Can Hard of hearing people get a CI?

coolgirlspyer90

coolgirlspyer90

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HI guys,

Ive been wondering about this for awhile. And I got a few questions about it.

1) Can hard of hearing people get a cochlear implant (if they have severe hearing loss?)

2) If a hard of hearing person can actually get a cochlear implant, will that little amount of hearing left disappear and become completely deaf due to the cochlear implant?

3) Or will the Hard of hearing person still have that little amount of hearing left and still can use a cochlear implant?

4) Will it not work at all??

i've been wondering about this for a long time. And i've been curious. Can anybody answer these questions? thanks!!
 
yeah I'm sure severe profound hearing loss are eligable for CI. I'm one of them and recently been switched on few days ago
 
I know quite a few who are hard of hearing and got the CI. Most audi would suggest a hearing aid first of course. But if the hearing aid isn't very helpful then the CI is an option for some people. The audi can make suggestions but at the end of the day its' up to the person or the parents of the person to make the decision. So it's so important to research.

It's true you do loose what residual hearing you have. But if you don't have much to begin with then it's worth the risk for some people. Hearing isn't measured in percentages of course but just for example a person who can only hear 10% or 20% isn't hearing much anyway. If the CI can bring them to 50% or higher then that's a pretty big difference.

Just my 2 cents.

Ron
 
I think its possible but if their hearing became worse so they might get CI. I have a friend who is hearing impaired and wants CI but his hearing aids is helpful. Sometimes he is very struggled to pick up in a group of people's conversation or background noises. If his hearing became worse, he might get CI for a chance.
 
Hard of hearing people are usually strongly discouraged from getting implanted with one due to the residual hearing.

It wouldn't make any sense to implant a hard of hearing person with a cochlear implant. Some doctors wouldn't even consider it for a second.
 
Well we've got to consider that there are so many types and levels of "Hard of hearing". For example one of my friend has basically no residual hearing in one ear and her other is just a little better. So she has one ear that a HA is helpful. The other ear is beyond the help of an HA.

So she got the CI in her bad ear. She was never "deaf". She was hearing impaired or HOH. But I agree. One should try the HA first.

Ron Jaxon
 
My hearing aid isn't working for me anymore. we found out about that at the end of febuary since i was in world drumline. It could be either Autoimmune hearing loss acting up again or the loudness of drumline. My audi said even HOH people can have their little amount of hearing gone from the loudness. And my hearing aid was causing the problem to make my hearing go bad on my right. So when i got into the sound booth, there wasn't any improvement. And he tried adjusting my programs on my hearing aid and nothing was working for me. I kept saying too loud or too soft and he wanted to be just right in that level. And so they said that i would have to consider going bilateral. So on may 27th i'm going to go see my CI surgeon who did my left ear in 2004, to see if i can get another one. And if i am able to, that would mean my parents are probably going to fight the insurance company about the 2nd CI. And that my surgery date would be on December 3rd at 9 in the morning. Truth to be told is i want to get another implant. i been doing a lot of huhs and whats lately. and I'm getting kind of tired of not being able to hear because i don't want to frustrate anybody, even though i have a CI on my left to depend on for awhile until we figure something out.
 
So on may 27th i'm going to go see my CI surgeon who did my left ear in 2004, to see if i can get another one. And if i am able to, that would mean my parents are probably going to fight the insurance company about the 2nd CI. And that my surgery date would be on December 3rd at 9 in the morning. Truth to be told is i want to get another implant. i been doing a lot of huhs and whats lately. and I'm getting kind of tired of not being able to hear because i don't want to frustrate anybody, even though i have a CI on my left to depend on for awhile until we figure something out.
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To answer your question, if you've totally and pretty much maxed out your hearing aid, then YES you are eligable for another implant.
I do think that insurance companies are going to start cracking down on ambigious canidates (ie those who still have some speech perception with a hearing aid in their unimplanted ear) However, gather ALL the information that your hearing aid is NO longer helping you really all that much, and you NEED a second CI.
 
From a different perspective, I think if you have sensorineural hearing loss, I would look into middle ear implants (MEI). They fill the void between a HA and a CI with the best MEI giving gains nearly that what a CI will without the limitaions of descrete channels. These devices have been devloped to help this patient group.

C1
 
On my last audi test, she said that new hearing aid would not do me any good. Recommended me for a CI and I said "what's that" :) I now have one and been on for about 6 weeks or a bit more and it is really making a difference for the good. No second thoughts in the least. You do loose any hearing that you may have had in the implanted ear but as someone said So? cant hear much anyway may as well not hear any at all. In my case both ears are bad and I was given choice of side for implant and use ha on other side. Was always told to use phone on right side as comprehension was better but I continued to use on left as I felt I understood better? Anyway had implant on right side. I feel I'm improving every day but one has to realize that sound is different and it does take time. In sound booth I'm already way better than I was with hearing aid. Admit it did not take much to be better :)
 
I'm hoh myself and I wear 2 ha. I can hear pretty good with them. I would NOT want to get CI at all. I don't know WHY you would want to get CI when you have some hearing left. Why destroy them now?
 
rootseeker said:
I'm hoh myself and I wear 2 ha. I can hear pretty good with them. I would NOT want to get CI at all. I don't know WHY you would want to get CI when you have some hearing left. Why destroy them now?
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I would guess it depends on your definition of HOH and how usable your residual hearing is. My daughter had a moderate to severe loss when she was implanted but she had ZERO open set speech comprehension. Her residual hearing wasn't doing her any good that a CI couldn't. That's why we implanted.
 
I think if you have sensorineural hearing loss, I would look into middle ear implants (MEI). They fill the void between a HA and a CI with the best MEI
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But MEI is for more traditionally "hoh" (mild to moderately severe) folks who don't benifit from HA, but don't have enough loss to qualify for CI. It sounds like coolgirl's loss in her unimplanted ear would benifit more from CI. (speech comprehension has gone WAY down right?)
 
deafdyke said:
But MEI is for more traditionally "hoh" (mild to moderately severe) folks who don't benifit from HA, but don't have enough loss to qualify for CI. It sounds like coolgirl's loss in her unimplanted ear would benifit more from CI. (speech comprehension has gone WAY down right?)
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The newest generation of MEi are moderate to severe and are targeting overlap with CIs.

C1
 
I never heard of MEI. But ever since i got implanted in my left ear my speech has improved a lot more then the past when i had hearing aids in both ears. I remember my hearing aid in my left ear wasn't helping me at all. and my parents and I decided to get my left ear implanted. and up until now, i like having the implant. I mean i understand now that the CI destroys the amount of hearing left you have in whatever ear you have. But at least your speech and hearing would improve. I want a CI because of band, i want to be able to hear the pitches (Some of you know that when you're a deaf musician, you can only hear 2 octaves on whatever instrument you are on from depending on your Cochlear implant, correct?) and be able to hear sounds clearly. Who knows, maybe going bilateral might be the best thing that would ever happen to me. Right now, getting to the date of meeting my CI surgeon who did my left is making me really excited and nervous at the same time because i want to know NOW if i am eligible for another cochlear implant in my right ear. And if i am, my surgery date is on the December 3rd. during the school year,i would have to miss one week of school, including one week of winter drumline rehearsals and possibly only one competition (but not a really important competition like WGI--winter guard international) And i'm sure my band directors would understand.

I know some of you don't agree about the whole cochlear implant thing because it is so permanent and involves with surgery and believes in hearing aids or just plain Deaf pride stuff. But i mean its other people decisions to get a cochlear implant. When you take off the processor you're deaf, when you put it on you're hearing again. It doesn't mean i'm not going to be deaf, I am and always will be. And I'm proud of being Deaf. Nobody nor a cochlear implant is going to take that away from us.
 
I do know off the top of my head that if your speech perception in your unimplanted ear is low, you can get a second CI.
I'm not anti CI.....I just think that people should approach the idea of a second CI very carefully. I know the CI HA combo can work very well for quite a few people. If the CI/HA combo has stopped working for you, then YES.....I'd encourage you to look into bilateral implantation. It DOES seem like the HA/CI vs. bilateral CI is a very case-by-case thing.
CrazyOne, it sounds like her hearing has dropped from aidable to unaidable. She may even have a severe or profound loss in that ear...Even with CI, about 10% of "deaf" losses are aidable.
 
I am thinking the definition for HOH is 70 decibels or greater. That plus how much comprehension one scores in the sound booth.

Since speech sounds are in the range of 50 decibels, I think many of us who went for the CI decided that since the CI will bring our hearing loss to below 50, it is well worth the trade-off.

Of course some of us forget or do not udnerstand that therapy is crucial for the prelingual folks to teach the brain to hear. I recently realized that the auditory training parallels that of stroke victims struggling to recover lost skills.
 
faire_jour said:
I would guess it depends on your definition of HOH and how usable your residual hearing is. My daughter had a moderate to severe loss when she was implanted but she had ZERO open set speech comprehension. Her residual hearing wasn't doing her any good that a CI couldn't. That's why we implanted.
Click to expand...

I understand your point of view.
 
Coolgirl, good luck with whatever you decide to do. Have you tried using just the implant when you are in band? If I was as involved in music as you are, I would want to make sure you like the music with just the implant.
 
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