considering a cochlear implant

rjr2006

rjr2006

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ADers,
I am thinking about getting a cochlear implant, but I don't know if it would benefit for young adults like me (I'm 21).. I am profoundly deaf (dB of 90+) and I do wear digital hearing aids, but I only hear some of words. I'm not sure if the implant will harm my power wheelchair.
Usually, implants work best in younger children, but I am an adult and I hope that it is not too late.

I see that most of wheelchair users are hearing and it is easier for them to hire personal assistants because they can talk and hear. My case is different because no personal assistants would want to communicate with me because of profound deafness.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
 
It's not too late even though implants work best on young children and late deafened adults. I'm 40 years old and I got an implant. I've heard of people who were 90 years old who got implanted.

I doubt the implant will harm your wheel chair.
 
deafskeptic said:
It's not too late even though implants work best on young children and late deafened adults. I'm 40 years old and I got an implant. I've heard of people who were 90 years old who got implanted.

I doubt the implant will harm your wheel chair.
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were you 100% deaf before you got an implant?
 
I grew up with a similar hearing loss to you and with hearing aids. I got my CI as an adult aged 35 last year after my hearing loss went from about 90db - 105db to 120db+ suddenly without warning.
I'm really pleased with the results of my CI. I get a lot more auditory information. Listening and communicating in a hearing environment is much easier and less tiring for me. There is no guarantee that you will get the same results and it could be that you will be disappointed. Certainly you will need to be patient and prepared to put in some effort in terms of AV therapy if necessary. Having said that, people like us, who were pre-lingually deaf but who can understand a reasonable amount of speech with hearing aids are considered to be candidates for CIs.

I would get yourself evaluated by a professional at a CI clinic. They will be wanting to look at other things such as the structure of your ear, prior auditory experience, your balance, whether you have realistic expectations and so on. Usually, the most common reason that someone get's turned down is because they do too well with their hearing aids e.g. being able to use a telephone.

Good luck with whatever you decide :)
 
rjr2006 said:
were you 100% deaf before you got an implant?
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I was born with a severe to profound loss. No, I wasn't 100% deaf before I got impanted. I had a hard time wearing my hearing aid due to recruiment issues. I could hear a lot of things with it.
 
I'd say go in for a consult/testing and see what they say. Good luck.
 
If you would like to talk to other people who also have implants and get more information you can go to cochlear's website- they have a mailing list that's awesome. Your best bet now though - is to get evaulated and talk to a cochlear implant specialist.
 
and I do wear digital hearing aids, but I only hear some of words.
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Do you mean you only hear parts of words or only some words?
What's the etoilogy of your loss? Were you ever able to hear normally? Does anyone know if there's a difference in increase in word discrimination for prelingals, if they could hear some with hearing aids? I mean the CI is basicly "turning up the volumne" (not literally I know....but it does increase word perception) They are getting more openminded about implanting kids with multiple disabilites so I would go for it!
 
Also if you have better hearing in one ear, you could get the worse ear implanted, so you have nothing to lose, and you can still wear an aid in your other ear.
 
deafdyke said:
Do you mean you only hear parts of words or only some words?
What's the etoilogy of your loss? Were you ever able to hear normally? Does anyone know if there's a difference in increase in word discrimination for prelingals, if they could hear some with hearing aids? I mean the CI is basicly "turning up the volumne" (not literally I know....but it does increase word perception) They are getting more openminded about implanting kids with multiple disabilites so I would go for it!
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i am completely deaf, but HAs make me a little HOH.

Oh really? Well, will doctors accept Medicare? many would not accept Title 19 because they pay less
 
off topic
Men, did the doctor put catheter up the urethra before the operation? I know what it is and I would not drink a night before the surgery.
off topic
 
rjr2006 said:
i am completely deaf, but HAs make me a little HOH.

Oh really? Well, will doctors accept Medicare? many would not accept Title 19 because they pay less
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Yes, many CI centers accept Medicare patients.
 
rjr2006 said:
i am completely deaf, but HAs make me a little HOH.
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If you are saying you have a hearing loss of 90db+ that doesn't make you completely deaf. I'd say you are probably profoundly deaf but only a professional audiologist can diagnose you properly. Have you had a hearing test lately?

Completely deaf people would not be able to benefit from hearing aids one bit since hearing aids use natural residual hearing to work. They amplify the little natural hearing that you have. At profound levels of deafness however, quite a bit of distortion of sounds can occur through hearind aids and a cochlear implant is more likely to the edge on clarity.

Cochlear Implants will work on completely deaf people because it works in a different way. Instead of amplifying natural hearing, external sound is picked up via a microphone, which is then coded into digital signals and then fired as impulses to the hearing nerve. The brain picks up those impulses and interprets them as sound.

However in the process of getting a cochlear implant you will likely lose your residual hearing. This means you won't be able to go back to hearing aids. That is why they only tend to operate on people who have no hearing or who struggle with their aids.
 
deafdyke said:
Does anyone know if there's a difference in increase in word discrimination for prelingals, if they could hear some with hearing aids?
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I know someone who was born prelingually deaf who could understand speech on the day of her activation. I don't know how common this is, but it does happen even though the instances of it occurring may be rare.

To answer yout question DD, even if a prelingual CI user's word discrimination doesn't improve through listening with a CI alone, it can certainly improve with the help of the CI and lipreading.
 
rjr2006 said:
i am completely deaf, but HAs make me a little HOH.
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I'm just curious...what does "a little HoH mean?" Are you able to understand speech with your hearing aids at all? Are you able to hear with an FM system and/or communicate with others in a quiet one-on-one environment?
 
Hear Again said:
To answer yout question DD, even if a prelingual CI user's word discrimination doesn't improve through listening with a CI alone, it can certainly improve with the help of the CI and lipreading.
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Yes. The CI should be seen as a tool that helps with the overall picture of communication. If there has been a big increase in a pre-lingual being able to perceive speech without visual cues then that is a bonus. It happened in my case, but it doesn't happen for everyone.
 
Your best bet for getting someone who takes Medicare is to go to a University-based implant center.

Also, generally no catheterization is involved since the total time for surgery usually ranges from 90 minutes to 3 hours depending on the speed of your surgeon and assuming you don't have any cochlear anomalies like a Mondini's malformation, common cavity, or ossification

Sheri

rjr2006 said:
i am completely deaf, but HAs make me a little HOH.

Oh really? Well, will doctors accept Medicare? many would not accept Title 19 because they pay less
Click to expand...
 
No, it's never too late. :]

I'm 28 & just got my 1st CI on May 17th. Got activated June 21st and am loving it! I've been Deaf since birth, due to Rubella. My hearing loss was severe-profound at like 85-90 dB. I grew up using two hearing aids 'til 6 yrs ago I stopped wearing one. I got implanted on that side. I still wear hearing aid on my non implanted side. I'm hearing things much better than I ever did with both hearing aids. It's truly amazing. :]

Good luck on whatever you do decide. You could at least go ahead with the evaluation and see if you're a candidate then go from there. . . either way, good luck, and keep us updated!
 
Hear Again, the way I'm thinking is that a person who has some word perception with HAs would be able to build on that foundation easier then a person who could only hear enviromental sounds or nothing at all with HAs.
 
well.. if you will work really hard, chances are you will hear much better than you expect.
There is no guarantee, but I think if you can hear a bit with HA you will hear better with CI.

I think only the professional will tell you more accurately.

Fuzzy
 
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