Firstly: They don’t recommend getting CI for the profoundly Deaf with no hearing language skills. It is one of the contraindication for getting CI…
Secondly: Medical community learned to not implant people who that have no hearing language skills and those who not have realistic expectation or the willpower to go through the process of rehab…
Thirdly: we have like 50 years of experience with CI since they were introduced.
First off I’m not sure what profoundly deaf means. Second of all have had a profound loss for 15 years and have been recommended to getting an implant more times than I can remember. Last but not least what is hearing skills?
Individuals who have been profoundly deaf since birth and have never worn hearing aids will not have good outcomes with a cochlear implant. The auditory system simply doesn’t develop and other systems in the brain start to move in and take over that area for other things.
Similarly, even for someone who is post-lingually deafened if they go for long enough without hearing aids (auditory deprivation) other systems in the brain will start to move in to make use of what was previously used for hearing. So the longer you go (years and years) without auditory input the poorer your outcomes will be.
And then. . . anyone for whom a cochlear implant actually FAILS will be unhappy with the results. This is a small but present group.
Speaking of doing it sooner than later My audiologist recommended me to get CI eval 1 year before I was implanted. I took the eval, my case was borderline, high chance of denial by insurance co , and I knew about the brain plasticity changes so i went ahead and did it so my odd are in my favor…
Interesting note for hass specifically. . . your audiogram is profound but at least you have aidable hearing across a reasonable frequency bandwidth. I would expect your CI outcomes to be better than someone who has much better low frequency hearing but who had been unaidable at high frequencies for years and years.
Likewise, there are individuals who actually have reasonable hearing from a sensorineural perspective, but have an intractable conductive overlay that cannot be resolved by surgery and that limits the effectiveness of hearing aids (imagine a moderate to severe sensorineural loss but conductive component makes them severe-profound corner audiogram). My understanding is that these people typically do very well with cochlear implants.
Not sure why you are asking these questions or being so negative.
You have been a part of this forum long enough to know the answers to your own questions. You are just stirring the pot and that doesn’t help the OP.
Hello, new to the forum here. However, Neville’s post should be somewhat disregarded. I have been deaf since birth, got my first cochlear implant at age one, and today I hear and understand sound on a completely normal level. The result that a CI recipient experiences is largely going to depend on how aggressive they are with follow up rehab/therapy. We pushed my follow up rehab/therap hard, and it brought awesome results. Go for it, but be agressive with your therapy.
Key point is you were 1 year old thus you were well in the developmental language milestone of your life and we are talking about older people, who are well past the developmental language milestone.
This is not correct in my reading from those getting CI.
I tend to agree and disagree with how long a person has lost their hearing and CI working well. I have read both good and bad. It still floors me to read about someone who has been deaf from birth and gets a CI many many years later and learns to hear. It typically takes time and lots of effort.
It’s all about how bad you want to hear and understand speech.
Children with profound hearing loss who are identified early and get a cochlear implant within the first few years typically do very well with oral language. Or who are identified early and wear hearing aids and then get a cochlear implant later. Unidentified children who are unaided past about four years of age have a much harder time, and after about ten would likely be recommended immediate full immersion in ASL rather than a CI.
That is understandable. I got my left CI at age 9, and while it is completely functional as well, the difference between the two is quite obvious to me. So yeah, I can only imagine a middle aged person’s difficulty in adapting to a CI.
2yrs ago I received a CI for single sided deafness. Do I regret it yes but not for the reasons others think. I made it clear to the Audiologist before making my decision that I wanted something simple as I am not tech savvy. I originally wanted something to equalize sound but the ENT suggested this would be better.I was never informed about the need for auditory rehab and how vital it was for success. I was told all I had to do was wear it and I did 12hrs/7days a week. After 8 months my score were still very low and after going on this forum I realized what I wasn’t doing was the rehab. I approached my audiologist about auditory rehab. She showed me sights to use to help. I went and purchased a tablet. I don’t even own a cell phone. I felt very frustrated and I tried on my own.I was continually told that she had other CI patients that did very well just by wearing it. After 2 yrs my word recognition is 25%. ENT suggested removing it. I had numerous side effects after implant. loss of taste,ringing in the ear and numbness of the ear so I will not have it removed. I don’t know your age but if you are willing to do the work, and there is alot of it you will find many benefits to having it . just make sure you ask alot of ques and and have them go over what YOU need to do to make this work. I was ignorant going into it and shame on me. I needed to be honest with myself of what I was willing to do. This is why I said it was not for me. There are so many people on this forum that have wonderful advice and suggestions but in the end it comes down to what you are willing and able to do. I wish you luck and I hope it all goes the way you want.
Great thread and sorry so late to the conversation. I have been evaluated for a cochlear and am somewhat hesitant about it. I still have good hearing in my right year but left is just noise. I have seen the negatives on the web and agree that some of these people are just plain negative and not interested in the rehab. It’s interesting that’s for sure. I’m leaning away from it. I’m kind of a loner who steers away from group meetings and outings, things like that. If a person has any accent on the phone I just apologize and hang up. I can’t hear them at all. Very interesting group of people you all are…
@joe.gosselin I also was very hesitant to get a CI, I sat on the fence for 18 months going back and forth, do I, don’t I. Eventually I did, My CI does helps in so many situations, but I still struggle trying to understand people with accents.
The chicken or the egg?