Hi everyone,
Some background -- I'm 25 and born and raised in Los Angeles. I was born profoundly deaf in both ears. I've been wearing bilateral hearing aids since I was a few months old. I grew up listening and speaking, have attended mainstream schools, and did speech therapy for several years. I'm terrible at lip-reading -- I rely on listening. My left ear is much better than my right one -- my right hearing aide is just to determine where sounds came from as I'm unable to discriminate much at all in that ear. Today, I'm a software engineer.
I'll be off my parent's health plan this October, so I've been thinking of getting an implant before then. I have failed to do poorly enough and qualify for an implant a few times in the past, but House Clinic has offered to fight if I really, really want one. I have upcoming cochlear evaluation next week. Dr. Luxford has indicated in the past that my situation is interesting because my right ear is much worst than my left. He said he'd implant my right ear to "save" my left one, but that ultimately it's my decision to determine which ear to implant. I have talked to several of my deaf friends and they all admit it's a tough decision.
I'm torn over whether to get an implant or not, and if I decide that I do want one, which ear to implant. My hearing loss is progressive -- its likely all my hearing will go out and I'll eventually need an implant in the future. However, my hearing has been stable for several years now. I'm happy, and I can afford an implant up-front without health insurance. I'm still not sure.
Any thoughts? I'm looking for stories, particularly from those who have one ear better than the other and implanted the worst one. We're not sure if my right ear has any of those auditory pathways formed -- at one point when I was a baby, my right ear was actually better than my left. Could I rely solely on my right ear if I implant it? I know it varies person to person, but I'm really torn here and would like to hear any thoughts from anyone who moved from hearing aids to implants.
Thanks.
Some background -- I'm 25 and born and raised in Los Angeles. I was born profoundly deaf in both ears. I've been wearing bilateral hearing aids since I was a few months old. I grew up listening and speaking, have attended mainstream schools, and did speech therapy for several years. I'm terrible at lip-reading -- I rely on listening. My left ear is much better than my right one -- my right hearing aide is just to determine where sounds came from as I'm unable to discriminate much at all in that ear. Today, I'm a software engineer.
I'll be off my parent's health plan this October, so I've been thinking of getting an implant before then. I have failed to do poorly enough and qualify for an implant a few times in the past, but House Clinic has offered to fight if I really, really want one. I have upcoming cochlear evaluation next week. Dr. Luxford has indicated in the past that my situation is interesting because my right ear is much worst than my left. He said he'd implant my right ear to "save" my left one, but that ultimately it's my decision to determine which ear to implant. I have talked to several of my deaf friends and they all admit it's a tough decision.
I'm torn over whether to get an implant or not, and if I decide that I do want one, which ear to implant. My hearing loss is progressive -- its likely all my hearing will go out and I'll eventually need an implant in the future. However, my hearing has been stable for several years now. I'm happy, and I can afford an implant up-front without health insurance. I'm still not sure.
Any thoughts? I'm looking for stories, particularly from those who have one ear better than the other and implanted the worst one. We're not sure if my right ear has any of those auditory pathways formed -- at one point when I was a baby, my right ear was actually better than my left. Could I rely solely on my right ear if I implant it? I know it varies person to person, but I'm really torn here and would like to hear any thoughts from anyone who moved from hearing aids to implants.
Thanks.