If you're about the get a Cochlear Implant please read this

But I have Advanced Bionic's insurance reimbursement on the case.

CI audie also wrote a letter to Medicaid stating that I do need the implant and explained my poor speech recognition skills with hearing aid on, and etc. She even got the CI surgeon to sign off on the letter.
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Excellent. Maybe a good idea might be to contact news papers and news tv shows. Maybe they could do a human interest article on you.
 
I am not going to ask for any favors from the newspaper at this time haha.
 
I just joined here because my daughter who has always been profoundly deaf in her right ear since birth (she is now 27), suddenly went moderately / severely deaf in her left ear 2 months ago. At present her hearing aid on the left ear is causing amplified surrounding noise and its driving her crazy to go out into public/noisy places. She is finding it very difficult to come to terms with this sudden loss and going through huge saddness. There has been talk of cochlear implant on her right ear but some are saying because that ear has never heard before that it would be silly to implant it. Some are saying the risk of losing everything if implanting goes to the left ear is too precious to risk. Some are saying she should continue to battle on with what she can get from the hearing aid. She can only do one on one conversations - she cannot talk in a group situation, she cannot hear the checkout girl in the supermarket over the surrounding noises, she cannot hear or distinguish music (which she loved), and she cannot watch tv without reading subtitles and needs to be looking at someone to be having a one on one conversation. I am sorry if I seem to not understand all about this. I am in shock and just dont know what to do or the best way to help her come to grips with this. This is like losing an arm or leg - it is so life changing and I know we have to move on and come to grips with this.....but how and where and what devices to use and are best? I'm also not real good with forums and computers in general and couldnt find the "introduce myself" page so just blundered in on this topic. (apologies .....didnt mean to hijack it)
 
she can be implanted with her left ear. But I think she can be implanted her right deaf ear too since she heard sounds with her left ear. The only way to find out is go to a doctor. if she is losing her hearing over time, it will probably get worst so I wouldn't be afraid to implant it. In fact, severe loss is just as bad as profound in my opinion.

and I highly suggest that you two take Sign Language class together. You'll be glad you did.
 
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First go to a good hearing center/dr. Not just one out of phone book advertising hearing aids. I am going to a hearing and balance center. I will get my first CI next Thursday. Since she has some hearing in left ear I would think they might put a CI in the right ear. Again, see a good Dr. Depending on where you are located, I'm sure there are people on this site that can recommend a good one for you.
Rampratt
 
Thankyou so much for getting back to me. We are in Western Australia so am guessing most of you are in America - it is so hard to find a supportive site like this over here. Currently we have been to an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist who is saying that he would prefer to implant the right ear however its the audiologists who are saying it just wouldnt work because she has never heard with the right ear. I have made an appointment for her (because she is finding it so difficult to talk on the phone and converse with people in noisy offices and rooms) with the Lions Institute for Hearing on the 8th March...and hoping she will be able to give them enough feedback on how the hearing aid's only apparent function so far is to give her one on one conversations.
Can you tell me if any of you can have group conversations with implants or hearing aids or hear music with these devices over time and the brain becomming accustomed to its new way of hearing? Her hearing loss in the left ear was sudden - 2 weeks before xmas. Just woke up one morning and it was gone. An MRI showed no obvious cause. They are telling us at the audiologists where they have given her a hearing aid on loan for now that she will prob never be able to sit around a table and have group conversations with her friends again. They have also given her a hearing aid with a music button on it for listening......we tried that out and she said she could tell it was music but couldnt tell what song was playing....(I had put on one of her favourites)...it was still just noise.
What is the quality of implants and how long approx to rehabilitate after implantation?
I just dont know that we are getting all the info we need which is why I am asking here and keeping that appointment in march with the institute for hearing.
I appreciate any info you can give me so much.....I am going to ask her to join here as well because I can see you have a wonderful support network going on here.
Thankyou thankyou thankyou
 
Suzie Q said:
Thankyou so much for getting back to me. We are in Western Australia so am guessing most of you are in America - it is so hard to find a supportive site like this over here. Currently we have been to an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist who is saying that he would prefer to implant the right ear however its the audiologists who are saying it just wouldnt work because she has never heard with the right ear. I have made an appointment for her (because she is finding it so difficult to talk on the phone and converse with people in noisy offices and rooms) with the Lions Institute for Hearing on the 8th March...and hoping she will be able to give them enough feedback on how the hearing aid's only apparent function so far is to give her one on one conversations.

First of all, Welcome to AD, Yes this site has many Americans but I am British and found this site extremely useful which I found hard in UK!!. I am 32 and had been implanted since 30.

I can image it must be extremely confusing for you and your daughter with all those cochlear implant saga. When i was going through the assessment they said implant in my good ear (both ears are profound, since birth) I wanted it in my bad ear (the deafer ear which didn't have HA in for 16 years) they explained that my right ear has better because it already had the stimiluation (from wearing HA) and will go through rehabilation bit easier but I think it's a moot since i have heard of people doing well with implant in their worse ear but the rehabilation took longer so it's bit of catch 22! I am implanted in my good ear and don't regret it, I now since had started wearing HA in my worse ear to bring in the low frequency even though i can hardly hear it but there is noticable difference in my results.
I believe in Austraila (or is it New Zealand getting funding for CI is very hard so i suspect your daughter can only have one, i may be wrong so please feel free to correct this.

Can you tell me if any of you can have group conversations with implants or hearing aids or hear music with these devices over time and the brain becomming accustomed to its new way of hearing?

There is no guarantee on how CI would turn out for each person however in my postition having been profound deaf since birth and used HA's, I found using CI is much better since I can lipread much easier as i am picking up the vital sounds that supports lipreading, i am not so tired at the end of the day from concerating. I can hear one to one (check outs etc) better now days with alot of background noise, I trained myself to learn to tune out the background noise (i couldn't with HA). I am afraid there is only little improvement in group, I think many hearing people do find it hard too!.

Her hearing loss in the left ear was sudden - 2 weeks before xmas. Just woke up one morning and it was gone. An MRI showed no obvious cause. They are telling us at the audiologists where they have given her a hearing aid on loan for now that she will prob never be able to sit around a table and have group conversations with her friends again. They have also given her a hearing aid with a music button on it for listening......we tried that out and she said she could tell it was music but couldnt tell what song was playing....(I had put on one of her favourites)...it was still just noise.
What is the quality of implants and how long approx to rehabilitate after implantation?

Rehabilation is down to each person, their loss are different to everyone. There will be quite few in the first few months/perhaps year then it becomes yearly or unless a person needs tuning they can call up and go back or needs advice or anything like that.

I just dont know that we are getting all the info we need which is why I am asking here and keeping that appointment in march with the institute for hearing.
I appreciate any info you can give me so much.....I am going to ask her to join here as well because I can see you have a wonderful support network going on here.

I suggest she get some help in accepting her loss, understand that CI is not a cure, she may not hear same as pre implant/HA. I advise to get some lipreading practice and learn few signs so she got bit of back up if not wearing HA or CI. She needs low expectations for CI

Thankyou thankyou thankyou
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Hi Suzie Q, I have explained in bold.
 
I agree with you.

Everyone needs to have realistic expectations before getting cochlear implants. A lot of times, they don't. When they get their CIs, they're in for a big disappointment because of the wrong expectations.

The most common disappointments I've seen is...

- Thought they would be able to speak like a hearing person "overnight".

- Thought they would be able to understand sounds like a hearing person "overnight".

- Thought they would be able to consider themselves "hearing".

- Thought they could immediately be considered equal to their hearing counterparts.

... and some others disappointments.

Thought they would be able to speak like a hearing person "overnight".
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You spent your life talking the way you already talk. By getting CIs doesn't make you change your voice immediately. The way you talk takes practice. That's why we grow up learning to say the words we hear as we grow up. That's why a lot of deaf people have speech therapy. Just because you got CI doesn't mean you're excused from speech therapy. You still have to work on your voice. If you were already hard-of-hearing and had good speech skills, then that's a big advantage for you if you were to ever get CI. Those are the things to consider related to speech skills.

Thought they would be able to understand sounds like a hearing person "overnight".
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When you first start hearing things with your CIs, it will be a whole new experience for you. Since you spent most of your life without hearing or recognizing sounds, getting CIs will "force" you to hear everything. You won't recognize everything right away. It takes time to learn what you're hearing, the tone of voice, the sound effects, etc. Again, a hard-of-hearing person may have the advantage since they already experienced sounds. So, it's little effort for them.

Thought they would be able to consider themselves "hearing".
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One thing will never change... you'll always be deaf or hard-of-hearing... never hearing. Sure, you can hear like a hearing person, but take your CIs off... you're deaf again. That's a fact. Don't deny it. Oh yeah, you could say that you will never take off your CIs during the day. Wait, your battery just died... darn! You're deaf again! Oh well, that's part of life... accept it. Be ready for that.

Thought they could immediately be considered equal to their hearing counterparts.
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There will always be differences among others. Even when you get CIs, you're not like every other hearing person. You're a person walking around with a electronic assistive listening device on your head. That's like a person walking around with hearing aids or a person walking around with crutches or in a wheelchair. You're still different. Yes, a lot of hearing people will still welcome you with open arms... but you won't exactly be a perfect hearing equal to them. There will still be some people out there who will still see you as handicapped like they see everyone else with hearing aids, wheelchairs, canes, etc.

That's why we need to be realistic. Don't immediately assume that getting CIs will "fix" everything and make you a completely different person.
 
Suzie Q said:
Thankyou so much for getting back to me. We are in Western Australia so am guessing most of you are in America - it is so hard to find a supportive site like this over here. Currently we have been to an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist who is saying that he would prefer to implant the right ear however its the audiologists who are saying it just wouldnt work because she has never heard with the right ear. I have made an appointment for her (because she is finding it so difficult to talk on the phone and converse with people in noisy offices and rooms) with the Lions Institute for Hearing on the 8th March...and hoping she will be able to give them enough feedback on how the hearing aid's only apparent function so far is to give her one on one conversations.
Can you tell me if any of you can have group conversations with implants or hearing aids or hear music with these devices over time and the brain becomming accustomed to its new way of hearing? Her hearing loss in the left ear was sudden - 2 weeks before xmas. Just woke up one morning and it was gone. An MRI showed no obvious cause. They are telling us at the audiologists where they have given her a hearing aid on loan for now that she will prob never be able to sit around a table and have group conversations with her friends again. They have also given her a hearing aid with a music button on it for listening......we tried that out and she said she could tell it was music but couldnt tell what song was playing....(I had put on one of her favourites)...it was still just noise.
What is the quality of implants and how long approx to rehabilitate after implantation?
I just dont know that we are getting all the info we need which is why I am asking here and keeping that appointment in march with the institute for hearing.
I appreciate any info you can give me so much.....I am going to ask her to join here as well because I can see you have a wonderful support network going on here.
Thankyou thankyou thankyou
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I just want you to know that CI does not really help with group conversation or noisy background. I think your daughter will still have to do one-in-one conversation (that part of the deaf world so it is something you have to accept). They say having two implants will help, but I am not sure. Implant will improve her life, but it won't cure it. If she heard sounds she'll do well with implant with very little therapy (I didn't have any therapy after my implant). But she'll be making alot of trips for mapping (kind like tuning)

You should go to Cochlear - Implants for Children and Adults - Bionic Ear Hearing Implant | Cochlear Their implant is from Australia where you live so I'm surprise you are having trouble with it.

Again, sign up for SIGN LANGUAGE and try not to worry about making her hearing.
 
:ty:
Many thanks for your truthful and straightforward answers to my questions.
We will be signing up for Auslan......(no pun intended) our Australian sign language....is this language for all english speaking countries or are there different languages?
Yes we have already been warned that if some people see the hearing aid that they will start speaking slower to her in a less than "normal" (whats normal anyway) way - I hope she is ready for that. Knowing her, anyone treating her like that would cop an "ear full".
Her work place has said that she can start work back with them next week on a trial. She is looking forward to that and that will be good for her to "get out there" again.
I guess we are going through a grieving process of not really knowing what/how this is going to be managed and with which devices and its such early days. Once a course of action has been decided then I think that it is much easier to at least focus on what is going to happen and work out the coping strategies.
Thanks for the link to hearing aids/cochlear implants etc.. in Australia. I hadnt seen that site before but will look into that one too.
Your advice is invaluable to us. Thanks
 
ps. Thanks also for getting back on the "group conversations" issue. If we know not to expect it then it is not really a let down when it doesnt happen.
She has always had good speech with what she has heard from her left ear and is still speaking well....i guess from memory.
 
We will be signing up for Auslan......(no pun intended) our Australian sign language....is this language for all english speaking countries or are there different languages?
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nope, each country have their own sign language so it isn't universal. In where I live, we use American Sign Language.
 
Thanks for the link to hearing aids/cochlear implants etc.. in Australia. I hadnt seen that site before but will look into that one too.
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That link I send you is a pretty popular implant(especially in America but other brands are catching up) and it was originally founded in Australia. So that's why I'm kinda surprised you haven't seen that site yet.
 
I'm going to be getting a ci at some point of time. The ENT doctor wanted to put it in my left ear because all the hair folicle damage from radiation. I've never had speech in my left ear. I've had a titainium bone replacment in my right ear. I don't know, but I'm ready to find out what happens. I may be able to understand more people better if I can get more sounds from the left ear.
 
wildcard said:
I'm going to be getting a ci at some point of time. The ENT doctor wanted to put it in my left ear because all the hair folicle damage from radiation. I've never had speech in my left ear. I've had a titainium bone replacment in my right ear. I don't know, but I'm ready to find out what happens. I may be able to understand more people better if I can get more sounds from the left ear.
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Good luck with that. Are you also taking sign language classes by any chance?
 
Tousi said:
Good luck with that. Are you also taking sign language classes by any chance?
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I've taken a couple through the Society For The Handicap, but no colleges or anything. With my learning dysabilities I don't think I'd ever become an interpreter and thats not really what I want to do. I know but I forget. I *nod* slow. Here's what I've currently been reading and and learning things in. American Sign Language (ASL)
 
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