If I said I think people with very profound losses should be given bilateral CIs, you'd tell me they should try the latest hearing aids.
No, not at all. You're right.....it is a very hit and miss thing. It's very indivdual.
I do think if it's completely obvious and clear (they have trialed the latest modren hearing aids with no sucess) that someone gets absolutly no benifit from HA in either ear, they should get bilaterals with no hassle.
But, the point is that response to hearing technology seems to be hit or miss.
There's also the fact that the benifit from bilateral implants isn't as drastic as the first implant. It's basicly sound localization abilty and abilty to hear better in noise. (something that almost all hoh folks deal with as a hassle)
Since a lot of people can get even enviormental sounds or sound localization even with an aid, that indicates that many people would be good canidates for a bimodal approach.
I 100% support bilaterals for those people who totally and completely without a doubt qualify. I do think however that someone who has had profound loss for at least five years should try at least one or two power aids. I mean technology does change. I know of a girl who had such a profound loss in the 80's, that she wore a body worn aid. It did not give her any benifit. She tried digitals a few years ago, and reported sucess, including some speech perception! (She also got a CI, but not sure how that worked out)
