Hi im new here. Question about cochlear implants

Im looking foward reading other peoples experance with an cochlea implant.Can you hear clearly and confortable with em? I just lost 30% of my hearing. It i had 50% hearing left now i have only 20% left. Hearing aid worked perfecly until now . Now hearing aids can do no good for me. I wonder for those of you wore a hearing aid and now have an cochlea implant.Is the cochlea implant just as good wearing a hearing aid or what?
Heres my history.
Born left ear totaly deaf never worked at all. Then by age 5 my hearing went from 100% down to 60%-65% range it stayed that way unit now at age 43. From 60%-65% range all the way down between 80%-90% hearing loss but sometimes it climbs up and gone back down again,When i sleep and wake up i hear nothing at all. Then 90 minutes after i wake up it came back 80% which on the scale is like 20% left. Now my clairty was 85-95% Now its at 8%. last time recently heard great was in august 2004 then i suddenly heard cloggong but still can hear out of my hearing aid. Some days are good other was bad io still heard good outta my hearing aid then. Suddenly 1st week of october my hearing just went flat down i heard loud ringing roaring sounds bell sounds ckicking sounds . Thats when i got problems. Been to 2 hearing tests both showed 80% hearing loss ande 8% clarity loss. And my hearing aid done no good. So what you think? Can the implant give me back my peace of mind? And can i hear birds, Cat purring,,Dog barking and music again as well TV and going to the movies?I wish i can keep my job at the movie theater which i enjoyed my job so much!.Like i said,,I wore a hearing aid all my life,,I heard birds,,Cat purring,,Dog barking ,,I heard sirens and very spoken speech words. I even enjoyed movies,comedy shows on TV and i often go to sporting events.

Well, to answer simply, you have a very good chance of regaining what you had. Based on average of what I know from talking to other people with CI's and their history.

The chances of it not working is always present in every single person, but the chances are always very low with people who heard good. It's always good to keep the reality of the CI pro and con in mind. It just prepares you better.

Anyway, I suggest you really go on google.com and type cochlear implant. You will get a bunch of information. Go to yahoogroup.com and type cohclear implant you'll get information to join forums and talk to others with CI. Take your time to fully make a decision. I bet you already know about Hi-Resolution, Nucleus and Medel? 3 implants available? Just request information, talk to people, ask your center or company to give you names of people with a similar hearing history to talk to or e-mail. Choose the implant that most agree with your guts, dreams, whatever to help you make your choice because they are not proven to be too different from each other. It's the effort you put into it that matters. Wearing everday, practice (if needed), fine tuning mappings, etc.

Hope that helps. You'll find a great amount of information online. Your center can ask people to come talk to you. It's best if it's a similar hearing loss history to yours.

Hi ravensteve, I'm glad you found your way here! There are loads of people here who can help you MUCH better then I can! Yes, progressive losses tend to do really well with CIs (probaly almost as well as post-lingal and late deafened losses)