My hubby has had hearing aids since he was 28 and is now 54 years old. He also had a 100% successful stapes operation due to otosclerosis at that time in his left ear. In the past two years his hearing has dramatically deteriorated. He has a mixed loss of conductive and nerve. Yesterday he had an audiogram which showed profound loss in both ears:
Right ear - air/nerve 110db bone/70db
Left ear - air/nerve 90db bone/70db
Word recognition - Right ear 32% @ 110db
Left ear 40% @ 105db
MCL - right 110db
left 105db
This ENT felt that he was a very good candidate for a CI and referred us to University of Penn in Philadelphia and we have an appointment on Nov. 7th. We have been cramming info off of the net and trying to understand what will happen. So now the questions:
1. What is the qualifying period like in general and how long does that process take? What type of tests are to be expecteded during that period?
2. Does he need to receive a meningitis vaccine and if so is it just one shot or a series of shots over a period of time?
3. The HINT or sentence recognition testing.........do they administer that with or without the hearing aids?
4. From the time you receive the approval/qualification for the cochlear implant from the doctor.........how long before you received the surgery?
5. Penn uses Advanced Bionics, Cochlear World Nucleus and Med El. Does anyone have experience with any of these?
6. Disposable batteries and rechargeable.......which do you like best? Hubby's day starts at 5:15 wakeup and he goes till 10:30/11:00pm.....so I'm assuming the disposable would be best for him unless he gets more than 1 rechargeable battery.
7. How long do the rechargables have to charge in order to get a full charge?
I appreciate any and all input as this is a very stressful and frustrating time, as you all know only too well.
Thank you!!!!!!
Right ear - air/nerve 110db bone/70db
Left ear - air/nerve 90db bone/70db
Word recognition - Right ear 32% @ 110db
Left ear 40% @ 105db
MCL - right 110db
left 105db
This ENT felt that he was a very good candidate for a CI and referred us to University of Penn in Philadelphia and we have an appointment on Nov. 7th. We have been cramming info off of the net and trying to understand what will happen. So now the questions:
1. What is the qualifying period like in general and how long does that process take? What type of tests are to be expecteded during that period?
2. Does he need to receive a meningitis vaccine and if so is it just one shot or a series of shots over a period of time?
3. The HINT or sentence recognition testing.........do they administer that with or without the hearing aids?
4. From the time you receive the approval/qualification for the cochlear implant from the doctor.........how long before you received the surgery?
5. Penn uses Advanced Bionics, Cochlear World Nucleus and Med El. Does anyone have experience with any of these?
6. Disposable batteries and rechargeable.......which do you like best? Hubby's day starts at 5:15 wakeup and he goes till 10:30/11:00pm.....so I'm assuming the disposable would be best for him unless he gets more than 1 rechargeable battery.
7. How long do the rechargables have to charge in order to get a full charge?
I appreciate any and all input as this is a very stressful and frustrating time, as you all know only too well.
Thank you!!!!!!