CI or wait for something better?

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No Fear 23

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well to give you a basic background of my hearing. I was born normal hearing and lost my hearing at the age of 2 due to meningitis. I am 100% deaf in my right ear and i'm not sure how much deaf I am in my left ear. I wear an hearing aid in my left ear and I can hear sounds in the hearing world but not well enough...however, I cannot hear speech sound very well and I need to lip-read to be able to understand the person.

I am now 21 years old and I speak very well...very very close to a hearing person. Lately, I have been getting annoyed about the fact that I cannot engage in a group conversation or understand someone well enough with a lot of background noise. I am starting to look into CI now bc I think it would def. help me out a lot. However, I am worried that something else will come out in the future that will make the deaf world not exist literally. I'm talking about better technology then the CI and medical stuff that may be able to generate new hair growth in the ears and will be able to hear like a hearing person.

I don't know if I should wait to see if something better than CI will come out. I feel that if I get CI now...then 5 years later a medical breakthrough saying that it has a cure for hearing loss comes out, will the CI conflict with it by not making you eligible for it, as well as the new technology?

I don't know much about CI. I am looking into all this because I will be graduating college soon and I will be in an environment where constant voice communication is critical.
 
It's up to you. You could actually start the process to see if you'll be able to have an implant or not. You can always decide not to at any time while going through the process.


Oh and as my audie at the CI center said when she was showing me the different devices and I said something like what if things are even more improved in 5 yrs. She just said that you are the one who needs to decide if you want this now or if you want to continue as you are hoping that something better might pop up 5 yrs down the road. (what if that 5 yrs turns to 10 yrs and more)

I'm happy I went with it.

good luck. :)
 
jag said:
It's up to you. You could actually start the process to see if you'll be able to have an implant or not. You can always decide not to at any time while going through the process.


Oh and as my audie at the CI center said when she was showing me the different devices and I said something like what if things are even more improved in 5 yrs. She just said that you are the one who needs to decide if you want this now or if you want to continue as you are hoping that something better might pop up 5 yrs down the road. (what if that 5 yrs turns to 10 yrs and more)

I'm happy I went with it.

good luck. :)
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yea I might look into that so see if I am a candidate. The thing is...would i regret having a CI 5-10 years down the road which made me ineligible for something that makes CI looks like a thing of the past and would make you hear smoother and sharper sounds like a hearing person would? would you be able to take out your implants without suffering the risk and be able to use the new technology?

grr...decisions decisions.

EDIT: one thing i noticed is that when i'm reading CC on Tv...i can hear the sounds that makes out the words in the CC. this tells me that if I had more hearing..I might be able to hear without facing the person and reading their lips. I would love to have that now. The more i look into CI the more I realize the potentional of hearing things better and clearer.
 
As jag mentioned, this is a decison only you can make.

I've had bilateral CIs for the past 2 1/2 years and the difference between what I heard with HAs vs. my CIs is remarkable. I'm able to understand the TV, radio, converse with others in a noisy restaurant, talk on the phone and enjoy music. If I had to do it all over again, I would in a heartbeat. :)

Having said that, it's my opinion that the time to hear is now. If you continually wait for new technology (such as hair cell regeneration which may or may not be available within the next 5-10 years), you will be losing out on the many wonderful sounds and experiences you could be enjoying sooner rather than later.

You might want to set up an appointment for a CI evaluation to discuss this further with an audi and CI surgeon. Perhaps they could also put you in touch with other CI users from your area. If you learn about the experiences of others and how the CI has changed their lives, perhaps this will bring you one step closer to deciding if a CI is right for you.

Good luck! :)
 
No Fear 23 said:
Reading all the CI success stories has made me want it more. its so tempting. but i found this that is kinda holding me back...it is supposedly to be better than CI and is hoping to come out in less than 5-10 years.

Auditory Nerve Implant Next Big Hearing Loss Breakthrough
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From what I understand, the ANI won't be available for at least 10 years since it will take that long to receive FDA approval and for trials to take place.

Of course, I could be wrong, but this is based on the information I've read so far about the ANI.
 
I born with normal hearing and then I got sick with ecoli and lost hearing in both ears. I wore hearing aids since I was 5 and then when I turned 13, my hearing in my left ear decline rapidly where a hearing aid was no use. My speech is fine otherwise.

I thought the same thing when I was 21. I began to discover that I was having problems interacting and relying heavily on lipreading. My ENT told me about cochlear implants then and I brushed it off because I simply wanted something better or technology to be perfected.

Now I am 27, nothing has changed except the fact that my hearing has gotten worse and I am no better off then what I was 6 years ago. I decided to jump into it and see if I was a candidate which I am. I am planning on getting my left ear done which I have 0% speech discrimination but still hear tones in the low frequencies. I figure with that ear, I am not losing anything. I'm schedule for surgery in August. If this works for me, then I could see myself saying I should have gotten this when I was first told about it. That is six years of missing a lot. However, the next six years won't be. If it doesn't work, then I gave the next best thing a try. On top of that, I will have my right ear that I wear a hearing aid in to fall back on.

At this point, I just want to be able to hear.
 
The first step would be to get an evaluation. If you are a candidate and if your right ear is suitable to be implanted you might want to get an implant for the right ear and save the left ear for future technology. If you have not done so already, you might also want to look into assistive listening devices ( i.e. FM systems) and see if you would be happy with them.

I am not sure what kind of career you are going into but you should be thinking about how your hearing will impact that. For example, if your job will involve a lot of meetings would you need an interpreter and would potential employers provide one? Would coworkers be willing to take notes for you? If you are going to work for a small company (<15 employees)ADA( Americans with Disability Act) does not apply.
 
And another several years after that before insurers will reliably cover them. The other "better than a CI" treatment frequently discussed that is in development is hair cell regeneration, and one of the top researchers in that area said in his update at the cochlear implant conference in Charlotte a few months ago that if it were he were a CI candidate today, he would not be waiting around for hair cell regeneration to be available.

Sheri

Hear Again said:
From what I understand, the ANI won't be available for at least 10 years since it will take that long to receive FDA approval and for trials to take place.

Of course, I could be wrong, but this is based on the information I've read so far about the ANI.
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I'd totally go for CI! I mean you're an almost perfect canidate..(lost hearing relatively late)
(such as hair cell regeneration which may or may not be available within the next 5-10 years)
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Yeah I know..........and its still very pipe dreamish. There's a ton of possibilties, but no promises. Even stem cell research might not work out and give the results that we want.
 
i had the same sitution like you had.. i was born hearing.. lost my hearing at 2 due to menegits.. got my CI implanted when i was 25 years old.. i too was wondering if i should wait couple more years for new tech.

however.. i decide to go ahead and have CI sugery because people, even audiologist told me it can take many years to have new tech come up. so i go ahead do one ear.. if something better comes up.. then i have another ear ready for it.


i think the ANI is more risker than a CI surgery. but i might be wrong.

why wait? if i were in ur shoes. i'll go ahead and see if i'm a CI candiate. since your brain isn't used to sounds and might need years of learning maybe or maybe not. it all depends on ur hearing history. and ur mind, ur egar, motivied to learn, etc...

i'm glad i got myself CI rather than waiting for new tech to come up. it helped me alot with hearing people.. understanding them better than without it.
 
deafdyke said:
Yeah I know..........and its still very pipe dreamish. There's a ton of possibilties, but no promises. Even stem cell research might not work out and give the results that we want.
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I agree. There are so many promises being made. I'm against a lot of this anyway on principle. I would rather the money went on rehabilitation and providing already available treatment. It also discourages people from accepting their disability and getting the best out of life with what they've got if there is something better just round the corner I mean. Plus many of this research currently involves animal testing. Although there may be a time in the future when animal testing is no longer used because of all the new methods of testing like computer modeling and stem cells will be finally accepted as not only valid but better. More up to date. One can only hope.
 
dreama said:
I agree. There are so many promises being made. I'm against a lot of this anyway on principle. I would rather the money went on rehabilitation and providing already available treatment. It also discourages people from accepting their disability and getting the best out of life with what they've got if there is something better just round the corner I mean. Plus many of this research currently involves animal testing. Although there may be a time in the future when animal testing is no longer used because of all the new methods of testing like computer modeling and stem cells will be finally accepted as not only valid but better. More up to date. One can only hope.
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:gpost:
 
All that will happen as you wait for something better to come down the pike is that you grow old.
 
I agree with the others. You'd be waiting until the cows come home if you are always waiting for something better. Besides, the longer you wait while your ears are unstimulated, the harder the rehabilitation process will be. In all the studies that I've read about success factors for CIs etc, duration of deafness was one factor that was often mentioned, although not the most important.

The other thing is that CI manufacturers so far have been quite on the ball up until now with backward compatibility when it comes to producing new devices and they have designed the internal implant specifically so that they can easily be upgraded.
 
Forgot to add from my earlier post...I was going to say that I agree with everyone else. Life is too short to be worrying about what the future will bring.
 
R2D2 said:
I agree with the others. You'd be waiting until the cows come home if you are always waiting for something better. Besides, the longer you wait while your ears are unstimulated, the harder the rehabilitation process will be. In all the studies that I've read about success factors for CIs etc, duration of deafness was one factor that was often mentioned, although not the most important.

The other thing is that CI manufacturers so far have been quite on the ball up until now with backward compatibility when it comes to producing new devices and they have designed the internal implant specifically so that they can easily be upgraded.
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Exactly!

Those who wait often are left behind....Carpe Diem!!! (Seize the day!). No time like today for who knows what tomorrow brings.
 
well it fascinating and good to know that researchers are trying to develop other impements besides the CI.ive lost my low tones which is very hard to get back through a HA. Im going to my Otranologinist on the 18th.Ill see what he thinks as he deals with inner ear problems and is up on the latest.
 
No Fear 23 said:
well to give you a basic background of my hearing. I was born normal hearing and lost my hearing at the age of 2 due to meningitis. I am 100% deaf in my right ear and i'm not sure how much deaf I am in my left ear. I wear an hearing aid in my left ear and I can hear sounds in the hearing world but not well enough...however, I cannot hear speech sound very well and I need to lip-read to be able to understand the person.

I am now 21 years old and I speak very well...very very close to a hearing person. Lately, I have been getting annoyed about the fact that I cannot engage in a group conversation or understand someone well enough with a lot of background noise. I am starting to look into CI now bc I think it would def. help me out a lot. However, I am worried that something else will come out in the future that will make the deaf world not exist literally. I'm talking about better technology then the CI and medical stuff that may be able to generate new hair growth in the ears and will be able to hear like a hearing person.

I don't know if I should wait to see if something better than CI will come out. I feel that if I get CI now...then 5 years later a medical breakthrough saying that it has a cure for hearing loss comes out, will the CI conflict with it by not making you eligible for it, as well as the new technology?

I don't know much about CI. I am looking into all this because I will be graduating college soon and I will be in an environment where constant voice communication is critical.
Click to expand...


Use your wost ear.....

I did that to preserve my left ear which is the best ear. I didn't wait for technology around the corner. I just simply have my worst right ear implanted with Nucelus 24C. My implant is compatible with Nucelus Freedom processor if I can afford it as an upgrade. It is about 10% louder than my current 3G BTE processor. Also have option to use rechargeable battery..

So when a newest medicial technology arrived that do not use BATTERY or EXTERNAL POWER!! I would run for it if I am still alive and kick'n LOL. I hoped that they will find a new way to restore nerves in cochlea. Who knows it'll be there in next 10 to 20 years.

Sometime it's not worth waiting for technology to come. Regrets will come to you on ur deathbed. Grab it now just for one ear and wait for better technology for other ear....

Good Luck
Catty
 
LTHFAdvocate said:
And another several years after that before insurers will reliably cover them. The other "better than a CI" treatment frequently discussed that is in development is hair cell regeneration, and one of the top researchers in that area said in his update at the cochlear implant conference in Charlotte a few months ago that if it were he were a CI candidate today, he would not be waiting around for hair cell regeneration to be available.

Sheri
Click to expand...

Thanks for the quote.. I never thought of the fact that it would take insurance companies many more years to cover stem cells or smilar . This fact has made my decision on getting a CI stronger .
 
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