Something else that comes to mind is that a CI isn’t a one time thing. Yes, you get the surgery. But you have to go through aural rehabilitation, largely a self-driven process. You’ll need mappings regularly for years. You’ll need batteries, you’ll need new processors eventually, that sort of thing.
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Something to add to this.
The way I understand the CI Evaluation is it’s to weed out those that won’t get the hopeful benefit of speech recognition from the CI.
I suspect there was a time when people got a CI and was not happy because the CI didn’t really benefit their speech recognition.
Plus what phobos512 said about facial nerve, dizziness and other medical issues.
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@Raudrive I had tinnitus prior to CI. I only developed this when the SSHL occurred. It was extremely mild that I could just hear it. Just a single click, these clicks could run together or stay as one click. I still have tinnitus post CI, still just very mild clicks. But when I’m wearing my processor I don’t hear it at all.
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Thanks for that information.
The pluses and minuses of CI are being thought out. For me at this time it is a no brainer to do the CI. I can only imagine understanding speech without 110% effort to understand. To relax and have a conversation is very exciting indeed.
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Sorry Blacky, your expectation seems to be way too high. With a CI you can be glad to reach 60% single WRS. Especially if you are “only” SSD or got your loss within the last couple of years only. The thing is you have to train your brain very much! For years!
Those people who suffer from HL for decades are already trained. These guys can benefit from a CI much faster but still won’t reach 100% at all. Parties are still a no-go.
I was talking from ‘if such tech would exist that’ perspective, sorry wasn’t clear enough.
I know that there’s no guarantee today for anything. Yet.
What do you meant by ‘those who suffer for decades’? You mean decades of wearing HAs and then CI gets faster or decades of wearing CI and then wrs goes up?
From some reading I’ve concluded that the sooner you get CI, the better - because when your brain doesn’t get sounds, it forgets what to do with them. That one ‘if you don’t use it, you lose it’. And I was told that as a reason to wear HA as well for my case.
So that’d mean that, ideally, if you experience sudden loss, getting CI ASAP would basically offer almost continuous input.
At least that’s how I understand it.
Yes, this is absolutely correct.
In my answer above I was just comparing the success stories going for a CI.
I did not want to say: “Wear a HA for decades before going for a CI” - that is wrong. If you are a candidate for a CI then go for it! And please do it as soon as possible.
But one should always keep in mind that it sounds different than normal hearing. A CI will by far not give your brain the same amount of information as with normal hearing. Those people with a sudden loss will more likely be disappointed by their performance than those people having a HA for decades before. The latter are used to squeeze as much information as possible out of so poor audio input. The first are used to let pass information to their brain as the sound comes through without further analysis. With a CI you (still) have to pay very much attention to listen what you hear.
I know a couple of CI guys. Some had normal hearings and then had a sudden loss. In the beginnings they were disappointed. After a couple of years their CI ear still does not perform as well as their other normal hearing ear (of course). But they are happy anyway because they can hear directions from where the sounds come from and their understandings in noisy environment is better than without their CI (but they still have much more trouble than those without any hearing loss). Most of them are still not able to use a landline telephone (i.e. without bluetooth) on their CI side. In contrast I am able to do this although I’ve always used my other ear to listen on the telephone.
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Thank you for this informative post.
Your description of how much information is brought in by the CI compared to normal hearing is interesting. That is something I did not know. That also goes along with the rationale of the CI evaluation.
This is another thing I did not know. Could this be due to you just getting a CI or will this be forever? I have hoped to hear better without trying so hard.
Not being able to hear a landline phone without Bluetooth is interesting news too. That shouldn’t bother most of us, can not use one now.
Me personally, I would always expect to have to exert more effort listening than a person with normal hearing, whether that’s with hearing aids or with a CI/hearing aid or two CIs. Especially in the beginning. Certainly if someone has normal hearing in one ear and a hearing aid or CI in the other ear they’re going to feel they perform better with the normal hearing ear. Those of us who need help in both ears I think we’ll find over time we’ll perform better with the CI in general; that is the whole point, after all.
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Thank you Matt, that’s exactly what I’ve tried to explain.
Maybe my statement is misleading. For you, Rick, you should be able to listen to a phonecall more easily with a CI than only with a HA.
Ah yess, you (having a severe loss) will hear better with a CI without trying that hard to listen. But you still have to listen more carefully than persons with normal hearing. If this wouldn’t be the case then why should anyone use a Hearing Aid if a CI always performs better?
A CI does not perform better than a HA for persons with slight or mid hearing loss. However a CI does perform better than a HA for persons with severe to profound hearing loss.
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@Raudrive I have found that being bimodal and everything streaming to bilateral ears helps me tremendously. At the beginning when I just had my CI and unaided ear I had to really concentrate on speech. I was still getting used to the CI sound and still having to concentrate on speech and comprehension.
From about the 6 month mark speech comprehension just flowed, I don’t concentrate anywhere near as much now. My CI sounds are starting to sound more like the aided ear. The balance between the 2 devices can be difficult to gain perfect equalization. But for those that DIY aids it won’t be difficult, as you can do your own aid adjustments. I can’t.
12 months on I don’t concentrate at all on speech comprehension, it’s all just normal communication, just like pre HA days.
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Just got home from the second opinion CI evaluation. This AUD found that both ears are candidates. He did mention that he could not imagine how the first AUD got 69% sentence understanding out of my hearing.
So, my journey begins.
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Good for you keep me in the loop. I want to be here for you anyway I can
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Glad you had a better experience with this second evaluation. Would be curious to know how the testing varied. Big decisions to make.
Not sure if it’s better, just the truth.
The AUD I dealt with has two implants using two Kanso processors. He was a pleasure to talk to. He would be the programmer I would use.
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Oh wow that’s neat I wonder if it’s one of the audiologists I have read about. There’s a guy and a gal who both have CIs, not the same practice. I cant find the guy but this is the gal.
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That’s a great explanation of needing the second implant. We do know what their hearing loss is but it’s obvious not very good. Logic is the answer.
I plan to have both implants at once if Medicare will go along with it.
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@Raudrive Congrats! This is great news! I know there are some pre-op things that need to be done before surgery, but have you been given a tentative surgery date yet?
I’m so happy you found an audi that was able to see that you really do need this surgery. Keep us in the loop and best of luck to you!
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So glad to hear that someone took you seriously!
When you have time, I think we all would like to hear what was the difference in evaluation.
This sounds like a jackpot! Since he really knows what it’s like to get and wear CI!
I think we all here, after realising our hearing loss became much more empathetic towards others with hearing loss, and about differences between us, and how each of us has own journey and obstacles to overcome. I’m not sure if the most empathetic normal hearing person could ever imagine extent of frustrations and what really becomes an obstacle for us.
I was shocked to get number on paper that my good ear neither alone nor with aided right can get more than 80% if there’s just white noise. I knew I have hard time, but wasn’t thinking about numbers, so it was quite a surprise. And I’m the one using that ears and brain.
To others, 50-80% might sound great. But only people who have those ‘great’ numbers can really understand how bad the situation really is and how we constantly need to think about how to improve comprehension. People don’t think about listening while they listen.
At one place I saw - if it’s not great for a math test, it’s not great as comprehension result. So they said, only 90% and above is something that we can consider really good.
I hope your journey from now on will be a good one 
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@Raudrive fantastic news for you Congratulations. I’m curious as to what testing the 2nd Aud did differently from the first evaluation? Was the testing procedure different?
Your new journey will be exciting for you.
I could understand speech a lot sooner than environmental sounds. These sounds took around 6 months before I could start to hear them. It’s generally the other way around. I can remember standing in the kitchen, trying to figure out where the heck that noise was coming from, so I could work out what that sound was. Until it all clicks into place it can be very frustrating but oh so rewarding. Good Luck on your journey.
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