CI consultation?

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LadySekhmet

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Well,

I'm thinking about making the appointment to see if I qualify for CI. I have not 100% decided on CI, but at least I will know in advance if I qualify or not
Now, I've been told that when they do speech recognization I should lie and pretend that I didn't hear them. That way I *will* get CI. However, my speech recognziation will exceed their "requirements"...at least I'm 95% positive that I will pass that part.

So, what should I do? Lie? I don't think I should lie because what if I lie then the CI really doesn't help me, and it's all because of that part. I also think I shouldn't lie because what if there's a better and more powerful hearing aids that will do me justice.

To lie or not to lie? That's the question....
 
No, don't lie. Apart from the fact that it's morally wrong, they do other tests as well which will form part of the whole picture. If you lie, your test results will look wrong and disjointed and they will likely suspect that you aren't being completely truthful, which may compromise you in terms of getting insurance approval. Not to mention that lying is stressful in itself - who wants that stress?

You want the best solution for YOU. That may include a different hearing aid and usually a CI centre will have you trial hearing aids first before you go for the surgery, particularly if you have residual hearing already. Make use of that. If hearing aids don't do anything for you and you go the CI route, then at least you are satisfied in your own mind that you made the right choice for you.

We're happy to help out with any questions you have. Don't forget this is a hearing aid board as well so if you have questions about that too then I'm sure someone will come along to help.
 
wow. That says it all. :)

Thanks to you R2D2, and I will not lie. I do have residual hearing left in my right ear, and very little left in my right. As far as I know, I have about 90 DB loss in my right, 105 db loss in my left.

I currently wear Siemens Triano SP in both ears. The programming part is very annoying because when I'm in the room, it sounds so quiet during the programming, however in the real world it sounds weird in a way. I cannot explain it. I may need a better audiologist who has more expertise at tweaking the programming.

That's why my biggest worry is even if I do decide on the CI method, it's the matter of fact if it will work because I can't go back.

Thanks again R2D2
 
Dont lie. When one is going deaf, an audiologist recognizes a certain pattern of sound degeneration (measured in hz - hertz). If you suddenly describe your hearing as completely deaf, your aud will red flag this as something serious and refer you to an ENT for FURTHER evaluation.
 
CI's are last resort items for people who would otherwise not be able to recognize speech.. You mentioned you would score fairly well.. I say you should stick with your aids.. go to another Audie if you like.. but once you have a CI in.. you can't revert the damage it has done by its insertion..

CI's are not a panacea to hearing loss.. while I fully approve in their continued use and expansion.. they are still not something to take lightly..

Go find a good audie in your area and tell them your issues.. thats what they are there for.. Much like a "shrink" or any other doctor; if you do not tell them "the whole truth" they will be unable to help you to the fullest extent..

All I can say is.. good luck.. and I hope you will find something that works for you.. but, you can't undo a CI...
 
LadySekhmet said:
...
So, what should I do? Lie? I don't think I should lie because what if I lie then the CI really doesn't help me, and it's all because of that part. I also think I shouldn't lie because what if there's a better and more powerful hearing aids that will do me justice.

To lie or not to lie? That's the question....
Click to expand...

Boggles my mind that one would even consider this option (of lying)...just to get a CI?!? I have one (and have done incredibly well with it) but I never took it that lightly.

As others have said, be straight up about it and let them (the CI center) tell you if you are a candidate or not. If you are, then great and you can make that fateful decision either way. If not, you still have options and you can get on with your life.
 
Hey LadySekeomet,
One thing that might help you........If you're going to a "general" audi (ie their caseload is mostly adults with aquirred losses), switch to an audi who is very experianced with people who have been dhh since they were young. They could help you with tweaking programs for your hearing aids. You really might just need a different hearing aid (like the super power kind)
I'm glad everyone is very "I Love CI" but should be last resort"
Excellent..............
 
LadySekhmet said:
Well,

I'm thinking about making the appointment to see if I qualify for CI. I have not 100% decided on CI, but at least I will know in advance if I qualify or not
Now, I've been told that when they do speech recognization I should lie and pretend that I didn't hear them. That way I *will* get CI. However, my speech recognziation will exceed their "requirements"...at least I'm 95% positive that I will pass that part.

So, what should I do? Lie? I don't think I should lie because what if I lie then the CI really doesn't help me, and it's all because of that part. I also think I shouldn't lie because what if there's a better and more powerful hearing aids that will do me justice.

To lie or not to lie? That's the question....
Click to expand...

If you are not 100% sold on the idea of a cochlear implant and are willing to lie on a speech discrimination test, then you should reconsideration what your primary goal is. The damage is irreversible and the work it entails is not as easy as replacing a dead hearing aid battery. I just had the CI surgery on my left (worse ear). When I took the speech discrimination tests, I tried my hardest to get every single word I could understand. With me trying my hardest, I ended up well underneath the percentage needed to qualify.

However, your hearing loss was the same as mine for a couple years up until this past February before it got progressively worse. I presently wear a Siemens Triano SP in my right ear and I haven't been all that happy with it either. It is the only hearing aid that I could tolerate unfortunately. The Oticon sumo tone just sound too weird to me. I can vouch for how quiet it sound during the adjustments. I hated it when the audiologist turns around to me and goes how does that sound and its dead silence. I'm like "Yeah doc, I have a great comparison field here." Siemens is definitely a pain to get adjusted.

When was the last time you had a speech discrimination test?
 
I would see if anything can be done to make your hearing aid sound better to you. I would also have the hearing aids checked to see if they are functioning properly. Finally, I would have your hearing checked. If HAs give you adequate speech discrimination I would stick with HAs.
 
I want to touch on this topic of how well you hear - I think you said you had about 90-100 dB in each ear?

I just got implanted this summer. In the testing we'd done before, I think I was at 90-ish in one ear and 100 in another (it's too late to go digging through my records to check, but that's what I recall), and I had pretty decent speech recognition in some environments; it's just that it was getting harder.

When we did the testing, I think I scored a 40% with both ears on the word list, and 16% on the ear that now has an implant. I was only a bit surprised - I honestly thought I'd gotten more words correct than I did, though I knew I hadn't done all that well. My mother (who sat in the testing booth with me) was *really* surprised - and my dad had a similar reaction during a later round of testing. I did well enough communicating that they had not expected me to do that poorly on the test. The key of course, is context, semantics, body language, and lip reading - the secondary channels that carry information. So although you may do so-so (or even "well" by your/our standards), you may still be a candidate for an implant, once you enter the sound booth.

So yeah, I know you've already come to the conclusion that lying would be a bad idea, but here's another reason: if you score well enough on the test that you're not eligible, it's quite likely that you're better off staying with hearing aids - at least for the moment. And if you do your best, you may just surprise yourself and, uh, completely fail.
 
Well,
No I'm not going to lie. :) No worries about that.
At least I will be making an appointment for the consultation. The audi says that they will be very thorough, and if I do have problems with my hearing aids currently, they will fix it that day regardless.
Speech discrimination test - i don't even think I ever had one since I was really young. Is that the test where they would say "Ball, Baseball, boy, hot dog", etc....if so, they never really asked me "what did I say?" because I could tell right away exactly what they said. Instead, they just lower the volume until I can't hear it anymore.

I'm not giving up on my hearing aids, technology is always changing, so there may be some room for improvement. I just want to see if I have the option to do CI.

Thanks for everyone's input! It means a lot hearing it from other people that doesn't even know me. :-D
 
I think that's called an SRT test. The word test I'm thinking of it=s one where you don't know what words might be on the test.
 
Or a spondee test.


I'm not giving up on my hearing aids, technology is always changing, so there may be some room for improvement. I just want to see if I have the option to do CI.
Click to expand...
Oh definitly............you can get evaluated for CI if you have MILD loss! Go for the evaluation. But be HONEST on the spondee/SRT test. If you score low, and they say that a CI might be a good idea, that would be very fortitouis (sp?) Say that you want a complete and total evaluation, including seeing about tweaking your hearing aid settings etc.
 
I was just evaluated today. The testing was.. well.. interesting. I knew they were going to do speech recognition or whatever. The audiologist for a while said words off a list... I got most of them. But the sentence part of the test, which is more realistic (since everyone speaks in sentences)... well they used a CD for that. A couple of sentences I missed COMPLETELY (made no sense to me, didn't even sound like words), and yeah. Some sentences, I missed a few words since I couldn't understand them. And also, I wasn't hearing the lower frequencies (since the bass levels had been turned down on my HA a couple months ago so I could "hear" better at my sister's wedding), and that REALLY showed. But I ended up scoring 52% overall. The single-word I scored better on, the sentence part, not so much. And because I scored 0% with my left ear on EVERYTHING, that was factored in too. They were surprised that I had absolutely no results with my left ear, even with a hearing aid. So they're concerned about ossification.... but anyway, I'll stop rambling. Just wanted to share my testing experience.
 
My daughter was having an awful time getting her HA's programmed so she could actually hear speech over background noise. What her audiologist finally did was take you outside the building and talk to her while the traffic was going by. This helped the audiologist figure out what might need to be changed. Then after they went in and made the changes they went out and tried again. She did this until my daughter was happy with the results. Now the fans in the ceilings no longer overwhelm the conversations.
 
jag said:
My daughter was having an awful time getting her HA's programmed so she could actually hear speech over background noise. What her audiologist finally did was take you outside the building and talk to her while the traffic was going by. This helped the audiologist figure out what might need to be changed. Then after they went in and made the changes they went out and tried again. She did this until my daughter was happy with the results. Now the fans in the ceilings no longer overwhelm the conversations.
Click to expand...


hmm.... that's an interestng way to program the HA's! That's never happened when I get my hearing reprogrammed. Maybe we should try this on Tuesday when I get my hearing aid adjusted. Thanks for the idea. :)
 
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