Is Cochlear Implant suitable to me?

[ymhon]

Hello Everyone,

I come from Taiwan and I'm 28 years old.

My hearing-loss situation now is:

Left Ear: 100~110 DB Word Discrimination Score(WDS):0%
Right Ear: 60~70 DB Word Discrimination Score(WDS):50%

About six years ago, my hearing-loss situation is about:

Left Ear: 70~80 DB Word Discrimination Score(WDS):50%
Right Ear: 30~40 DB Word Discrimination Score(WDS):80%


Doctors can't find out why is the reason that cause my hearing-loss.

Seems like the problem is about gene that my hearing continues to be worse day-by-day since I was young. And when I was 14 years old, I started to feel that my hearing is worse than original people.

I do have hearing aid, but it is not working fine no matter on left ear or on right ear, my Word Discrimination Score still can not being improved, and even worse. I can feel the sounds being louder but not being clearer. Like hearing sounds in a balloon.

(My Clinical Scientist said that in most cases, hearing aid can be helpful only if the patient's WDS rate is more than 70%.)

So I'm eagering to know that whether the cochlear implant can improve the WDS of people who has a very low WDS before this surgery?

Thanks for helping.

 

[HOH-ME]

Sounds like you would qualify for a CI. It would be worth checking into.

 

[soutthpaw]

I would suspect the left one would definitely benefit. The right would be a toss up.

 

[hoichi]

To the op.
Have you contacted any Deaf organizations in tiAwan? Have you considered learning taiwan sign language.?

 

[ymhon]

I would suspect the left one would definitely benefit. The right would be a toss up.

Sorry I Forgot to say that both of my ear's audiogram looks like a slope from upper-left side to lower-right side.
That means my low frequency is much better than high frequency.
My Right Ear is from -50 db(low frequency) to -110 db(high frequency), while my Left Ear is from -80 db to -110 db.

I've already seen 3 doctors, 2 of them said that CI would be useful in a high possibility and 1 is conservative.

But I care more about the Word Discrimination Score, not just hear more sound like electric bell.
I can hear sound now, but I can't hear clearly of the words that people said even they speak loudly, especially in a noisy environment like restaurant.
But I can't get the statistics information about the WDS comparison before and after using CI from the doctors.

So I think I need to know the practical situation about CI users, especially there are not much people using CI in Taiwan. I can not have enough information about the CI users.

Can any CI users here share their Word Discrimination Score before and after the implant surgery? I would be appreciated about it.

 

[ymhon]

To the op.
Have you contacted any Deaf organizations in tiAwan? Have you considered learning taiwan sign language.?

I do respect the Deaf organizations.

But I was not born Deaf, in fact I still can hear now, but just hard of hearing. And for me, I'm eager to hear clearly of people's words, musics, tv shows.

I will learn sign language in the near future, but I still want to hear from my ear.

 

[Angel1989]

Getting a CI was a very positive experience for me. Definitely helped me to hear my loved ones and most one on one conversations. I believe learning sign language is very important as it is another tool you can use. Best of luck in your decision making.

 

[soutthpaw]

You nailed it. So many medical professionals forget that clarity is probably a bigger issue than Decibel loss. I could probably get mapped into mild hearing loss as far as decibel is concerned, But it would all be garbled. Don't count on beading able to hear in restaurants etc. You would do better with powerful hearing aids

 

[ymhon]

You nailed it. So many medical professionals forget that clarity is probably a bigger issue than Decibel loss. I could probably get mapped into mild hearing loss as far as decibel is concerned, But it would all be garbled. Don't count on beading able to hear in restaurants etc. You would do better with powerful hearing aids

I see. Thar's a terrible news. I've already tried powerful HA like Phonak naida, but my Word Discrimination Score get even worse after wearing HA. Seems like if one's WDS is low, both HA and CI can not help to promote it?

 

[deafdyke]

I do respect the Deaf organizations.

But I was not born Deaf, in fact I still can hear now, but just hard of hearing. And for me, I'm eager to hear clearly of people's words, musics, tv shows.

I will learn sign language in the near future, but I still want to hear from my ear.

HOH people can still benifit from Sign!

 

[deafdyke]

Are you saying you had a progressive loss? Could you hear in your left ear before? If so....I would get your left ear implanted!

 

[ymhon]

Are you saying you had a progressive loss? Could you hear in your left ear before? If so....I would get your left ear implanted!

Yes. I had a progressive loss.
Both of my ear can hear good when I was in elementary school.

And then both ear going worse day-by-day especially the left ear.

Doctor said that if I implanted on my right ear, the EAS technology (hybrid CI?) can keep my low-frequency hearing, only remove my high-frequency hearing.

But I care more about the WDS when I implanted on my right ear or left ear.
If the WDS is less than 80%, the help may be very limited.

 

[ymhon]

HOH people can still benifit from Sign!

Yes I know, but no one in my surroundings use sign language, because they are all normal people.

There are no hard-of-hearing or deaf people in my surroundings, including my family, my friends, my colleagues and my classmates when I was in school.

 

[HOH-ME]

Sorry I Forgot to say that both of my ear's audiogram looks like a slope from upper-left side to lower-right side.
That means my low frequency is much better than high frequency.
My Right Ear is from -50 db(low frequency) to -110 db(high frequency), while my Left Ear is from -80 db to -110 db.

I've already seen 3 doctors, 2 of them said that CI would be useful in a high possibility and 1 is conservative.

But I care more about the Word Discrimination Score, not just hear more sound like electric bell.
I can hear sound now, but I can't hear clearly of the words that people said even they speak loudly, especially in a noisy environment like restaurant.
But I can't get the statistics information about the WDS comparison before and after using CI from the doctors.

So I think I need to know the practical situation about CI users, especially there are not much people using CI in Taiwan. I can not have enough information about the CI users.

Can any CI users here share their Word Discrimination Score before and after the implant surgery? I would be appreciated about it.

27% in my right ear and 30%, in my left and about 5% in noise pre-surgery, 100% both ears 1+ years after surgery . That is both AZ Bio single word and sentence scores and 85% in noise for both.

You nailed it. So many medical professionals forget that clarity is probably a bigger issue than Decibel loss. I could probably get mapped into mild hearing loss as far as decibel is concerned, But it would all be garbled. Don't count on beading able to hear in restaurants etc. You would do better with powerful hearing aids

I hear just fine in restaurants and such, probably better than those with "normal" hearing even. I had powerful hearing aids and they were worthless in restaurants. Pick a good CI and you will have amazing results.

 

[cdmeggers]

Don't worry too much of some people saying sign language is the way to go or incredibly useful... It's YOUR choice if you want to learn signs. You mentioned you don't have anyone to sign with, you're mostly around hearing people, so you'd basically would only be learning signs for yourself (unless you happen to find some deaf folks in your area to become friends with). You just need to do what is best for you. Those two just don't much appreciate the fact that there are devices available if one should choose to use them and not learn/use signs. Everyone's different.

At the very least, you can set up an appointment with a CI clinic and discuss your options with the team there, get some answers to your questions. I'm very happy with my implants, and am doing better with then than I ever did with just one hearing aid (left ear is a dead ear, got no benefits from a hearing aid in that ear).

 

[deafdyke]

Yes. I had a progressive loss.
Both of my ear can hear good when I was in elementary school.

And then both ear going worse day-by-day especially the left ear.

Doctor said that if I implanted on my right ear, the EAS technology (hybrid CI?) can keep my low-frequency hearing, only remove my high-frequency hearing.

But I care more about the WDS when I implanted on my right ear or left ear.
If the WDS is less than 80%, the help may be very limited.

Well if you did have a progressive loss, then YES I would opt for it.
Nobody can tell you about the WDS......Why would less then 80% be *very limited?* You'd be hearing better then you would with HAs.

 

[everlastingstorm]

Well if you did have a progressive loss, then YES I would opt for it.
Nobody can tell you about the WDS......Why would less then 80% be *very limited?* You'd be hearing better then you would with HAs.

Yeah, I'm also wondering where the OP is getting the idea that CI's would be of very limited help with a less than 80% WDS.

In 2013, I had a WDS of 80%. It had been around that for most of my life, at least, for my adulthood as far as I can tell.

In 2014, my WDS varied over a period of 6 months. Those scores were 30%, 68%, 30%, 72%, 28%, 30% and 8 or 9% around episodes of sudden hearing loss, which brought on various fluctuations, in that approximate order.

Now I wonder why the hell my audiologist was "cautious" of implanting me when I had a WDS of 30%. But, the reasoning, in my particular case, was because my fluctuations on the WDS were like these huge wide swings from high to low and then back to fairly high for someone with severe-profound HL that was just becoming profound. I was implanted about 8 weeks after my CI evaluation which revealed a 9% WDS and 13% on the AZ-BIO sentences. The difference and the improvements that I have seen even early on with my implant have just been extraordinary. It has helped me so much in noise, and I dare say that I'm doing better with a CI in all environments than I ever did even at 80% WDS.

Unfortunately the CI is not something people can just try on to give these sorts of comparisons, but having experience with WDS at 80% and several WDS at much lower percentages, I can say without a doubt that it has been of way, way more than "limited help".

As long as you have had some hearing experience and auditory memory in your ears, it is not likely to be of limited help as it might be for say, a deaf adult who has never worn hearing aids, was never exposed to sound or had very limited exposure to sound, and never heard oral language.

 

[Tomer]

Yes, your left ear really needs one. I promise you that CI will really help you more than HA's in that ear..

 

[Calvin]

Sign language is very important tool for anyone who could not hear. I encourage anyone to learn sign to be able to communicate clear. Of course it is a choice for anyone to learn or not, it is entirely up to individuals. There is many CI users knows sign language and it is recommended to learn sign to interact with others.

 

[ymhon]

Yeah, I'm also wondering where the OP is getting the idea that CI's would be of very limited help with a less than 80% WDS.

Unfortunately the CI is not something people can just try on to give these sorts of comparisons, but having experience with WDS at 80% and several WDS at much lower percentages, I can say without a doubt that it has been of way, way more than "limited help".

As long as you have had some hearing experience and auditory memory in your ears, it is not likely to be of limited help as it might be for say, a deaf adult who has never worn hearing aids, was never exposed to sound or had very limited exposure to sound, and never heard oral language.

Hi everlastingstorm,

The reason why I said CI's would be of limited help with a less than 80% WDS is because about 7 years ago I have 84% WDS on my right ear and 50% WDS on my left ear,
and I still feel big trouble communicating with other people then. (Though still better than now.)

Considering about your statement, maybe my WDS testing result then is not that correct I think.

In Taiwan, CI will cause me about $700,000twd ($25,000usd) after discount (original price: $30,000usd).
Only childrens can get full insurance about this.
It is a big money in Taiwan, so if the effect is not that huge, I should consider whether to pay this money or not.
Seeing so many successful case above and otherplaces, I really want to give it a try.

There are doctors recommended to implant CI on my right ear and predict a 80% WDS after implanted.(Keep residual hearing, hybrid CI (EAS technology))
And other doctors recommended to implant CI on my left ear and predict a 50% WDS after implanted.

I'm very confused now. Though I already decided the brand of CI.

Which ear to implant is better for me?
Should I choose the doctor that have seldom surgery experiences but with the best hospital auditory center?
Or the doctor with lots of surgery experiences but with a so-so hospital auditory center?