Will a cochlear implant work for...

Geo31522

Geo31522

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Will a Cochlear Implant work for someone who is Bilaterally and Profoundly Deaf with Sensorineural Hearing Loss?? I recently discovered that I am Deaf and am still going to treatments. No one in the medical field seems to know what the cause of my hearing loss is.

I’m going to my Neurotolaryngologist in a couple of weeks for some tests to see if I qualify. But I am anxious and was hoping that someone might be able to answer my question sooner.

Thanx
Got my fingers crossed ; )
 
what treatments are you getting?

I would assume an implant would work for you, but i dont even know what sensorineural hearing is
 
Cochlear implants are only for a sensorineural hearing loss.. You can't be a candidate for a CI if you have a conductive loss. There are also other things I take into account when qualifying like if your cochlea and the inside can accommodate the implant, your speech discrimination scores for both ears have to be below a certain amount and you have to have a severe to profound loss with minimal or no benefit from hearing aids
 
Geo31522. First none of us can answer your question whether you "fit" the criteria of Cochlear Implants. The reason-only ENT doctors can evaluate what your SPECIFIC conditions is.
I live in Toronto and was referred to Sunnybrook where they have since 1984 handled almost 3000 patients-referred to them. 950 were "suitable" to be implanted( I was was one) I understand about 18 got no benefit from being implanted. Their statistics till the end of October 2011 as given a recent Implant patients meeting.

I can speak being bilateral DEAF since December 20, 2006 and having Sensorineural hearing loss almost 50 years. I was implanted July 12,2007. I was in the Profound Hearing loss classification for a long time. Lost hearing in Right ear-February 12, 1992.

Good luck in your upcoming examination which suggests a Cochlear Implant is suitable for you.
 
A cochlear implant can work for someone with profound bilateral sensorineural hearing loss. How well a cochlear implant works is dependent on how long one person has been deaf as well as other factors such as when a person lost their hearing(Pre-lingual/post-lingual). Those who lose their hearing later in life tend to do better with the implants because they have auditory memory to help. Not everyone gets the same benefit from them. The hearing one gets with an implant is not superhuman hearing or perfect hearing. it also takes work to learn to hear with the implants. It not a case of just switch the implant(s) on and instant hearing.
 
Again, only a qualified doctor can answer your question. We can give you tips on what works for us, but we can't tell you what device will be best for you.

Best advice I can say is find out what is causing your hearing loss before treating it.
 
green427 said:
Again, only a qualified doctor can answer your question. We can give you tips on what works for us, but we can't tell you what device will be best for you.

Best advice I can say is find out what is causing your hearing loss before treating it.
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Agreed, he has two things to consider, the internals (cochlear IMO is the best for internals because of their good no recall repution compare to AB), and the externals.

Theres just soooo much to consider, battery life, FM support (for children), microphones, appearance (can depend on person), music, pricing.
 
My 19-month old son is a CI candidate, according to our ENT doctor he is appropriate (no malformations of the inner ear however we have not found WHY he is profoundly deaf). He also was a late walker and has a face rash (no pathological findings for either of these situations). I was wondering how sure we can be that he will get benefit from the CI? Also must we assume that his profound deafness is permanent? I read about kids that were implanted while not being really deaf. THis makes it tough for us to decide the CI (on the other hand we may be loosing time...)
 
Well you know he is deaf and thats that. Now, its up for you to decide what you would want for his future.
 
I have no problem with him being deaf, I just read that one should not rush the CI decision, since kids that had it were not really deaf. I am wondering how long should we wait? He is now wearing HAs from which he seems to get no benefit (no response to sounds, he produces aaa aaaa aaaa aaa like sounds himself while wearing them for the past two months full time)
 
kat05 said:
I have no problem with him being deaf, I just read that one should not rush the CI decision, since kids that had it were not really deaf. I am wondering how long should we wait? He is now wearing HAs from which he seems to get no benefit (no response to sounds, he produces aaa aaaa aaaa aaa like sounds himself while wearing them for the past two months full time)
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How are you currently communicating with him?
The most important thing you can do for him while you are deciding on amplification options or CI, is make sure that your son has access to accessible language - in the case of Hoh/deaf this means one of two things: Sign Language, or Cuing.

If you haven't already started doing this, please get in touch with the Hoh and Deaf services dept in your area and arrange to have both classes for yourselves as well as mentors for your son.

Regardless if you do elect to go with a CI, learning Sign Language will be only a benefit to your son. It's actually been proven time and time again that children (hearing, hoh & deaf) all benefit from learning ASL as infants/toddlers as a primary or additional language.

Of course pre-reading and early reading skills are also absolutely important and Hoh/d/Deaf services will be able to help your family teach your son to read fluently in English (or your home language). There are specific techniques that are used to read to, and teach reading to Hoh/d/Deaf children so they can see what's on the page, as well as see you speech-movements as well as signing.

Feel free to PM me here if you want to chat in a more private environment.
 
Geo31522 said:
Will a Cochlear Implant work for someone who is Bilaterally and Profoundly Deaf with Sensorineural Hearing Loss?? I recently discovered that I am Deaf and am still going to treatments. No one in the medical field seems to know what the cause of my hearing loss is.
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If you have sensorineural hearing loss and no deformities of the cochlea, then yes, you're probably a candidate. The cause of your hearing loss, be it genetic, environmental our whatever else, is largely irrelevant as long as it's not from conductive issues or tumors.

You recently "discovered" that you are deaf? Can you explain that comment? If you grew up as a hearing person and were late-deafened, you are a better candidate for cochlear implants than an adult who grew up deaf. Still, it is a learning process to understand and interpret the beeps and robot noises that the CI produces.
 
You will find out if you're a candiate by asking your audiologist to refer you to a Cochlear Implant team and they'll do many tests to check your suitability!! Good luck!!
 
As a matter of fact my son did all the necessary exams, all turning out OK... I was just wondering whether his whole medical record (late walking due to mild hypotonia, face rash which we did not attribute at something) could be a problem in his responding to a future implantation. According to our doctor it's OK, I just needed to know whether this has happened to someone else. Also, is six months with no benefit with HAs necessary for one to decide CI?
 
kat05 said:
Also, is six months with no benefit with HAs necessary for one to decide CI?
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YES. I forget how old your son is, but if he's very young, it's hard to know how much benefit he is getting or not from his HAs. Don't give up on the HAs just yet until you're certain.
 
I did some research myself on this... and from what I read, I'm probably not a candidate for CI because from what I remember, the brutal punch to my head did my cochlea no favors as fluids within that became mixed, causing my deafness. That is pretty much the doc's explanation as they told mom there was a 50-50 chance of hearing / deafness. Post surgery was not fun at all. =(

My right ear is not measurable as its pretty much beyond 120DBa, but my left ear is within 115-105 range so I got stuck with a HA for the rest of my life.

I'm pretty much stuck with lip-reading and signing... but the lip reading tends to become a chore to the point where i just nod and "agree" in understanding when i don't understand =\
 
AlleyCat said:
YES. I forget how old your son is, but if he's very young, it's hard to know how much benefit he is getting or not from his HAs. Don't give up on the HAs just yet until you're certain.
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Yes, and don't panic too much. You know until about ten years ago kids didn't get CIs until they were two, and they still got benifit.
 
He is 19 months old so we cannot know exactly what is going on, if he hears but he's indifferent to noises while wearing HAs etc...
 
gotta bang pots behind him without him knowing to see if he response to that lol

deafdyke said:
Yes, and don't panic too much. You know until about ten years ago kids didn't get CIs until they were two, and they still got benifit.
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this is true. I was the first 10 kids ever to get implanted at the age of 2. They had me under a year trial of hearing aids to make sure I was profoundly deaf. Parents banged pans all the time, never responded to them
 
Wirelessly posted (Blackberry Bold )

kat05 said:
He is 19 months old so we cannot know exactly what is going on, if he hears but he's indifferent to noises while wearing HAs etc...
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So, how is your family and son communicating with each other currently - I don't believe you mentioned?

As I'm sure you're aware, he's at a very critical age for language development, making it absolutely imperative that he has access to a complete language.

By 18 months he should have a fairly good understanding of most receptive language, and be able to ask/express some basic concepts.

I've attached a picture with the typical language acquisition of hearing children. The list has examples of both a hearing non-signer (in a Spoken Language environment) and a hearing ASL child (in a spoken and signed environment).

While this is for hearing children, the ASL child column is accurate for Hoh and Deaf children as well (actually in a fluent ASL environment Hoh/Deaf children typically have more signed expressive & receptive language than what is stated, if they are in an immersed signed environment.

Langacquinhearingchild.jpg

anijjnaii
 
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