Inputs on CI and Hearing Aids

D

DeafBorg

New Member
Joined
Feb 10, 2008
Messages
92
Reaction score
0
I was born deaf in both ears. But I hear very well with hearing aid in my left ear, my right ear is pretty much nothing.

Now when I went to DePaul Institute for the Deaf in Pgh Pa we wore 2 aids with a box and cords, I would hear much better.

But never had 2 aids growing up to wear at home and such.

I am going to see an audie about CI sometime soon.

My question is this. I hear pretty well with my HA in left ear. But I do have trouble hearing words when I am not reading lips.

Should I try and get CI in both ear, or in my right ear, or the ear I hear pretty good with an aid.

Or should I try and see if I can get another aid for my right ear.

I am thinking of talking to my audie about the Naidas for both ear.

Any recommendation?
 
Let me offer unbiased information. If you are looking for a CI, you will need to get evaluated and see if you are a candidate. If you are a candidate, they will implant in the right ear and save your good left ear. That of course depends if your good ear isn't too good to disqualify you alltogether. Do you have any audiograms? This will let me offer more advice.
 
PghSteelersGirl said:
I was born deaf in both ears. But I hear very well with hearing aid in my left ear, my right ear is pretty much nothing.

Now when I went to DePaul Institute for the Deaf in Pgh Pa we wore 2 aids with a box and cords, I would hear much better.

But never had 2 aids growing up to wear at home and such.

I am going to see an audie about CI sometime soon.

My question is this. I hear pretty well with my HA in left ear. But I do have trouble hearing words when I am not reading lips.

Should I try and get CI in both ear, or in my right ear, or the ear I hear pretty good with an aid.

Or should I try and see if I can get another aid for my right ear.

I am thinking of talking to my audie about the Naidas for both ear.

Any recommendation?
Click to expand...

Okay as DeafDude said - just go to the CI audi and see if you are a candidate.

To be honest with you - since you have not exposed your right ear to any sound for years...if you implant that ear, you will be a LOT more overwhelmed with sounds. I am a firm believer that no matter what ear you have implanted, it SHOULD be stimulated with some sound for your brain to get used to getting input in that ear. It doesn't matter if it sounds so weird, LOUD, distorted...that ear is getting simulation.

Having said that, to be honest, I think you should go see if you are a candidate first, then talk to your audi about getting Naida for your other ear. Sometimes you'll be surprised how much better you can hear with two. This is the exact reason why I got implanted in both ears. One CI made me feel so one-sided (I grew up hearing through both ears, not one), so I wanted my other ear done.

Hugs and good luck on your Journey.
 
I decided to have bilateral CIs per my CI surgeon's recommendation due to the fact that no further programming adjustments could be made with my hearing aid. Prior to that, I wore a hearing aid in my nonimplanted ear and it worked great in giving me binaural hearing as well as improved speech understanding.

I agree with deafdude and Lady that you should see a CI audi first to find out if you're a candidate.
 
deafdude1 said:
If you are a candidate, they will implant in the right ear and save your good left ear.
Click to expand...

This depends on the health of this OP's ears. If the better ear is healthier than the worse ear, they may decide to implant the better ear instead.

In my case, I was given the choice as to which ear I wanted to have implanted. I chose my left ear since it was my worse ear and I wanted to continue wearing a hearing aid in my right ear.
 
Wow thank you for your great quick input. My only fear is if the CI don't work in my left ear, I won't be able to hear ever with aid or not.

I will be making phone calls soon. My hubby will be helping me with all of that. I will contact my audie and see if she can email me my hearing test numbers.
 
definitely see a CI audiologist and get evaluated. Then from there, you and the audie can discuss CI options and all that jazz.

I'm in the process of getting a CI for myself. I'm hoping to have my left (dead) ear done so I don't have to mess with my right (good) ear. But I'll find out for sure on May 5 when I see the surgeon about the CT scan results.

Good luck!
 
cdmeggers said:
definitely see a CI audiologist and get evaluated. Then from there, you and the audie can discuss CI options and all that jazz.

I'm in the process of getting a CI for myself. I'm hoping to have my left (dead) ear done so I don't have to mess with my right (good) ear. But I'll find out for sure on May 5 when I see the surgeon about the CT scan results.

Good luck!
Click to expand...

That is what I want to do if I am eligible for CI. Try to keep my good left ear the way it is and use my right ear for CI if it works.

I have contacted my main audie for the audiogram files. I will have her email me. Mind you though that is about 4 or so years old when I got my first digital hearing aid by DigiFocus. I have been having problems with it in the last 6 or so months. Sometimes it would get so loud then get so soft or off on its own. Annoying.
 
FYI - Most audiologist and surgeons would implant the worse ear or the dead ear for "JUST IN CASE" if it doesn't work.

Personally, I think it's just saving their ass. In the past, residual hearing was completely destroyed during surgery. Nowadays, you will see people still have their residual hearing. I still have the same amount of residual hearing after both surgeries. So..in my case, if CI didn't work, it's okay - I can still use HA's.

If the audiologist feels that you will benefit a LOT from it, then I don't see why they shouldn't implant your better ear. Just make sure that you get your other ear stimulated somehow - even if you're wearing old hearing aids...just so the nerve cells and the ear nerve to your brain is getting used to getting something. Otherwise, it would be in a huge shock when you get activated.

I'm reminded of this statement: When you put a frog in boiling water, it will jump out. When you put a frog in cold water and bring it up to boil, it won't jump out. Same idea. If you stimulate that auditory nerve, it won't be as overwhelming.
 
PghSteelersGirl said:
That is what I want to do if I am eligible for CI. Try to keep my good left ear the way it is and use my right ear for CI if it works.

I have contacted my main audie for the audiogram files. I will have her email me. Mind you though that is about 4 or so years old when I got my first digital hearing aid by DigiFocus. I have been having problems with it in the last 6 or so months. Sometimes it would get so loud then get so soft or off on its own. Annoying.
Click to expand...

It sounds like your HA has issues - I would just go ahead and see if you can borrow Nadias and see if that will help.
 
PghSteelersGirl said:
Mind you though that is about 4 or so years old when I got my first digital hearing aid by DigiFocus. I have been having problems with it in the last 6 or so months. Sometimes it would get so loud then get so soft or off on its own. Annoying.
Click to expand...

In that case, I would try the Naidas.
 
I had my dead ear implanted a few months ago. It is now getting enough sounds that it is actually interferring with my ability to lip-read with my HA in the "better" ear (90 decibels loss).

For the dual HA/CI users, what is your advice?
 
PghSteelersGirl,
You may hear too well to qualify for CI. On the other hand, with "off label" implantation being seen, you MAY qualify especially since you're pretty much dead deaf in your other ear. It's legit....you've pretty much exhausted traditional amplification options right?
What's your hearing history? Did you go deaf as a baby? If so that might help you, seeing as your brain would remember how to process sound the way a hearing person's does.
 
I was born deaf.

I wore 2 aids during school but at home I had one on my left ear. But I had aids since I was very little. 1 I think is when I started to wear aids.
 
Almyra said:
I had my dead ear implanted a few months ago. It is now getting enough sounds that it is actually interferring with my ability to lip-read with my HA in the "better" ear (90 decibels loss).

For the dual HA/CI users, what is your advice?
Click to expand...

I wore a hearing aid along with my CI for 6 months following my activation.

I would recommend that you practice listening with your CI only for several hours a day.

You might also want to turn down the sensitivity a little on your CI so that the input you receive from your hearing aid is slightly louder.

Since you're newly activated, it may take time before you can understand speech -- especially if your implanted ear has never been exposed to sound.
 
Did you get any benifit from being aided as a little kid? Even enviormental sounds or some speech sounds? You might not acheive hoh listening levels but on the other hand, you could improve your hearing from nothing....
Hear Again what I mean by "off label" implantation, is a sitution where it might be benifical to implant, but they don't quite meet FDA guidelines for implantation. Like the person gets quite a bit of input (under 60% but above 40%) with one hearing aid, but is dead deaf in the other ear, or they have severe tintituas (they are using CI to treat that condition that I'm blocking on right now) or they have very significent recruitment.
 
DD,

:ty: for the clarification. Do you know anyone who received a CI to help with recruitment or tinnitus?
 
Back
Top