Dilemma, what to do, dilemma, what to do!
I had a phone consult with my surgeon yesterday due to Covid. He’s very happy with my R ear results and how I’m managing. I’m very happy as well. He then threw me a real curly question. How’s your L ear going? Has your L ear hearing remained the same? Or dropped some? What do you want to do about that ear? HUH? What? Huh? That was never in the question of being done, was it? He responded that because I’ve had such a great result from my R ear it’s worth considering. Sheesh! What to do? What to do? Panic, panic stations here!!
I go to see him in 6 months time , so I have plenty of time to think about it. But he sure threw me for a loop!
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Your left has had hearing loss for 65 years plus if I remember right. Your right was a sudden loss I believe a few years ago.
If your right implanted ear is doing great seems that is the answer. Might be worth trying a hybrid in the left.
As mentioned, plenty of time to think about it.
@Raudrive it’s a congenital loss in my L ear, born 7 weeks prem. So my L ear has never heard anything but low frequency’s. The reason the surgeon did my R ear was “he said it would get the best result, as my other ear had never heard anything but low frequencies”
So if I go ahead and get it done, I could be worse off than I am now. Then on the other hand because I have good lows if I go fully electric from the start it might not be a problem. I really just don’t know what to do at this time.
Then again if I get it done and I’ve got my R ear with high frequencies and my L ear with just Low frequencies will it feel unbalanced?
Isn’t that what you have now?
Your right has all frequencies, right?
My thoughts about a hybrid on your left is it would leave you with what you have now.
An EAS isn’t guaranteed, it was just good luck I had it for 15 months as it was. But my residual has started to decline already. And will possibly continue to decline in that ear. So no I will possibly have another long array like I do already.
My HA gives me some high frequencies but not an awful lot into the higher range.
No surgeon will guarantee a hybrid EAS for life, as the short array had far to many issue and was removed from the market here in Aus. To many court cases going on against CI companies, because they were having to remove the short array and replace them with the standard length array.
Piper, from what I can see from your posted audiogram you DO hear some high frequency sounds in your left. Ok, you need very much power there but your nerves are available and your brain is able to interpret those signals.
In my case I am going to be bilateral because it is unbalanced now. Actually I don’t wear my HA much. I am listening with my CI ear the vast majority of the time. In difficult situations I even have to close my HA-ear to get better intelligibility.
On the other hand my highs dropped “only” 14 years ago, completely.
Just a thought.
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I had an appointment with my Aud this morning to get my Enzo looked at. She did an audiogram on me while I was in the room. I have very good lows but from around 1000hz/60db mark my highs are fairly useless.
What’s everyone thoughts on this current audiogram and a CI or should I stay bimodal where I have binaural of 96% WRS?
@Raudrive @Dani @phobos512
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How are WRSs for each side alone?
@Blacky my L side is 22% my R side is now 60%(I think) binaural is 96%.
I’ve just checked my paperwork my R CI is 82% now.
This 22 wrs is with HA on? Or without?
Do you utilise frequency shifting on HA side to bring those highs lower?
Btw, your last audiogram has x-es and they look more like o-es in your profile.
93% bimodal definitely sounds great. It looks like they complement each other.
This 60 on CI side, if you use only that side, how do you manage through the life? Do you feel that 40% missing or environmental clues bring you higher? I think I saw you’re using phone with CI side, no?
Just from numbers, I’d probably stay as it is now. But it’s more important how well you utilise CI and how confident you feel with it.
I would expect that you will get something with CI on current HA side, as you get something from HA now. So in that sense, brain will get the information from both sides. Also, that information will likely be more similar than it is now I guess? So, I’d expect you’ll definitely get benefits from hearing on the both sides, as you do now.
Since there’s always a risk involved, I think my main would be to see how well I do with that current CI, and what exactly it brings more than aids did/are.
In other words, if CI gets accepted and no bad things happen, I’d expect that you’ll get similar results and with less fatigue after initial period.
If something with new CI messes up, then you can count only on current CI.
Since your surgeon suggested second, I believe he’s confident nothing mechanical can be anticipated, so that acceptance only depends on your brain, and since it accepted current CI so well, and is capable of getting a lot out of basically poor results per each side, I think you have great foundation there, very trainable brain 
Don’t know if he proposed hybrid solution for that side?
I think decision is emotional and in some sense, gambling based on hope.
So, sleep it over many times and see where is the path of least regret, where you’re in peace with your decision and consequences.
It’s not an easy decision, definitely. Give yourself time
Edit: just saw your CI side is 82. Then it definitely looks better on the paper. Like, difference between 93 and 82 is much smaller than 93 and 60.
And I believe convenience of having same system on both eara, not to mention streaming abilities and such, is worth a lot.
I think it boils down to, if you’d be in peace with yourself if you get not more than single 82 side, then it looks like it might be worth the risk of trying to get CI on other side for sound balance and less fatigue.
I went for two HAs for general sound balance, noise processing, plus streaming convenience and balance. But HAs are easy to stick in ear and try. So that’s not comparable from risk perspective. Only that my brain is now much more relaxed when listening, before, despite normal hearing it was really fatiguing in all situations, now I still have to work harder even with mics in restaurants but, I do manage to follow the conversation. Which I couldn’t before.
So, balance in ‘color of the sound’ and it coming simultaneously to the brain is definitely helpful, if you had any doubts about that.
But since CI isn’t just sticking in to try and there’s no undo, there’s definitely bigger risk involved.
If you feel the risk is too much, stick with what you have now, and keep training your brain. It only can go better.
I have been thinking about your question, not sure what to say.
You know I initially wanted to implant both sides at once but my surgeon talked me out of it. I am now glad I did based on the little bit of hearing I still have on the non implanted ear. My implanted ear is now deaf. At night or when I do not have any hearing device on I can hear some things, the dog barking, my wife talking directly at me, a few loud things. Learning my implanted side is deaf was a bit of an eye opener in reality.
It appears you have better hearing on your non implanted ear than I do but not sure. Thinking about that I am not sure what to tell you. If you have become comfortable with your implanted side and understand you will be deaf on the other once it is implanted is the question. When you take all hearing devices off do you do alright around the house for example?
I would bet you will hear much better with two implants than your bimodal set up now. I have really liked not having anything my ear. Once I can use a phone easily with my implant and communicate with the implant I do plan to get the second implant.
How do you feel about a second CI? Are you happy being bimodal in your world? Or do you think you MUST have a second implant. For what? For a better hearing sensation? Only for increasing your WRS? Even that is not guaranteed. (my guess is 96% binaural is very good).
If you really want to be bilateral then I believe that your upper frequencies in your left will benefit. As said a couple of days ago your audiogram shows that your nerves ARE available. Your brain is able to handle those signals. But your HA is NOT able to give you the neccessary input.
In my case it is my biggest wish to be bilateral. I can’t wait for it being done. Currently I am not happy being bimodal at all. That’s possibly a big difference from your situation.
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@Dani @Raudrive @Blacky my gut instinct is to stay bimodal, as I truly don’t think I could get any better result than 96% WRS. But I can’t remember my full assessment results.
If at some stage down the track if technology was to improve and we get a marked improvement in noisy situations. I might then reconsider my situation again and seek out my surgeon for another conversation at that time.
OR my lows deteriorated then yes I wouldn’t hesitate then either.
I worry if I went bilateral and didn’t get a good result then I’m right back at square one, not being able to hear well.
But at the moment I’m happy with the result that I have.
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I strongly believe this is the most important part, find a solution with which you’re happy with. And you did, enjoy it 
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Well today 5 months after my final assessment after being implanted has finally arrived. I’m extremely happy with the final assessment and outcome of my CI surgery. See attached results.
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Pretty amazing! I find the improvement in Signal to noise ratio very impressive!
Your implanted ear is getting better.
This is good news for others behind you, like me. It just takes time for the brain to understand the implant.
Learning how to use the implant is a natural thing that just happens. Kind of like wearing hearing aids too.
Thank you for keeping us updated about your progress.
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It’s not been an easy ride these last 20 months at all. It wasn’t an easy decision to move forward and get a CI, so many negative people and negative comments didn’t help my thoughts either. Groundless worries about the complications that could occur post op, but it was plain sailing for me. I’ve had to make time for 2 hours of daily rehab without fail. Thankfully every hour of that rehab has paid off for me.
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@Raudrive @MDB it’s really great to read the improvement that each of my assessments show. My final assessment was at 15months post CI, this was due to Covid.
I hope that all the CI recipients that come after me on this board can achieve fabulous results as well. It’s definitely not an easy journey to undertake.
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great , im happy for you
Now :
Can you make a call without bluetooth or speaker (headphone only ) ?
Someone on your right is talking to someone on your left. Both wear a mask. Can you understand the words?
Is there any benefit from HA now alone? Can you understand speech without lips? Can you talk on the phone … Or is it only a help for a cochlear headset?
Do you think you have reached the normal limit or do you need more? Your opinion in general about your experience after a year or more after Cochlear implants .