CI with similar hearing background?

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Johnny99

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Hello all -

I am contemplating getting a cochlear implant and trying to find someone who, with a similar hearing background to my own, also received a CI.

Thus, if anyone has the following hearing background or knows of anyone with one, please do not hesitate to get in touch with me - the advice and knowledge and information about their experience would be invaluable to me.

I was born with hearing in both ears but got Meningitis at 11 months of age. This produced a "moderately sloping to profound" hearing loss in my right ear (which I currently have a hearing aid in) and a "dead ear" (otherwise known as profound hearing loss) in my left ear.

I am considering getting a CI in my left ear (the dead ear) and would love to be able to talk to someone who has/had a similar background. I am now 35 years of age and happy to talk to anyone of any age.

Many thanks in advance!
Greg
 
Hi Greg!

I didn't lose my hearing until starting at 7 years old, but like you, I had a moderate to severe right ear worsening to profound and a dead left ear. When it came time to implant, they actually recommended my right ear (they being the House Ear Institute.) I was initially devastated by that suggestion, but now I don't regret that decision in the least.

I suppose it doesn't hurt to do your left ear, but generally the ear that has been hearing one way or another is the one that will do best. So if you do your left, keep in mind that it doesn't really indicate the results you'd have in your right. Of course, your physician would advise you on the best course of action. It sounds like your right can wait, if ever.

Feel free to contact me if you wish!
 
You might not be able to get implanted in your dead ear b/c mengintinas fossilses the cochlear. Although, I do think it is a good idea to check with your doc, especially if you have decent residual hearing in your HOH ear.
 
or he might be able to implant the dead ear. Yes, meningitis may cause ossification in the cochleas, but it doesn't happen with everyone who's had meningitis. For years I was told I definitely had ossification in my left ear and that the CI wouldn't work. Got the CT scan a couple years ago, CI surgeon looked at it and said no ossification or blockage, whoa wait a minute what (both of my cochleas look great and are suitable for cochlear implantation)?! All the "pros" who said I had ossification never had actual proof of my "ossification", they just assumed.

Johnny, if you haven't already, get evaluated by a CI clinic/center and they'll be able to answer any/all of your questions.

I myself had meningitis when I was 2 (I'm 26). Have had severe loss in right ear and profound loss in left ear. Left ear is my dead ear, but that is the ear I'm going to have implanted in March (not ready to give up my right ear just yet). I figured I didn't have anything to lose with the left ear if the implant doesn't work out for whatever reason.
 
Many thanks to the initial replies...to give you some more info, I have been to the CI surgeon who said that there is no ossification in my left (dead) ear, so I qualify for the CI. I believe it's too risky possibly losing the residual hearing I have in my right ear, so I'm considering doing the CI only in the left, at least for now.

The audiologist said that some reasonable expectations with getting the CI in my left ear was that I would get the ability to:

"hear rate, rhythm, number of syllables, male vs. female, some vowel discrimination…..but limited ability to understand speech"

To be honest, this doesn't sound like it's worth getting a CI. I want to be able to hear better overall and if the CI doesn't improve my ability to "understand speech" but instead only discriminate between gender voices, vowel discrimination, etc...I wonder if it's worth getting the CI. Please let me know your thoughts - I really need constructive feedback if there are those who disagree.

However, I am secretly hoping there is someone out there with my hearing background who got implanted in a Dead Ear and had performance better than what the audiologist states is a reasonable expectation for me...any thoughts?

I really appreciate the feedback and all of you who take the time and effort to write responses.

Many thanks,
Greg
 
And cdmeggars, I'd be especially curious to learn about your experience once the CI is implanted...
 
Oh I'll be blogging away about my experiences at CD's Ear Blog as I progress. I'm sure it'll take a long, long time for me to even understand speech if I ever understand any. My audiologist tells me it can take years with a 'dead' ear. Even if I don't understand speech with the implant in the left ear, if I can just hear sounds I'll be happy. I'm determined to do tons of auditory training when I get the implant. :)
 
cdmeggers said:
Oh I'll be blogging away about my experiences at CD's Ear Blog as I progress. I'm sure it'll take a long, long time for me to even understand speech if I ever understand any. My audiologist tells me it can take years with a 'dead' ear. Even if I don't understand speech with the implant in the left ear, if I can just hear sounds I'll be happy. I'm determined to do tons of auditory training when I get the implant. :)
Click to expand...

With that attitude, you'll do great! Best wishes in your journey!
 
Though I have a Cochlear Implant-Advanced Bionics-Harmony and they used my left ear which went "deaf" in December/06.My right ear went "deaf" in Feb/92. Duly advised they always use the ear that went "last":-better results from actual experience. On the face of it-seems "logical to me". I was in the "profound" loss category over 30 years. I had "sensorineural" loss which was genetic-from my father.

It must never be forgotten not everyone can benefit from Implants. Discussing here doesn't change that fact. The reason-lots can go "wrong with our ears" which the ENT doctor can evaluate.

I mentioned before the actual reality where I was a patient-
Sunnybrook/Toronto. Since1984 they have had 3000 referred persons of which only 950 were accepted for Implant operation. I was one. 18 persons didn't benefit from the Implant operation for unknown reasons. Whether other places have similar results-unknown to me. The information came from a recent C I Patients meeting.

My age was 70 when all this happened-almost 5 years ago. Valid to other people?
I was not a member of Alldeaf.com when all this happened. Also I knew since 1992 I would become bilateral DEAF. That happened in December/06.
 
Johnny99 said:
The audiologist said that some reasonable expectations with getting the CI in my left ear was that I would get the ability to:

"hear rate, rhythm, number of syllables, male vs. female, some vowel discrimination…..but limited ability to understand speech"

To be honest, this doesn't sound like it's worth getting a CI. I want to be able to hear better overall and if the CI doesn't improve my ability to "understand speech" but instead only discriminate between gender voices, vowel discrimination, etc...I wonder if it's worth getting the CI. Please let me know your thoughts - I really need constructive feedback if there are those who disagree.

However, I am secretly hoping there is someone out there with my hearing background who got implanted in a Dead Ear and had performance better than what the audiologist states is a reasonable expectation for me...any thoughts?
Click to expand...

I had meningitis at age 2. I don't remember any effort from HA in my left ear, so I guess it was dead. And I got CI there, after 10 years. It was almost 13 years ago and CIs weren't very much used yet (at least in my country), so doctors decided to implant worse ear because if something went wrong, I could still use HA in my right ear. But it was OK.

And .. I don't really know what do you imagine under "understanding speech" and what your doctor means with "limited ability to understand speech". I don't complain - although I still use lipreading, CI is very very worth it. It makes communication easier. In quiet environment I can understand without lipreading. In single words test in quiet and noise I reach scores between 60-90% with my new processor (it was a bit worse with the old one).
So, I'm happy with it, I don't regret getting CI and now I'm considering getting second one :)
 
Johnny99 said:
Hello all -

I am contemplating getting a cochlear implant and trying to find someone who, with a similar hearing background to my own, also received a CI.

Thus, if anyone has the following hearing background or knows of anyone with one, please do not hesitate to get in touch with me - the advice and knowledge and information about their experience would be invaluable to me.

I was born with hearing in both ears but got Meningitis at 11 months of age. This produced a "moderately sloping to profound" hearing loss in my right ear (which I currently have a hearing aid in) and a "dead ear" (otherwise known as profound hearing loss) in my left ear.

I am considering getting a CI in my left ear (the dead ear) and would love to be able to talk to someone who has/had a similar background. I am now 35 years of age and happy to talk to anyone of any age.

Many thanks in advance!
Greg
Click to expand...

Hi Johnny, Obviously you will need to discuss this with your doctor. But my experience is not that different from your. Perhaps I had more hearing that you did growing up. I lost my hearing at age 4 so I am post-lingually deaf. I received my first CI at 35 and was put in my dead ear. Ive not had hearing in that ear for many years (partially due to not being able to afford two HAs). It took me a good year to retrain my brain to listen for speech from that ear. I continued to improve for the next 3 years. I used a CI and a HA for several years but now my other ear is dead and I will be getting a second CI in a few month.

The biggest thing to keep in mind if you do decide to get a CI. It requires a lot of work. there is no getting around that. If you do not want to do the work then you are going to be disappointing in the results.

I actually pushed myself too hard and was angry that I was not improving fast enough. The human brain does not rewire itself very well at our age. It takes time. I learned that the hard way.
 
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