How Good Are Cochlear Implants?

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Doug5

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Ive never been impressed with hearing aids. They do help me hear but are uncomfortable and take them out as soon as possible. I have moderate hearing loss. Will the implants help? How well does music sound with them?
 
I did some research and it looks like they got a ways to go. Its only a matter of time before they hear better than dogs.
 
I'm afraid you're not a likely candidate for an implant. This is because cochlear implants destroy any hearing that you might have left thus it's reserved for those with Severe to Profound loss.

From what I heard, outcomes can vary widely with implants but yes they're very helpful. I've no idea how well they do with music or stuff.
 
I can live with the hearing I got for now. I was confused by the so called controversy about them. Gave me the impression they eliminated all the hearing loss.
 
deafskeptic said:
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From what I heard, outcomes can vary widely with implants but yes they're very helpful. I've no idea how well they do with music or stuff.
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Yes, that is true that outcomes can vary widely. Having said that, generally speaking the CI folks can predict pretty well how individuals will turn out. They tend to estimate with slightly lower expectations. Of course now and then, things don't turn as expected (either much better or much worst).

Depending on the person and their background and all that jazz, CIs can be great for music and other stuff. I should know as I have a blast listening to music. The real key I think is what hearing one has developed prior to getting a CI.
 
Doug5 said:
Ive never been impressed with hearing aids. They do help me hear but are uncomfortable and take them out as soon as possible. I have moderate hearing loss. Will the implants help? How well does music sound with them?
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the CI is much better then the HA (imo) My hearing loss was severe, not profound as the people who post here with Ci's had. I used HA's somewhat sucessfully, but life was very stressful with trying to understand. UGH. Don't miss it. :)

I qualified because my insurance granted me an exception based on my inability to hear in noise, only got the first sentence, and my drs. ablitlity to write a good letter. :)

To let you know what is needed to qualify. According to the implant centers dr (the audiologist one) one needs to hear less then 60% of the HINT sentences. (i could understand about 69-70%) if you're on a gov. insurance like medicare/medicaid and hear anything over 60% you are stuck with your HA's, with other insurance like mine you 'might' have a chance to get a CI. Just depends on the testing, your drs and your insurance. With a moderate loss you'd probably still test to high for most insurance so not be able to get an exception.

One thing you might want to watch in the next few years is the hibred CI , I think that's what they call it, it's only inserted partially with a smaller electrode array and helps with the high frequencey losses. My family has the reverse slope so this type of CI wouldn't do much good.

They are also testing a internal HA. (middle ear) My daughter is part of that trail, hopefully it'll become available...other wise she's going to have to get a CI. :) In the hospital that she's going to for the trial once they get the thing working right the people really like it over the HA's. I really hope it turns out to be a success. :)
 
In my opinion, the CI is *much* better than a HA! I'm able to hear whispers, female voices, birds singing, communicate in noisy environments -- the list goes on and on. I can also hear at a distance -- something I couldn't do before with HAs.

If truth be told, I hear better now than I ever have before! Prior to my CIs, my speech understanding was 22% for sentences in quiet and 0% for sentences in noise and single words. With a single CI, my speech discrimination improved to 93% for sentences in quiet and 90% for single words. With bilateral CIs, my speech discrimination in quiet was 97%, 95% for sentences in noise and 92% for single words.

Thanks to my CIs, music sounds absolutely wonderful! I can hear all of the layers of music including harmony, melody, background vocals and I can identify instruments whether they are played alone or in unison. With HAs, music enjoyment was a one dimensional experience. With my CIs, it's three dimensional.

As far as the qualifications for a CI are concerned, I've heard of two cases where people with moderately-severe to profound hearing loss were implanted. However, general CI criteria state that a person must have a severe or severe to profound loss with speech discrimination of 60% or less in the better ear and 50% or less in the worse ear (aided).

How well a person hears with a CI varies. Some people are able to talk on the phone while others hear environmental sounds.

There are no guarantees as to how well a person will function with a CI, but hard work, persistence and a positive attitude can go a long way towards ensuring that a person does the very best they can with a CI.
 
Beware of the magnets...*chasing after people with CI implants* No, I won't do that....
 
Beware of CI magnets inadvertantly attaching themselves to refrigerators, file cabinets and the like.

One time I leaned my head against a file cabinet at which point my CI magnet "jumped" from my head to the cabinet. :)

I've also had my CI magnets pulled off by accident while using an umbrella.

Just some things to keep in mind because CI magnets *love* metal surfaces. LOL!
 
I've heard of two cases where people with moderately-severe to profound hearing loss were implanted. However, general CI criteria state that a person must have a severe or severe to profound loss with speech discrimination of 60% or less in the better ear and 50% or less in the worse ear (aided).

How well a person hears with a CI varies. Some people are able to talk on the phone while others hear environmental sounds.
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I have too, but I think that they are still really strict about implanting folks with not so severe hearing losses. Like I think most of the people with moderate losses, probaly had a complicated loss, or may have had auditory nereopathy.
Hear Again, thanks for the results vary thing. End results are basicly just like those with hearing aids. Some people with hearing aids can only hear enviormental sounds, some can only hear some words and so on...Same with CI.
Oh, and it sounds like the OP was talking about discomfort wearing hearing aids, not nessarily quality of sound.
Have you tried experimenting with different earmolds? That might be the key.
 
deafdyke,

I think you're right about how strict many CI centers are about only implanting people who have severe or severe to profound loss.

When I spoke to an MEI (middle ear implant) specialist back in 2001 after being referred to him by my ENT because of continued hearing loss, I was told that I "didn't have enough hearing to qualify for an MEI and a little too much hearing to qualify for a CI." My hearing loss was severe to profound with 30% discrimination (right ear only since left ear had no speech discrimination since 1995). I should mention that I didn't receive a complete hearing test or evaluation from a qualified CI center. (All I was given was a pure tone hearing test and word testing with my HAs on.)

When I was evaluated for a CI in 2004 (at a qualified CI center), I had profound loss in my left ear, severe-profound loss in my right ear and 22% speech discrimination for sentences in quiet aided. I was considered an excellent candidate.

deafdyke, you are exactly right about children or adults with moderate, severe or profound AN being implanted. Interestingly enough, when I was evaluated for a CI, my audi administered an ABR to rule out AN because of my neonatal history (I was born prematurely and had many of the same symptoms/conditions that cause AN). The ABR was negative and showed the sensorineural hearing loss I just described.

Do you know if CI centers are implanting children and adults with mild AN?
 
*shrug* I dunno........but I mean I think if they did, then almost everyone would be OK with it except for the hardcore anti ciers. I mean aids don't work in auditory nereopathy. I do think however that most other people with a lot of hearing left, should be required to experiment with other options BEFORE CI.... I mean hearing results are just so indivdualistic that it's hard to say why someone does well with one type of aid, whereas another person doesn't do as well.
 
True, very true. Actually, some people with AN *do* benefit from HAs -- although the number is probably smaller than those who benefit from the CI. I know of at least 3 children with AN who are doing great with HAs. I also know AN children who are doing wonderfully with the CI. I guess it all comes down to evaluating each case individually to determine what path is the right one to follow.
 
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