You already had hearing for the first 4 years of your life which is vital for speech development. Brains is like sponge it absorbs very well and stores well. With HA for many years to stimulate the hearing had helped you to keep your speech recongition.
Ive seen many others like him, some of who are prelingual. He has alot more hearing than either of us so of course hes getting good benefit from HAs.
however all my life it doesn't matter how much AVT I had my hearing aids weren't doing the job.... it was like an instant relief when i got the CI so it's not every one with HA can do better than CI.
Ive already said and agreed in your case CI was likley to help. In my case, I probably won't get above 50% speech till I get more hearing. All the training will only help to a point.
You are hypocrital git, You threw toys out of pram when we told you that you shouldn't have CI with good speech recogition!
That's one thing I agree as well. Im glad to see that Phi4sius has changed his mind after doing his research and after being rejected by insurance. Stem cells will give him 10x better hearing.
We merely were trying to help you all to sense that YOU, Deafdude and other people KNOW nothing about how to hear out of CI whilst having NO idea what will happen when stem cell comes out for heaing loss, all the papers/links are just piece of writing there is no LIVING proof that it works on HUMAN.
Phi4sius is in contact by email with someone who experienced a 25db improvement with stem cells. We are still waiting for him to get ahold on the "before" and "after" audiograms as solid proof that it works!
Well said! I don't have a CI but I have seen the results in the kids I work with. I have seen kids who had some speech discrim before and some residual hearing who after the CI can speak and hear way better than they could before. When that is actually happening with stem cells I'd say go for it, but until then CI is what we have and it works.
Was their hearing worse than mine? If so, CI does offer a good chance of improvement. If I have any children, I won't touch CI, ill wait for stem cells to improve their hearing. They will still be young and catch up fast.
Wow...this whole quote is laughable. I'm searching for a way to hear again out of my left ear that will provide me with the absolute best hearing possible. So, I did the research, and took all opinions on this board into account when making my decision not to go for CI. Now that we've discovered evidence that stem cells for hearing loss having been experimented on in humans, AND proven to work in both humans and animals, all of you start attacking the very existence of it saying things like "Oh, I have no belief in stem cells until you provide scientific evidence". HELLO! There would be NO TRIALS whatsoever on human children unless they have a plethora of evidence available in OTHER COUNTRIES supporting the existence and functioning treatments available for the hearing loss cure! AND I can guarantee they already have some idea of what to expect when it comes to results!
It would help big time if you can get his audiogram(before and after). I believe you but there's alot of skeptics and nonbelivers here who need some solid proof.
There IS scientific evidence. I've provided the links - I've provided everything. Even on the link to safestemcells.org in my sig there are scientific papers talking about stem cells! NOT just press releases. Even the link I've posted before about researchers curing Blindness with the first stem cell therapy FOR age-related macular degeneration in the UK provides the scientific proof!
I accept your proof and am a big fan and believer of stem cells.
I realize there are other reasons as to why people would need CI - I'm certainly not discounting this fact. I just do not want anyone with enough residual hearing to buy into the marketing hype that is constantly perpetuated on this discussion forum about CIs when natural cures for hearing loss are on the horizon. Sure, the results are there. But at what cost? For me, I can't justify a surgery that has so many mixed results from implantation until there is a study with scientific proof that PROVES that I will be obtaining near normal hearing with CI in my other ear. For that, I can wait until stem cells arrive.
To be honest, ive seen a few that got CI who have so much residual hearing that I would be happy to pay $50,000 to have their residual hearing and they can have the CI with the $50,000 and give me their residual hearing that they will be giving up. Im hoping stem cells can give me as much residual hearing as those people gave up when getting CI. I have wonderful HAs and know alot about them and how to have them programmed properly so I hear my best. No CI will give you normal hearing, you must wait for stem cells.
Again, no one, especially me, is discounting the results of CI. I know it works to some VARYING degree in most people - but I'd like to see you provide scientific proof that it will work on ME without 1. Pulsating sounds, 2. Paralyzed face, and providing 3. My left ear will sound exactly like my right ear currently does providing a seamless hearing experience without a robotic sound, and 4. Won't even work AT ALL, which has happened in quite a few cases.
No one can predict or prove that CI will work on you. Everyone is different and results are all over the board, some excellent, some fair, some poor. CI is like rolling the dice, maybe youll hear better, maybe youll hear worse. Even my audiologist said the same. I might hear better, I might hear worse. But there's no going back to HAs. At least with stem cells, if it doesn't work, you still maintain your residual hearing and can wait for other techniques to improve/restore hearing. We discussed this and agreed theres over a dozen ways!
I know perfectly well that ALL of you anti stem cell folks will be the first in line to get your hearing restored using stem cells once it has been proven to work on many different people. We'll see who's the hypocrite then. Of course, I will be glad to bow down to the politics of this board, publically apologize, and then go for a CI in five years if the stem cell cure for sensorineural hearing loss has not moved any closer to final fruition by then. I'm certainly not going anywhere.
Many of them have said they wouldn't be interested and gave their reasons, of which the most popular is "I don't want to hear 24/7" others are culturally Deaf and would like to stay with their culture. They can make their choice, I respect their choice. Speaking for only myself, I can't see any major disadvantages to stem cells. I don't expect stem cells to give me normal hearing, but improve my hearing 20-40db so I won't hear 24/7 anyway but if I could have normal hearing, id take that in a heartbeat! The advantages far, far, far outweigh hearing 24/7! My brain will learn to tune out the noise like hearing people do.
Youll get your chance to be a pioneer in stem cells in around 3 years either in clinical trials or traveling overseas. You could get it in China now if you really wanted, although I suggest you wait a bit for stem cell technology to rapidly improve more. Perhaps email the China stem cell labs and attach your most recent audiogram and see what they say? If they can't help you now, ask when they can? Bet they say "very soon"
it seemed to me that one of the reasons you gave up on the CI was from some online "example" of what a CI sounds like.... dude, it makes sense if the CI sounded robotic at FIRST... but gradually over time, after enough MAPping sessions, the world sounds more natural, according to MANY CI users... not robotic but natural/normal. It just takes time for the brain to process all the information and make sense of it all!
It's a moot point since his CI insurance rejected him for having too much hearing in the good ear. He isn't about to spend $50,000 on CI when stem cells can offer so much more soon.
And seriously, do you think once you get the stem cell treatment, you'll hear like MAGIC and be able to cope with it all perfectly? I'd think those who have been deaf long enough will still have to struggle to make sense of all the new information coming into their brain... same thing with hearing aids, and any other technology out there that might help one to gain a sense of some sort. So don't just assume stem cell will be 100% perfect and you'll be 100% perfectly satisfied afterwards. It's still going to take TIME to get used to whatever treatment you've chosen.
I do ask that he have realistic expectations. I am expecting at least 20db improvement and may possibly attain a 40db improvement. I won't be hearing but rather ill be less deaf or HOH. Even in birds who have a wonderful natural ability to regenerate their hearing, they still were HOH and it was shown that the less residual hearing the birds had, the less hearing they recovered. I do think stem cells or some other procedure will eventually give us normal hearing but this could take much longer than today's stem cells that offers a partial improvement. Ill go for my partial improvement soon and wait 10-20 years for a complete improvement which should be possible by then.
I sure as hell won't be in that line. Seriously. I wouldn't want to be hearing 24/7, oh no.
Stem cells today or in the near future probably won't make anyone fully hearing so they won't be hearing 24/7 anyway. I expect stem cells to make me less deaf or HOH and with my HAs, give me hearing far better than CI with many other advantages, less cost, less risk.(see my blog, link in sig)
My replies countinued in next post below.
