- I didn’t?
- wtf…
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@Neville - I know you didn’t. There was a spammer here who was posting junk and recommending their rechargeable units (you know…one of those off-brand pieces of crap hearing aids that aren’t worth anything). I am sorry if there was some confusion as to who I was responding to.
Ahh, okay. Makes more sense.
Although to be fair, rechargeable hearing aids turn on in just the same time as trad battery ones. The ones from the big guys anyway. I don’t know much about those off-brand ones.
I do know they do that. I meant having to wait for them to recharge when I need my hearing now. That is what’s a pain.
Batteries = instant hearing.
Rechargeables = trying my patience when I need hearing aids to live. With my level of loss I hear no usable sound without hearing aids.
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You need to get an second opinion on whether an CI implant will help your dead ear. Have you had any MRI to rule out tumors?
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No I don’t need to get a second opinion. I will not get the Cochlear Implant option when my hearing is quite good in my remaining ear with a hearing aid and I am doing well. Never learned sign language.
All diagnostics were performed when I was 3 at the House Ear Institute in Los Angeles, among other places (I am 44 now). All causes like tumors were ruled out. It’s pure sensorineural hearing loss brought on by too many ear infections and high fevers before I hit age 3.
I know there’s new research into putting a CI into an unaided ear when the other one is hearing, and some indication that it’s not the same as when two ears have suffered long term auditory deprivation but… Still, 40 years is a long time. The whole auditory system would have developed without that ear.
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Members here are just trying to help you.
Why can’t you get a CI evaluation on your dead ear? Things have changed in the past few years about CI.
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One ear still hears pretty good. The brain should still be stimulated, correct?
I have read about implants in 20-30 year profound loss ears with not too shabby results with CI. It might not be 60+ word recognition but it is enough for localization and improving speech recognition overall.
Just thinking out loud.
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Hi Raudrive,
I know. And I understand. And I am sorry if my response came off a little harsh. I’ve been down this road before. CI this. CI that. And at the end of the day, the big thing about it that I have been warned about by audiologists and my doctors alike is that because my hearing is so good in my good ear, that it will detract and change things about certain things that I enjoy - such as music and singing voices. I am not willing to sacrifice that at this point in time.
It’s a big surgery- and if it impacts my vertigo negatively, I’m screwed. There goes my quality of life down the toilet. There are several variables that will be risked if I end up doing the surgery. Including losing the remaining hearing I have.
The spammer that tried selling me on rechargeables on these boards earlier in the day didn’t help matters either when it came to that response and my overall mood.
I am just frustrated and looking at other options. Including a new audiologist who I have an appointment with next week while I am off on vacation. I am looking forward to using an audiologist who has substantial varieties of hearing aid brands at their disposal, and who does real ear measurement.
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Ok. I see your thinking.
When I got my first CI I realized my ear with the aid was hendering the CI from learning. Within a week of activation I took the hearing aid off and left it off. This forced my brain to learn using the new CI. It was very frustrating for about a month. Then little things started making sense. Like turn signals in the car and the beeps in the kitchen. Then the low frequency stuff and later the mid and higher frequency sounds started making sense. I asked my wife what a new sound was all the time. It was a huge learning experience!!
We each learn in different ways. It’s very important for you to figure out what works best for you. The audiologist doesn’t always know what’s best.
At three months I got the other ear implanted. Now both ears have 90+% word understanding. It’s been right at 3 years since the implants and my social life has changed big time. It’s not perfect but way better than it was. I can understand my grandson!!! I could hold a job now too if I wanted.
Enough rambling.
Thanks for the very nice reply.
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I am so glad you had such great success with CI’s Raudrive. Great work and great news!
And, that is exactly my thinking. I wanted to try other aids than Phonak last time my hearing aids died because I continued to become unimpressed by them (even with my latest B’s). It was on a subconscious level with those because I didn’t want to have spent $3500.00 on hearing aid + CROS only to find out that it’s not quite as good as my past hearing aids have been.
With the breakdown of my hearing aid past critical failure this past few days, all of my unhappiness with Phonak came boiling up to the surface. I’m done with using audiologists who are married to a single brand. With a vacation next week, I have an opportunity to investigate new audiologists who trial different brands and will do real ear measurement (two of my base requirements this time).
I need an audiologist with a philosophy that includes the trial of a variety of brands to find the one who fits my hearing loss best, as well as my lifestyle. Not the single brand that lines their pockets with incentives the best.
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Oticon might be your best bet??? Older technology.
A bimodal CI solution would be either AB with Phonak Naida or the Cochlear with the Resound Enzo.
We have a number of bimodal members here on the forum.
You are young with lots of years left to go.
Make the best of it.
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Oh, I think the idea was to implant your bad ear, not your good one.
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Thank you, Neville! He was talking about his experience with implanting his good ear as well, so I wanted to make sure I communicated that this was a concern.
I had been trained on right ear when l was growing up. It was a babysitter that told my mother that l have hearing loss. This happened when l was five years old. Yes l had a ear infection when l was three years old. Before l was five years old, my mother took me to the best doctors in Houston, Texas where l lived and all the doctors said l have brain damage. After l got my first hearing test, my mother showed my audiogram to those same doctors and they still stand that l have brain damage. There is nothing wrong with my brain and l am thankful to my late mother who didn’t believe those doctors, otherwise l would have been living in an mental hospital.
As for having an CI, l might do it for my left ear however it hasn’t been trained the first 25 years. I would never do it on my best ear.
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Both of my ears were bad, 4% and 8% word understanding.
The CI surgeon talked me out of getting both ears done at once.
If you can’t hear out of your bad ear what have you got to lose and maybe so much to gain. You just might get ahead of things if the other ear fails.
A CI evaluation will answer so many questions. I actually had to do this twice. My first evaluation showed I could hear too well with the hearing aids I had programmed.
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My Phonak Audeo Bi Cros hearing aids are 7 years old, so I want to get new aids now before the current ones don’t work any longer. I can always keep the old ones as backups.
The Hearing Aid Specialist I saw last week recommended the Resound Nexia Bi Cros, which I will try next month for 30 days. She said that the Phonak Paradise Bi Cros is excellent as well, but that the Resound was a little less expensive. I’m also going to try a rechargeable version, because she told me a charge will give 20 hours of service, and charge overnight. I’ve been a battery person all my life, so that will be a huge change for me. I’ll be able to get battery version if I’m not happy with recharging.
Five years ago I was tested for a CI, but my good side hearing was too good to have a CI. I’m fine with that.
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@codergeek2015, I am strongly recommend this perspective. If your bad ear is completely deaf (such as mine, see my audiogram), you have no to lose, but much possible to win. I was totally deaf on left ear for 20yrs and have much improvement in hearing. I think it is worth to try a CI, and get a second opinion. I say it also as a physician.
I also know physics professor, who has implanted his bad ear after 40yrs of complete deafness and get improvement.
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They offer lumity cros.
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