I'm a candidate!!!!

[contradica]

I started my journey on cochlear implant candidacy today at HUP. I already had a cat scan and a MRI done prior to the appointment. When I arrived they did the standard hearing tests, pressure, tone, speech recognition, bone conduction. My audiogram revealed my pure tone measures for the right as 98 and 107 for the left. My speech recognition or discrimination threshold without my hearing aid is 90 for the right and the left, while the supra-threshold measure is 105 with 8% word discrimination for the right and 105 with 0% word discrimination for my left. I would love to have some clarification on what threshold and supra-threshold measures are. The tests showed I have severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss in both ears which I already knew.

My next step involved meeting with the cochlear implant surgeon and he took a look at the CT Scan, MRI, my previous and present audiograms. He told me I am a candidate for the cochlear implant. The speech kind of went like candidates should have high hopes but low expectations as results differ from person to person, the risk associated with the surgery, the pro and cons of implanting either ear. I would like to have my left ear implanted considering that I get absolutely no benefit from a hearing aid and I have nothing to lose. I am skeptical on having my right ear implanted because it is the ear I wear a hearing aid with., So after deciding that I would like to go ahead with the evaluation, he wrote out a prescription for blood work and to have a balance test done which will be completed in the next few weeks. So the ball is in my court and I’m bouncing

Is there anyone else that has severe to profound loss with response in the low frequencies but no response in the high frequencies that have been implanted? If so, could you share any of your experiences with your implant with this type of hearing loss?

-Abbie

 

[darkangel8603]

Hi, first of all congrats.

I am similar to you, profound to severe deaf since birth (I don't know if you been deaf since birth or not) and have response to low frequencies and none for high frequencies. I can't remember my speech recognition or discrimination level. And in 2005 I went under the knife to get implanted. I got implanted in my better ear as they prefer to use the better ear than the not so good ear as more healthy hair cell in your ear will be able to be used to hear than the lousy ear. So you probably will have it implanted on ur better ear, but who knows maybe I am wrong, maybe it is different there.

Anyway my CI got turned on in November 2005, and it was odd at first, when my parent talked, my mom sounded like daffy duck, but I got used to it and it sound normal now, I can hear alot more clearly of speech and other sounds that I haven't heard like birds singing etc. But since I don't have any high frequencies response before operation, I still cannot hear very very high pitched sounds, its sounds like my implant was turned off when a high pitch sound is being heard. Its get confusing sometimes because I am watching tv, and then the fire alarm goes off (hearing fire alarm, not visual) and my ci is like muted with other general sounds like the tv because the high pitch was interfering with the other sounds, and I couldn't figure it out as the dogs get all excited and jumpy, that is when i realized the fire alarm was going off. lol.

Everybody's experience are different, some don;t like it, some love it, it depends on people, and also it is a risk that everybody has to think about to take before doing it, because there are risks that it wont work, and that is a big waste and disappointment. But if it does work, great! It will take some getting used to at first, but you will get used to it after a while.

 

[R2D2]

Congratulations on making candidacy, Abbie

In relation to your questions have you ever worn a hearing aid in the worse ear? I think that if it has been stimulated that you will in all likelihood be pleased with the results that you get from a CI.

In my case, I chose to have the best stimulated ear implanted but by then it was useless with a hearing aid, so it was an easy choice to make. It was an ear that loved low frequency sounds and didn't pick up high frequencies so well. With the CI, it's been fine. There was one map when I had a reaction to high frequencies but the audiologist just temporarily turned off the electrodes that were causing me discomfort and then turned them back on later.

I know that you are going for an AB but I am sure that the same principles will still apply.

When are you likely to get a date?

 

[contradica]

Hi, first of all congrats.

I am similar to you, profound to severe deaf since birth (I don't know if you been deaf since birth or not) and have response to low frequencies and none for high frequencies. I can't remember my speech recognition or discrimination level. And in 2005 I went under the knife to get implanted. I got implanted in my better ear as they prefer to use the better ear than the not so good ear as more healthy hair cell in your ear will be able to be used to hear than the lousy ear. So you probably will have it implanted on ur better ear, but who knows maybe I am wrong, maybe it is different there.

Anyway my CI got turned on in November 2005, and it was odd at first, when my parent talked, my mom sounded like daffy duck, but I got used to it and it sound normal now, I can hear alot more clearly of speech and other sounds that I haven't heard like birds singing etc. But since I don't have any high frequencies response before operation, I still cannot hear very very high pitched sounds, its sounds like my implant was turned off when a high pitch sound is being heard. Its get confusing sometimes because I am watching tv, and then the fire alarm goes off (hearing fire alarm, not visual) and my ci is like muted with other general sounds like the tv because the high pitch was interfering with the other sounds, and I couldn't figure it out as the dogs get all excited and jumpy, that is when i realized the fire alarm was going off. lol.

Everybody's experience are different, some don;t like it, some love it, it depends on people, and also it is a risk that everybody has to think about to take before doing it, because there are risks that it wont work, and that is a big waste and disappointment. But if it does work, great! It will take some getting used to at first, but you will get used to it after a while.

Thank you so much for sharing your experience with me! I had to chuckle at a few things you mentioned and I will explain why in the body of this reply.

I was born hearing and then around 4-5, I was diagnosed with a hearing loss and fitted for hearing aids in both ears. Then when I was 12, I got that darth vadar voice in my left ear which my hearing aid provided no benefit. I'm very leery just giving up what good hearing I have n my right. Its my baby so to speak. I am hoping that auditory memory will help me sway them to implant in the left.

I just love reading your post because I can feel your joy through your words. I can only imagine how going from daffy duck to normal voices. I can picture the fire alarm routine. I've had situations where apparently my oven timer which is extra loud so I don't burn my cakes and I'm completely oblivious to it half the time because it is a high frequency sound and the dog, my mother, and the neighbor outside gives me dirty looks, like shut the darn thing off!! So I shared a chuckle or two with the fire alarm story, lol.

I have the outlook in the event they implant in my left that I have nothing to lose already and anything would be an improvement.

-Abbie

 

[contradica]

Congratulations on making candidacy, Abbie

In relation to your questions have you ever worn a hearing aid in the worse ear? I think that if it has been stimulated that you will in all likelihood be pleased with the results that you get from a CI.

In my case, I chose to have the best stimulated ear implanted but by then it was useless with a hearing aid, so it was an easy choice to make. It was an ear that loved low frequency sounds and didn't pick up high frequencies so well. With the CI, it's been fine. There was one map when I had a reaction to high frequencies but the audiologist just temporarily turned off the electrodes that were causing me discomfort and then turned them back on later.

I know that you are going for an AB but I am sure that the same principles will still apply.

When are you likely to get a date?

Hello R2D2,

Thank you so much I was born hearing and was diagnosed when I was 4-5 with a hearing loss and fitted for hearing aids in both ears. Then when I was 12, I got the Darth Vader voice and I received no benefit with a hearing aid, so I threw it out. My hearing loss in my left starts at 95bd at 250hz and goes down to 115db at 1050hz, no response for the rest of the higher frequencies. My right ear which is the ear I wear a hearing aid with is pretty much flat ranging between 90-100db across all frequencies. I apologize for being so technical, i am a technical chick.

Can you hear things like birds, alarms, telephone ringing with the higher frequency electrodes turned off or did you have to wait for them to be turned on?

I have a balance test to go through in a couple weeks and then I meet with the surgeon again in JULY so he review everything. I am hoping this summer flies by while I am waiting for the appointment.

Thanks a bunch R2D2

 

[sr171soars]

Contradica,

Currently, CIs cannot really provide hearing above 7-8khz at this point in time. For all practical purposes, it is no big deal as pretty much all typical sounds don't go that high. Where you would notice it would be things like piccolos, high end flutes, high end whistles (like when a kettle boils as its whistle goes up the scale) and other higher frequency noises.

To put this in perspective, a young child might hear up to 20khz but by the time that child is 20 or so, they may only hear up to 12khz. We CIers aren't missing that much.

 

[R2D2]

Hello R2D2,

Thank you so much I was born hearing and was diagnosed when I was 4-5 with a hearing loss and fitted for hearing aids in both ears. Then when I was 12, I got the Darth Vader voice and I received no benefit with a hearing aid, so I threw it out. My hearing loss in my left starts at 95bd at 250hz and goes down to 115db at 1050hz, no response for the rest of the higher frequencies. My right ear which is the ear I wear a hearing aid with is pretty much flat ranging between 90-100db across all frequencies. I apologize for being so technical, i am a technical chick.

Can you hear things like birds, alarms, telephone ringing with the higher frequency electrodes turned off or did you have to wait for them to be turned on?

I have a balance test to go through in a couple weeks and then I meet with the surgeon again in JULY so he review everything. I am hoping this summer flies by while I am waiting for the appointment.

Thanks a bunch R2D2

Well, given your history then it looks as if you might possibly get a lot of benefit from the worse ear, although you would have to give it time if you haven't had any sounds since age 12. Actually, my surgeon prefers implanting worse ears so that the good ear can be kept for insurance, so to speak but I've noticed that surgeons vary in their opinions.

Yes, I could still hear phones, birds and telephones etc with the electrodes switched off - to be honest it didn't change the way things sounded at all. The brain is remarkably adept at compensating, I think. Now with both electrodes switched back on and 9 months since activation, I can really pick up high frequency sounds well and it's very pleasing. I never knew there were so many different warning sounds in my car such as for leaving the handbrake on! Plus, we have freeway tolls where we live and they have different beeps as you drive under the electronic tag scanner to give you different messages e.g. "you need to top up your account" is 3 beeps.

Good luck with your balance test. I'm going for one in a couple of weeks too to kick off the process of getting a second CI. It's an interesting test that involves having water squirted in your ears.

 

[contradica]

Well, given your history then it looks as if you might possibly get a lot of benefit from the worse ear, although you would have to give it time if you haven't had any sounds since age 12. Actually, my surgeon prefers implanting worse ears so that the good ear can be kept for insurance, so to speak but I've noticed that surgeons vary in their opinions.

Yes, I could still hear phones, birds and telephones etc with the electrodes switched off - to be honest it didn't change the way things sounded at all. The brain is remarkably adept at compensating, I think. Now with both electrodes switched back on and 9 months since activation, I can really pick up high frequency sounds well and it's very pleasing. I never knew there were so many different warning sounds in my car such as for leaving the handbrake on! Plus, we have freeway tolls where we live and they have different beeps as you drive under the electronic tag scanner to give you different messages e.g. "you need to top up your account" is 3 beeps.

Good luck with your balance test. I'm going for one in a couple of weeks too to kick off the process of getting a second CI. It's an interesting test that involves having water squirted in your ears.

I am hoping that this surgeon will follow suit. I would love to keep my "insurance" The way I am looking at it is that I didn't lose my hearing over night so what little hearing I could possibly gain from this is fine by me!

I know what you mean about the handbrake. I do that quite frequently. Except I do not hear it except when I'm cussing on why my car is not accelerating normally, then the instant blond moment is revealed I heard people tell me about at pedestrian walkways that there is this cuckcoo sound which I have never heard.

From what I reading about this balance test, they stick you on a platform and watch you sway, or stick hot or cold water in your ears? does it really last almost 2 hours? Does this test the vestibular nerve or something?

How long has it been snce you have been implanted? I wish you luck as well in your quest for surround sound I just finished up a book by Dora Weber called "I danced, a cochlear implant odyssey" It is all about bilateral cochlear implantation. Its very interesting

 

[contradica]

Contradica,

Currently, CIs cannot really provide hearing above 7-8khz at this point in time. For all practical purposes, it is no big deal as pretty much all typical sounds don't go that high. Where you would notice it would be things like piccolos, high end flutes, high end whistles (like when a kettle boils as its whistle goes up the scale) and other higher frequency noises.

To put this in perspective, a young child might hear up to 20khz but by the time that child is 20 or so, they may only hear up to 12khz. We CIers aren't missing that much.

That was another question that I had that white papers were very vague about, the range of frequency measured in hz. I keep hearing that people are afraid of water with a CI because it is in the high frequency range. I was wondering if I found a few people with a comparable hearing loss to mine if I could get an idea of the range if any, that they got with their CI.

I wonder if the child parents voice falls in those upper frequencies! LOL

 

[sr171soars]

That was another question that I had that white papers were very vague about, the range of frequency measured in hz. I keep hearing that people are afraid of water with a CI because it is in the high frequency range. I was wondering if I found a few people with a comparable hearing loss to mine if I could get an idea of the range if any, that they got with their CI.

I wonder if the child parents voice falls in those upper frequencies! LOL

As for the water bit, I'm not exactly sure what you meant by that. If it is about hearing water come out of a faucet, never fear as you will hear it abeit louder than ever before because you will get those higher pitches (well below the threshold of a CI). If you meant being in water, you just take off the processor (the implant stays nice and safe in your head) and do your thing (bath, shower, swim etc). There really isn't any reason to fear water "per se" beyond getting the processor wet.

Nobody's voice goes much above ~5khz. So, you will always hear anybody's voice easily enough. I do remember that it took me two or three days to finally understand my daughter because of her higher pitch. She was four at the time. I understood my wife and son (7 at the time) the same day I was hooked up.

 

[deafskeptic]

Congrats on your candidacy. I've just been implanted the other day. I remember when I went through my tests, my audiologist told me that I should have my left ear which is my better ear implanted as I'm more likely to have success with it. I was a bit shocked as I had wanted my right ear implanted.

I know someone who has several members of the family implanted and she says that it's common for prelinguals to have the better ear implanted and postlinguals to have thier worse ear implanted.

Judging from the posts that you've written so far it's likely you'll have your worse ear implanted first.

 

[contradica]

As for the water bit, I'm not exactly sure what you meant by that. If it is about hearing water come out of a faucet, never fear as you will hear it abeit louder than ever before because you will get those higher pitches (well below the threshold of a CI). If you meant being in water, you just take off the processor (the implant stays nice and safe in your head) and do your thing (bath, shower, swim etc). There really isn't any reason to fear water "per se" beyond getting the processor wet.

Nobody's voice goes much above ~5khz. So, you will always hear anybody's voice easily enough. I do remember that it took me two or three days to finally understand my daughter because of her higher pitch. She was four at the time. I understood my wife and son (7 at the time) the same day I was hooked up.

I meant water coming out of a faucet I would treat the BTE just like my hearing aid. I have a HORRIBLE time understanding children now. Did you get static or anything like that upon activation?

 

[contradica]

Congrats on your candidacy. I've just been implanted the other day. I remember when I went through my tests, my audiologist told me that I should have my left ear which is my better ear implanted as I'm more likely to have success with it. I was a bit shocked as I had wanted my right ear implanted.

I know someone who has several members of the family implanted and she says that it's common for prelinguals to have the better ear implanted and postlinguals to have thier worse ear implanted.

Judging from the posts that you've written so far it's likely you'll have your worse ear implanted first.

I must say congrats to you!! How do you feel now? The doctor said the same thing to me that my right ear would have a higher probability of being more successful. Which ear did you end up getting implanted? When is your activation date? Details darling

 

[R2D2]

From what I reading about this balance test, they stick you on a platform and watch you sway, or stick hot or cold water in your ears? does it really last almost 2 hours? Does this test the vestibular nerve or something?

How long has it been snce you have been implanted? I wish you luck as well in your quest for surround sound I just finished up a book by Dora Weber called "I danced, a cochlear implant odyssey" It is all about bilateral cochlear implantation. Its very interesting

Yes, the balance test can last for 2 hours - my audie told me to allow for the whole morning. What they did last time around was to first of all have me face a screen with a moving red dot. I then had to follow this with my eyes.

Then next, they had me lie down. A dark mask was placed over my eyes, apparently it can track eyeball movements. Then they started off by squirting cold water into both ears for several seconds, after which they would monitor the eyeball movement. If you feel dizzy, it's a good thing because it shows your vestibular system works as it should. They then follow up with warm water.

I love reading books about people who have CIs - I assume you have read Michael Chorost's book also?

 

[R2D2]

Did you get static or anything like that upon activation?

Yes, I did - it didn't interfere with what I heard but it was in the background. But with every success map and as my dynamic range (distance between threshold and comfort levels) increased it just disappeared within a few weeks I think.

 

[deafskeptic]

I must say congrats to you!! How do you feel now? The doctor said the same thing to me that my right ear would have a higher probability of being more successful. Which ear did you end up getting implanted? When is your activation date? Details darling

I had my left ear implanted with the Med-El implant. I don't know when I'll get activated yet. I assume I'll find out on monday when I get my bandage removed. I'm a bit sore but am feeling a lot better today.

 

[DeafSCUBA98]

i love dora webber her book is awesome.. and i had meet her once.. she live in my homestate.

cong. as i would like to say.. everyone is different. but mostly have their own success.

I was turned on 2 years ago.. and yeah its already past my 2 year mark! still alot more for me to learn. since i don't have alot of audio memory. but i still love them everyday.. and still learning.

 

[Blazing Sunset]

contradica:

Congratulations on your candidacy!

 

[sr171soars]

I meant water coming out of a faucet I would treat the BTE just like my hearing aid. I have a HORRIBLE time understanding children now. Did you get static or anything like that upon activation?

No, not at all. The best way to describe my activation day was that speech was quite decent (excepting my daughter as I have already mentioned). I had more trouble getting a handle on environmental noises that day as it was confusing to say the least. It was mostly because I had to sort of get used to the difference in hearing with with a CI as compared to my HA. I was hearing the "missing" sounds I really didn't hear before which threw me off somewhat and secondly, the sounds were different anyway just due to a CI itself. I was one of those quick adapters and by end of the second day I had a pretty good handle on most sounds. This is not to say I didn't have some adjustments that took longer like how loud somethings could be (vehicles), the higher pitch of water coming out of a faucet, and some other things.

 

[contradica]

Yes, the balance test can last for 2 hours - my audie told me to allow for the whole morning. What they did last time around was to first of all have me face a screen with a moving red dot. I then had to follow this with my eyes.

Then next, they had me lie down. A dark mask was placed over my eyes, apparently it can track eyeball movements. Then they started off by squirting cold water into both ears for several seconds, after which they would monitor the eyeball movement. If you feel dizzy, it's a good thing because it shows your vestibular system works as it should. They then follow up with warm water.

I love reading books about people who have CIs - I assume you have read Michael Chorost's book also?

Well, that sounds like a barrel full of monkeys! I'm looking forward to it.

I have heard of Michael Chorost name being thrown around here and there but I was unaware that he had a book. I think I have been to his website. I am going to go google him right now. After reading Dora Weber book, I found it to be a wake up call.