My middle-schooler is now a candidate for CI -HELP!

deafdude1 said:
Agreed.

You could always get a CI(or second one) with your own out of pocket money, most surgeons won't refuse you. It's insurance companies that are the problem. They aren't charities but in the business to make a profit.

There is a limit of money/resources so those who need a CI the most are first in line to get one. Theres about 6 million profoundly deaf people in the world, yet only 2% of them have a CI.

Much easier to be approved by a surgeon than by your insurance. Most of us get more than "nothing" before CI. The more hearing a person has, the less benefit "upgrading" to a CI will give. I know of people who hear worse with CI than they do with HAs, it's a risk everyone takes.

If it's so hard to get someone with 90+ db hearing loss insurance funding, how do people with 70, 60, even 50db manage to get insurance funding, especially when they require 70db minimum at any frequency? Do those people pay out of pocket when the insurance refuses?
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Actually, our surgeon held a commitee meeting to decide if Miss Kat was candidate, whereas the insurance received the paperwork Friday and approved her Monday. Don't make blanket statements about things you are obviously uninformed about.

As for "nothing" I meant speech access. And I would love to speak to those people who have worse hearing with a CI than they did with aids.
 
There is an illusion that the more deaf you are, the better benefits you get from a CI. I don't believe it's quite that simple. Unfortunately, it seems like most of those who are not satisfied with the CI are the pre-lingually profoundly deaf ones. My surgeon actually refused to give the CI to a deaf person because he never uses HAs and rarely talks. My surgeon has been doing CI surgeries for 20 years, and sees more SUCCESS with those who are more familiar with sounds, because it's easier for them to adjust with the CI. Just because the benefits are there doesn't mean the CI user will use them. It depends on their experience with hearing and their willingness to work. The benefits are POTENTIAL, not immediate.
 
deafdude1 said:
I know of people who hear worse with CI than they do with HAs, it's a risk everyone takes.
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Right now, I hear worse with the CI than with the HA for many things. 2 months ago, I heard worse with the CI than the HA for almost everything. I got activated 3 months ago.

Check back with me after 6 months of therapy sessions/adjustments. :)
 
faire_jour said:
Actually, our surgeon held a commitee meeting to decide if Miss Kat was candidate, whereas the insurance received the paperwork Friday and approved her Monday.
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I've heard of CI recipients being approved via a committee many, many times. This wasn't the case for me though. My CI audi declared me a candidate. After that, I met with my CI surgeon who looked at my audiogram, asked me about my hearing loss history as well as how I was functioning with hearing aids and then told me that he thought I'd benefit more from a CI than hearing aids.
 
Daredevel7 said:
Right now, I hear worse with the CI than with the HA for many things. 2 months ago, I heard worse with the CI than the HA for almost everything. I got activated 3 months ago.

Check back with me after 6 months of therapy sessions/adjustments. :)
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It does take time. How many times have you gone for Mapping?

So far, I've had about 8 or so mapping sessions within a year. It gets better over time.
 
Daredevel7 said:
There is an illusion that the more deaf you are, the better benefits you get from a CI. I don't believe it's quite that simple. Unfortunately, it seems like most of those who are not satisfied with the CI are the pre-lingually profoundly deaf ones. My surgeon actually refused to give the CI to a deaf person because he never uses HAs and rarely talks. My surgeon has been doing CI surgeries for 20 years, and sees more SUCCESS with those who are more familiar with sounds, because it's easier for them to adjust with the CI. Just because the benefits are there doesn't mean the CI user will use them. It depends on their experience with hearing and their willingness to work. The benefits are POTENTIAL, not immediate.
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:gpost:

I so totally agree with this. Those who never simulated their "dead" ear or whatever, will also have issues as well. Hearing through one ear is different than hearing from the other.
 
LadySekhmet said:
For the second surgery, I didn't even need to have approval from my audiologist because she knew that I would benefit from it very well. I'm used to having two HA's, so it was just very odd wearing just one.
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I didn't need approval from my CI audi either. She knew how much programming my hearing aid audi did to try and get my hearing aid to the point where I could benefit from it, but my hearing was just too poor. She even told me during my bilateral CI evaluation, "You obviosly qualify for a second implant. The only reason I'm doing these tests is to receive insurance approval from Medicaid."

I'm surprised you received approval for a bilateral from Medicare. My CI audi told me that if it had not been for the fact I have Medicaid, I wouldn't have received a second CI. She also told me how some CI audis send the paperwork to Medicare, Medicare approves the 2nd CI, but the patient is taking a huge risk should Medicare check their records at a later time and deny payment since they ordinarily do not pay for bilaterals.
 
LadySekhmet said:
It does take time. How many times have you gone for Mapping?

So far, I've had about 8 or so mapping sessions within a year. It gets better over time.
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I've had 4 mappings so far, but they were all about increasing the "volume" or power. It took me quite a while to adjust to the volume. From now on, it would be about adjustment. The levels are flat across all of my electrodes, which is a pretty obvious indicator that I am in need of adjustment! :)
 
faire_jour said:
Actually, our surgeon held a commitee meeting to decide if Miss Kat was candidate, whereas the insurance received the paperwork Friday and approved her Monday. Don't make blanket statements about things you are obviously uninformed about.

As for "nothing" I meant speech access. And I would love to speak to those people who have worse hearing with a CI than they did with aids.
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I know some people who got a CI and really couldnt get any benefit at all from them. *shrug*
 
shel90 said:
I know some people who got a CI and really couldnt get any benefit at all from them. *shrug*
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How much residual hearing did they have prior to getting a CI and did they wear their CI on a regular basis?
 
Hear Again said:
How much residual hearing did they have prior to getting a CI and did they wear their CI on a regular basis?
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Did they get proper follow up care? Did they wear it all the time from the beginning? Did they get MAPped on time and when needed? Did they do the follow up therapy?
 
Hear Again said:
How much residual hearing did they have prior to getting a CI and did they wear their CI on a regular basis?
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I dont question them about their background about their CIs..just know quite a few people, both adults and small children who got nothing, I mean, nothing from their CIs...even calling out their names...nothing. Just saying that there are people out there like that while there are others who have good benefit from them.
 
faire_jour said:
Did they get proper follow up care? Did they wear it all the time from the beginning? Did they get MAPped on time and when needed? Did they do the follow up therapy?
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Good questions, faire_jour. All of these things definitely play a factor in how well a person does with a CI.
 
shel90 said:
I dont question them about their background about their CIs..just know quite a few people, both adults and small children who got nothing, I mean, nothing from their CIs...even calling out their names...nothing. Just saying that there are people out there like that while there are others who have good benefit from them.
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But did they have those things with a hearing aid or are the in the same situation they were before?
 
shel90 said:
I dont question them about their background about their CIs..just know quite a few people, both adults and small children who got nothing, I mean, nothing from their CIs...even calling out their names...nothing. Just saying that there are people out there like that while there are others who have good benefit from them.
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It's important for people reading this thread to understand that there are many, many different factors that determine how well someone does with a CI. If the adults and children you knew had little or no benefit from hearing aids for a long time, didn't attend regular mappings, didn't wear their CI regularly and didn't have AVT, all of these things can contribute to the fact that they didn't receive any help from a CI. Aside from that, those who receive no benefit from a CI are a minority.
 
faire_jour said:
But did they have those things with a hearing aid or are the in the same situation they were before?
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I dont know...I dont know every person's personal history with their CIs or their hearing experiences. Sorry....
 
Research indicates that 95% of people (adults and children) who receive CIs benefit from them.
 
Subject: Person does not benefit from CI.

pro-CI person: "He most likely didn't do the mapping/adjustments and probably wore it just for a short time."

anti-CI person: "When are people going to realize that CI is NOT a miracle? It doesn't always work. And this is just another indication of proof."

Being a pre-lingually profound deaf person who just got the CI, I can see where both sides are coming from. However, I have to say that I lean towards the pro-CI side because if I stopped therapy right now, I only got the benefit of hearing a lot of environmental sounds but still little speech discrimination. And it's been 3 months. I can see why people would give up by now....
 
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