
- and so on.. maybe I'll ask some questions later.

Or if you know some good sources of informations about this case, I'd appreciate it. I found something via google, but everything counts

If you don't want to answer here, you can send me a PM or email (I think I enabled it now, so hopefully it will work if not, ask via PM)

Thanks for answers. And please .. no flames

lol, I expected that you'll be one of first posters I read some of your topics before, but I don't remember writting very much about feelings of being bilateral.. maybe I just overlooked it? Or you didn't really write about it?

Maybe posting a compete response here would be interesting for more people?
It's up to you.. if you prefer skype, we can use it but we can use it anyways, right?

Alright here is my complete response:
I actually never really wrote too much about having two implants compare to a lot of posting on actually having the implants. So this is my will be my most detailed summary of me having bilateral CIs.

It is known that I have had my implant on my right since i was 3 (now almost 18), i had gotten my right side implanted with Advanced Bionics when I was about 15. The first 6 months after activation, I actually tried to get used to it, then slowly I started to take it off more often. The reason is because my left ear never heard noises before and when I "turn" on the implant, my head feels very depleted of energy after 4 hours or so. Its strange because my right can go 24/7 without making my body feel depleted, but my left depleted my energy quickly.

I wear my left implant when i want to listen to loud music (it feels very overwhelming which is awesome when at concerts). I sometimes wear it in class but its "w.e".

When I do wear it in normal settings, i can obviously hear better, but I still haven't figured out my "detect of sounds". For example, i can't hear a sound and guess if it was from my right side or my left side. But you deff. can feel that theres a "360 degrees" circle of sounds

At first when turned on, it sounded very blurry, but it has gotten better, but its still very blurry even 2 years later (although i havent really wore it much in the past year). Just keep in mind that its going to require A LOT of training before it gets "almost" on par with your other side.

I'm glad i got my left side, but too bad i dont use it as much as I should be. When i have both on, I just feel like im hearing way too much sounds.

i feeel like i can say much more but this is all i got for now, ask away if you got any questions.

(and if anyone gotta flame my post, idrc anymore, just expressing my opinion)

 

[drphil]

zajko: Although I didn't detail my "hearing loss history" I actually had loss since the middle 60s-Sensorineural/genetic.I "degressed" to Profound level in the early 70s. Loss all hearing-right ear in Feb/92. From that point on- knew I would eventually become bilateral DEAF.From the tests/scans-ENT Clinic _ St Michales Hospital/Toronto.Deafness occurred December 20, 2006. The Implant operation was July 12, 2007. The original meeting was February 4, 2007. Just crossed 5 years of being bilateral DEAF.

When I discussed whether having 2 Implants advised by Sunnybrook/Toronto not much advantage in part - because of my age-70 then. To this date I don't feel they were "wrong" in their advice.There is some advantage for much younger persons


As you can surmise very specific to one's actual circumstances- not computer discussions-though interesting to say the least.

 

[zajko]

Yay, thanks for your answer! It's really interesting for me.

You wrote that you didn't get used to your right CI because of the time of deafness .. well, I'm not really sure if this could be the reason. There are people who got CI after more years of deafness and they still got used to it. Can't it be in your case just because you didn't tried enough? I really don't want to offend you, I'm just curious ... I mean that you were used to hear with your first CI, the second CI was different, so you still couldn't get used to it and then slowly gave it up?

When I was talking with the CI surgeon, he said it's usually better to turn the first CI off after activation of the second CI at least for a month so that one can concentrate himself on learning to hear with his new CI.
Did you try it when you got it? If not, I guess you experienced something similar when your right AB implant broke, right? And you still didn't get used to it?
Or is the problem mostly in the fact you hear more than with only one implant on? For example when you have your right CI off and only left CI on, is it the same like when you have both on?

I wear my left implant when i want to listen to loud music (it feels very overwhelming which is awesome when at concerts).

That's something what I want to experience too. In November I was at concert of my favourite band and it was absolutely amazing!! I was imaginating how it would sound when hearing with both ears? I hope they'll made another tour after I get second CI (if I even get it lol)



With that sound direction detection - is here anyone else who or whose children has bilateral CIs (doesn't matter how long he/she has them) and is able to tell something about this? I'm quite curious if it works or not at all.
I don't really need it, as I'm unilateral since my 2 years, I'm just curious


drphil: ah, OK, I understand. I thought you lost your hearing all of a sudden.

 

[bbaseballboy123]

I'm gonna be completely honest, I thought it was gonna be awesome when I got the 2nd implant, but it turns out I disliked it therefore did not wear it as much as I should have. I can't stand not being able to hear very well which means having my right on all the time.

I admit it, i dont like it but i'm still glad i got it. This talk makes me want to wear it more and get used to it but its just really hard for me.

 

[deafdyke]

I'm gonna be completely honest, I thought it was gonna be awesome when I got the 2nd implant, but it turns out I disliked it therefore did not wear it as much as I should have. I can't stand not being able to hear very well which means having my right on all the time.

I admit it, i dont like it but i'm still glad i got it. This talk makes me want to wear it more and get used to it but its just really hard for me.

I just gotta say that I wonder if there's a HUGE diffy between one vs. two. I think it's prolly very indivdual right?

 

[bbaseballboy123]

For me, it is a big difference. For others, probably not such a big difference.

Its just really different, almost sometimes too much for me that I'm just happy with one.

 

[deafdyke]

For me, it is a big difference. For others, probably not such a big difference.

Its just really different, almost sometimes too much for me that I'm just happy with one.

Good, glad you didn't jump down my throat. Like I think bilaterals are good....BUT again, I don't think they'll ever be super common since a lot of people can get along well with just one, or bimodal or whatever.

 

[cdmeggers]

I'll be doing bimodal when I get my CI, though I'm sure I'll be keeping the right hearing aid off as much as possible at first so I can learn to hear/listen/make sense of sounds with the left CI.

 

[krazykatkitty]

Hi there. Havent been on AD for a while.. Finally, I'm back.....

Firstly, I am going to tell you about my second implant experience. The operation went really well. No problems and my recovery was good. The Switch-On went really well and I had a great first session. At first I couldn't understand my audiologist and mum's voice with just my new speech processor alone for the first 10 minutes. After about 10 minutes some things started to make sense and sound familiar like my name. An hour later and I could identify the ling sounds and some words. It all sounded a bit like a helium balloon voice ( very high) or mickey mouse for a short time but I adjusted quite well. I was identifying and hearing things that my habilitationist thought might take much more time to be successful with so we were all really pleased and excited at the great results so early on. Also the 2 implants work so well together. The sound for me is richer and crisper. Far better than the hearing aid!!!! At the beginning when I would take take my first speech processor off to let my new implant/processor work alone to get used to it and I couldn't tell where the sounds come from or people's voice because the sounds would be blending in (I mean all sounds such as people talking, kettle boiling or paper noises all together) but soon I could make more sense of the sounds. I am even turning to the left when I hear sounds coming from that side. This means I'm starting to locate sound which is really good. I do some work most days with just my second processor so as I can improve my listening skills. It's going really well.

I can identify the Ling sounds.
I can distinguish a word from 3 words - words with different syllables e.g sad, silent, Saturday
Also identify a word from 4 words-cold, kitchen, crocodile, caterpillar
Sentence identification between 7/8 sentences that I can identify which one is being said ( Closed Set)
Also working on some Open Set sentences
Identification of sentences with carrier phrases at start of sentence or end of sentence
3 item selection sentences and repeating sentence eg Auntie Karen bought chips at McDonalds or Mum bought a burger at KFC
Great success with identifying Phonemes (low vs high vowel frequency use) bath or booth, spark or speak, tar or too
Word final discrimination in middle of sentence-This cage is for bears, This cave is for bears
Sentence recognition-related topics eg time, weather, sport
Sentence tracking
Reading aloud to hear my own voice

The best thing is that I love having a second implant. It's great and I am so pleased that I got it. It has made a big difference. I am hearing things that I couldn't hear before. two is deffy better than one. Remember everyone is different.

Its almost a year ago since switch on. Time flies. If you have any question. Feel free to ask anytime.

 

[Cloggy]

.......
Another question: I read that bilateral CIs allow to hear and understand better in loud environment than only one CI. Myth or truth?

Very true. (Here's an expert)
Look at it the other way. Imagine a conversation of a person in a noisy environment - say a bar, and someone on the other end in a quiet environment. Say, the wife, at home.

The personin the bar will have little problem understanding the person on the phone. His ears will filter out the noise behind him.
The person at home will hear the noise and voice in one ear. The brain cannot filter out since it needs two ears for that.

The filtering out of the noice is due to the slight timedifference the noise reaches the other ear.

With Lotte, we can see that she has problems hearing when one of her CI's is broken, or when the battery is dead. It's a big difference.

For you, getting your un-used ear to the same level requires time. You would need to improve the new ear by taking off the CI in the other ear. That's how they do it here in Norway with children that get the second CI after the first (Nowadays, children get bilateral CI in 1 operation)

So, yes. Hearing in noisy environment will be much easier... when both ears are of the same quality.....