I'm with you about not emotionally ready for CI, or in my case, going in there and "cementing" the crack shut and hoping for the best.
I will try to relate to you what it was like for me, when outta the blue, a friend sends me all the info on the bone conduction head phones. My first BP was a idonn ($47), and I paired it up to my Kindle Fire 7. I also put an Equalizer FX on the Kindle. I did allot of experimenting at first, and found an amazing thing, I could put the phone, anywhere on my skull, and "listen", although at the treble end of the spectrum, and as I push the phone closer to my ear lobe ,(TRAGUS), the fidelity and the bass came in.
My brain was having a terrible time constantly trying to cypher all the sounds, bouncing around the ear canal, and not being able to instantly locate from where a sound is coming , and if there is more than one sound , well, forget about it, it was most depressing. I would put my foam ear plug in and the world seemed to completely fade away, so much so that I found myself wishing that I had lost both my ears, to that granite slab. I, of course, am not deaf from birth, and can understand words and sounds, but but as soon as I started putting on a bone phone in the morning, I could sit back and "relax", with any music or talk, right in my brain as it were, but still do the normal things around the house, and I'm much more confident in myself now. The world is coming into my ear canal, but with the bonephone on , I get to be director of this show, and being now able to more focus on my stuff, but still be able to "hear" through the canal, has been a GOD send. This is how I am "combating " the tinnitus, and loss of hearing, both extremely depressing. Staying calm and focusing on what I want to understand, has pushed all that to the background drone, which I can now accept as my new normal. There is no calm, when even a door slamming, makes me jump.
VIVA bone phone!!
I'm going to continue on this new path, and put inner ear surgery on a back burner for now, along with the tinnitus and the stress. Plus,... this to consider,...the two conduction phones, are a total of 147 dollars, and Equalizer FX for Kindle Fire is free.
Then I got a Aftershokz ($100) and paired it to my Samsung 7, and now can be sitting at my laptop, writing a letter, and also be talking to my friend on the phone, and also listening to music , with my equalizer, all at the same time, and in control of my "mixing board". so much more to talk about. I hope I've helped.
dont know how this picture will come thru, but..
