What has your experience been with surgery for otosclerosis? I had a stapedotomy last week and am delighted with the results so far. I’m curious to know how long it took others to know what the final results were, any problems that arose, any tips on how to avoid problems, etc.
Do you still wear HAs?
jeromeh, I was not wearing hearing aids before the surgery. I got my hearing aids (Widex Dream Fusion 220) this week, and I’m delighted with them.
I have had HAs before and after the surgery (almost one year day for day now). But I have never been completely satisfied with my fitting after the surgery. I find this surprising you wear HAs now that you should hear better. Is that in order to tone down loud sounds?
The numbers under Daisy’s post indicate she still has serious loss. She is definitely being helped with aids. Such use would help her maintain a decent WRS. (word/speech recognition) She’s said that the loss before was profound where an aid in that ear would not have helped.
I hope she isn’t doing open domes
The fitter set me up with gumdrops. Are those a type of “mold?” They seem to fit fine.
jeromeh, can you share your numbers from your audiogram? Did you have the surgery on one ear, or both?
I have sensorineural loss in both ears which is independent of the otosclerosis in my left ear. That leaves me with a moderate-to-severe loss in both ears, so I need the aids.
find an audiologist you can trust
Doubledown, no, the audi didn’t mention that because I told her from the outset I don’t have the money for all the bells and whistles. The 220s are more than I can really afford.
find an audiologist you can trust
Hi Daisy, saw your questions on my hearing loss in my other thread. Figured I would come here to explain more.
I have had conductive hearing loss since early childhood. It was not bad enough to require treatment when I was younger. I was able to get by fine without treatment or hearing aids. But, combine it with aging and increased hearing loss, I started having severe difficulties in my early 40’s.
I had Stapedotomy surgery on one ear in December of 2009. It was not successful. My hearing did not get better, but thankfully it did not get worse. Doctor told me it could take up to a year for swelling to subside and get the full benefits of the surgery. So I waited the full year. I took multiple courses of steroids to help with the swelling. Nothing helped.
Ater waiting the full year I made the decision to not have the other ear done or have the first ear operated on again. So I decided to get hearing aids. Got my first HA’s in February of 2011.
To combat the low frequency loss of the Otosclerosis, I have Power Receivers and Double Walled Domes to combat the leaking of the low energy sound waves coming from the receivers. This also helps greatly with the whistling and feedback I had when I first started wearing them.
It has been almost 5 years now since I started wearing them. I have definitely had better hearing over the last 5 years. But recently I have noticed a few issues. Starting to have troubles with male voices again. I had a new hearing test done recently. The results showed that my hearing is almost un-changed over the last few years. So the assumption is that the problem is with the hearing aids.
This made me want to get new aids. So I recently started this process. Almost bought the new Beltone Legends last week, but stopped the order at the last minute.
Today I had an appointment with a new Audiologist. He is going to demo me a set of Starkey Halo’s. If I do not like those, I will try the ReSound LINX2’s next.
Thanks, Reidan! I’m sorry the surgery didn’t work for you. That must have been a big disappointment. Good luck with the HA trials!
Hi,
I had my left ear stapedotomy surgery done yesterday in Toronto. Procedure was about 1.5 hours long. Once I got home, I felt heavily nauseated, had a headcahe, and pain down left side of my face/neck. I took a gravel and slept for 2 hours. WHAT a difference. No pain at all and I could finally have a normal conversation with my wife and kids. In my excitement, I kept chatting for couple of hours and pain returned along with pulsating sound in the ear. I took surgeon prescribed anti-biotic and Tylenol 3. The pulsating has stopped and pain has subsided to a minor nuisance. I can still hear better sound but now it sounds a bit tinny. Let’s see what next few days bring.
AgentRaj, I hope it goes very well from here on! My surgeon told me there would probably be fluid build-up off and on. I was lucky that I had very little pain.
Hello Daisymae,
I’ve been very lucky as well with little nausea and minor pain for 1-2 days.
Today, I had the gel packing removed. Doctor advised that blood buildup behind the eardrum wil take 4-6 weeks to clear and hearing test will be done then.
All sounds are amplified and sound very hollow/tinny but I can HEAR…feels so good. Driving home, the road / air sound was much louder than all other sounds. I can hear my kids without them shouting. I hope the sound quality improves in next few weeks. I’ve had very bad hearing in left ear for almost 25+ years so any sound right now is welcome. Right ear next!
Isn’t it wonderful to hear! The quality of sound improved in my operated ear. At first the sound seemed distorted. It may have taken 3 or 4 months for the distortion to go away. The sound in that ear seems very normal now.
i think hearing aids that fit well on the ears of the affected person will really be a big help. i just hope that when you undergo surgery, everything will work really fine and find a satisfying result. i know how you guys feel because i have friends who are in the same situation like yours.
Spable, yes, I’d already had the surgery when I posted. I only needed surgery in one ear. I’m thrilled with the results, and with my hearing aids.
Daisy, I had my stapedectomy in my right ear five days ago…so far so good! Going tomorrow for my check up and have the packing taken out
Wow, Squerly! Gosh, I hope you get great results from it. Fingers crossed!