rsusselj18
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- Jul 29, 2014
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HI everyone. I am a newbie -- and I could not decide where to place this post - in the introduction forum or here - and I chose here because ultimately it is with the issue of selecting a brand of CI that I need your input. Read on...
At the end of the year last year I was just beginning the process of evaluation for CI, in Israel, where I live. Subsequent to that the process was interrupted - first by a five week trip overseas to the States, and then by a stress fracture I sustained to the medial condyle of my left knee. However, I did finally restart the evaluation process again and would like to both share some insight which I gained from the experience with you and ask for your input.
First of all, about my deafness: I test in the severe to profound range, stable hearing loss since age 3, wear HA's - currently Oticon Agil Pro power aids. But - for the past 15 years I have complained that I feel like I do not hear as well as I used to. But testing consistently showed that my hearing was stable with little to no deterioration of my hearing - ie; my loss has remained the same as when I was three years old!
In 2005 I was evaluated for CI -- and turned down. I was told that the amount of gain I would get over HA's was so minuscule it was not worthwhile. I was quite disappointed. I was told that I tested so well in the speech recognition part of the evaluation that CI would not improve that much. (Now pay attention to this part here)....
I was evaluated again, the complete battery of hearing tests given to me last week. I continue to test in the severe to profound range, my audiograph looks the same as it has for years. BUT -- I tested really poorly in the word/speech recognition part of the test. And THAT was VERY different from my past experience. In fact, the audis and the doctor were so surprised at the results that they repeated that part of the test - with the same results. So then they repeated it again, but this time at a much higher volume. SAME RESULTS!
So, what was different?
The test here was in HEBREW. Now, I do speak Hebrew, quite well, in fact. But only because I happened to come to Israel back in 1977 and to participate in an ulpan (intense study of the Hebrew language) for nine months. I was 17 years old. I remained in Israel back then for two years before returning to the States. I did not come back to Israel until three years ago. Had I come here without that background, then there is no way that today I would speak Hebrew at all! But I speak it better than I can understand spoken Hebrew - which is the opposite problem that most English speaking immigrants here have!
But back to the CI candidacy evaluation. When I have taken this test in English I do very well. Why? I KNOW ALL THE WORDS! Baseball, Toothbrush, Airplane, Hotdog, Cowboy....et al. Sound familiar to you??? If I can anticipate what I am going to hear, or if I am extremely familiar with the sound pattern of the word(s)-- then of course I am going to "ace" the word recognition test!!
But in Hebrew? I had no idea which words I would be asked to repeat! My vocabulary in Hebrew is limited but if I could hear the word(s) I should be able to replicate verbally what I heard. But I couldn't! Without familiarity, and without ability to anticipate, I had to rely on pure hearing -- and could NOT do it. I was STRUGGLING to make sense of what I was hearing, or to at the very least repeat what I heard even without understanding what I was hearing. No can do!
So, I finally was given what I consider to be a meaningful test that revealed the truth of my hearing disability -- my inability to recognize words easily! And thus, I "passed" the test and am eligible to receive a CI.
So now this is where YOU all come in: I have to choose which brand CI to implant. Either Cochlear, MedEl or AB. Please share with me which brand CI you chose and why. Also, tell me if you are pre or post lingually deaf, deaf since childhood, or late-deafened. Other info you wish to share that is meaningful would be most welcome. Feel free to direct me to resources (other than the Cochlear, MedEl or AB websites). Thank you in advance for all that you share!
At the end of the year last year I was just beginning the process of evaluation for CI, in Israel, where I live. Subsequent to that the process was interrupted - first by a five week trip overseas to the States, and then by a stress fracture I sustained to the medial condyle of my left knee. However, I did finally restart the evaluation process again and would like to both share some insight which I gained from the experience with you and ask for your input.
First of all, about my deafness: I test in the severe to profound range, stable hearing loss since age 3, wear HA's - currently Oticon Agil Pro power aids. But - for the past 15 years I have complained that I feel like I do not hear as well as I used to. But testing consistently showed that my hearing was stable with little to no deterioration of my hearing - ie; my loss has remained the same as when I was three years old!
In 2005 I was evaluated for CI -- and turned down. I was told that the amount of gain I would get over HA's was so minuscule it was not worthwhile. I was quite disappointed. I was told that I tested so well in the speech recognition part of the evaluation that CI would not improve that much. (Now pay attention to this part here)....
I was evaluated again, the complete battery of hearing tests given to me last week. I continue to test in the severe to profound range, my audiograph looks the same as it has for years. BUT -- I tested really poorly in the word/speech recognition part of the test. And THAT was VERY different from my past experience. In fact, the audis and the doctor were so surprised at the results that they repeated that part of the test - with the same results. So then they repeated it again, but this time at a much higher volume. SAME RESULTS!
So, what was different?
The test here was in HEBREW. Now, I do speak Hebrew, quite well, in fact. But only because I happened to come to Israel back in 1977 and to participate in an ulpan (intense study of the Hebrew language) for nine months. I was 17 years old. I remained in Israel back then for two years before returning to the States. I did not come back to Israel until three years ago. Had I come here without that background, then there is no way that today I would speak Hebrew at all! But I speak it better than I can understand spoken Hebrew - which is the opposite problem that most English speaking immigrants here have!
But back to the CI candidacy evaluation. When I have taken this test in English I do very well. Why? I KNOW ALL THE WORDS! Baseball, Toothbrush, Airplane, Hotdog, Cowboy....et al. Sound familiar to you??? If I can anticipate what I am going to hear, or if I am extremely familiar with the sound pattern of the word(s)-- then of course I am going to "ace" the word recognition test!!
But in Hebrew? I had no idea which words I would be asked to repeat! My vocabulary in Hebrew is limited but if I could hear the word(s) I should be able to replicate verbally what I heard. But I couldn't! Without familiarity, and without ability to anticipate, I had to rely on pure hearing -- and could NOT do it. I was STRUGGLING to make sense of what I was hearing, or to at the very least repeat what I heard even without understanding what I was hearing. No can do!
So, I finally was given what I consider to be a meaningful test that revealed the truth of my hearing disability -- my inability to recognize words easily! And thus, I "passed" the test and am eligible to receive a CI.
So now this is where YOU all come in: I have to choose which brand CI to implant. Either Cochlear, MedEl or AB. Please share with me which brand CI you chose and why. Also, tell me if you are pre or post lingually deaf, deaf since childhood, or late-deafened. Other info you wish to share that is meaningful would be most welcome. Feel free to direct me to resources (other than the Cochlear, MedEl or AB websites). Thank you in advance for all that you share!
