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NHS Adult Cochlear Implant assessment

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Hi! I am an NHS patient in the SW of England (under the Bristol centre). I have bilateral profound sensorineural and I was wondering if anyone could walk me through the NHS Adult assessment process (what tests get done - eg is used, what scans will they do, do they only test in silence or do they use speech in noise too).

Thanks!

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I can’t speak for England; or actually for all doctors. For me, I was sent for a of my temporal bone (not sure if others get but I can’t get a MRI anyway); audi test using my programmed hearing aid in a sound booth with masking of my other ear, test with sentences asking me to repeat them and/or words I could. I was told that testing is usually 1.5-2 hrs but as I was not able to get any words within the first 15-20 min she stopped it. (I could hear sounds and but no words).

I’m not in the UK. The cochlear evaluation is generally approximate 2 hour long hearing assessment fairly standard globally. The amount of concentration required is intense. Word and sentence recognition, both with ’s and without. With white noise in sentences as well both with and without HA’s. I didn’t get any breaks and was thankful for my bottle of water I had.

Your surgeon will may or may not request a and an maybe a balance test as well. The CT is to check the bone structure and MRI checks the nerves
Good luck

@kevels55 might be able to tell you more about the NHS cochlear requirements.

@Zebras would know but she is home getting better from an illness.

You are going to qualify for the hearing aspect of a Cochlear Implant with that profound loss @TheImpossibleInsect without a shadow of doubt…But, there is more to it than the actual deafness! When I was assessed, the sole purpose was to prevent me going Kilmarnock for a full assessment, at the time, I was at loggerheads with the head of at my local hospital, he did everything in his power to prevent me getting ’s, suffice to say, we didn’t exchange any warmth towards each other :upside_down_face: My local assessment was extremely thorough, it lasted approximately 2 hours, it was more akin to an interrogation by 3 Audiologists, very intimidating, with electrodes all over my head, I suppose, so I couldn’t fake my responses? In the end, I was told I failed the assessment, because I was an excellent lip reader!!! So I can’t tell you what the full blown assessment is at Kilmarnock CI Hospital, I wasn’t given that opportunity… I know, having spoken to a few CI recipients, there is a heavy emphasis on the mental aspects of implantation, and also, how you would respond to the rehabilitation… Your general health is taken into consideration, for example, whether you can survive a long operation, if you have say, any heart problems… Good Luck, cheers Kev :wink:

@kevels55 I had an initial nhs assessment in Bristol last December. The audiologist started with an explanation of the process and the likely timescales for subsequent appointments before checking my ears, performing normal hearing tests and producing an .

We then went through a long sequence of hearing comprehension tests, The initial ones were administered using a TV screen and speakers involving a mixture of male and female talkers and subjects. The TV monitor was then switched off and further speech only tests were administered culminating in a sequence of 30 single short words.

I was possibly trying too hard and guessing when I wasn’t sure about words with the consequence that I scored 63% in the single word test. The audiologist explained that I did not qualify for nhs implants but that I would be invited back for further tests in 12 months.

I think that the appointment took about 2 hours and I received a detailed test report in the post a couple of weeks lateer.. If I had been assessed as a suitable candidate I would have been invited back for more audiology , a scan and more appointments with audiologists, therapists and one of the surgeons before an operation about 9 months later.

In reply to @whitten_d

Hi @whitten_d

Not long after the head of retired, My NHS Audioligist offered me to go to Kilmarnock for a full assessment, without a pre-assessment, I said no, the NHS Audioligist said,“ I will give you 3 months, to think it over”, I thought about it long and hard, but in the end, I still said no! My reasoning was, I was just about to retire, only a couple of days a week am I in challenging listening situations, this usually involves playing league pool, I still play in 2 different pool leagues, I don’t really need to hear in those situations, I can see exactly what’s happening…If I want to hear, I can, I have lots of different Roger Listening Devices, I am an excellent lip reader, I can Sign () British Sign Language, did I want to go through the rehabilitation, shortly after my second bout of Sepsis, was it worth all that effort and ultimately, they would want to do my better ear, and if it failed (a very small percentage do) I might end up in a worse situation, so I declined… Had this been 5 or 10 years Earlier, I would have bit the Audiologist’s hand off!!! Cheers Kev :smiling_face:

In reply to @TheImpossibleInsect

@whitten_d you were very lucky with your evaluation. I had 50 words and sentences, both with and without ’s. @TheImpossibleInsect different countries have slightly different evaluation processes. The 2 hours of intense concentration with no breaks is tough on the brain I went home exhausted. I had someone speaking through the speakers with a slight accent. This made it just that bit more difficult. PS take a bottle of water with you.

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