My main question or concern at this point is how will an implant in one ear and a hearing aid in the other interact in my situation.
Two hearing ears are better than one. I can not image a down side to hearing with both ears compared to one ear. Your brain will figure it out if you give it a chance or help just a little.
Congratulations on moving forward on the evaluation. It will hopefully tell you things about your hearing you didn’t know. No obligation either, just some extra knowledge. Please keep us updated on this.
once you get settled in with your you will quickly realize how muddled the hearing is with your ! The CI helps with clarity. It’s still challenging in noisy situations but you can add programs to your CI that help focus the microphones either all forward or surround, etc. I use the Speech on Loud Noise program a lot on noisy situations. It focuses the mics forward onto the speaker you are listening to. I can now enjoy a coffee meeting in a crowded place and participate in conversation. Is it the same as “normal hearing”? No, but we are long past normal hearing at this point. It is much better than without the CI though! If you would like yo talk more about things I am happy to FaceTime or message with you. I talked with many people and did lots of reading as I learned about the CI process.
If you are not aware, your insurance will cover a new battery each year - I have three now in rotation plus my case that uses disposable batteries. I carry the case and a supply of disposables with me (I’m female so I always have some sort of bag) and get through the day with my medium size battery most days unless I stream a lot that day. You can also carry a charged battery as a spare.
My main question or concern at this point is how will an implant in one ear and a hearing aid in the other interact in my situation.
With very high probability - after activation better than in better side and poorer side plugged.
What hearing aids do you have? Have you considered newer ones?
There is also option with using a Cochlear internal device with slim electrode (modiolar - better, more precise stimulation amd straight). With that slim option it is higher chances for biological hearing preservation. However that preservation shouldn’t be taken for granted.
Cochlear pair with Resound aids and direct stream conversations and phone calls.
pair with Phonak aids. I’m not sure if AB direct streams I’m assuming they do.
Med el you can use any aid and I think the new Sonnet 3 streams now.
I have a N8 I’ve found hearing in noise is slightly better than with ’s but still not perfect.
With regard to residual preservation, it’s not guaranteed. While the surgeon does his best to preserve your residual, and he succeeds on operation day. It can still drop off several years later as mine did.
Good luck with the evaluation. It’s generally a 2 hour process, take a bottle of water with you.
SSHL in the right ear. I tried , eventually went to Advanced Bionics in that ear and have a Phonak Link in the good ear (basically my good ear only lost some high frequencies so the Link helps with that). I use the Roger On in noisy situations.
eventually went to Advanced Bionics CI in that ear and have a Phonak Link in the good ear (
Thanks for the info. Did you say your ear is not getting good word understanding? 1.5 years implanted and still low word understanding from your CI?
If this is the case doing rehab with the CI only might help improve that word understanding score. Example…stream only to your CI, no outside sounds to your hearing aid ear.
My word recognition score is in the 90’s, has been almost since the beginning. That’s in the booth, with different scenarios including noise. All I’m saying is that in real life I am unable to hear in noisy situations.
All I’m saying is that in real life I am unable to hear i
Ok, I understand now, my mistake. It takes two ears hearing pretty good to hear in noise. Lots of people with normal hearing struggle to hear in noise.
Do both of your ears hear well? If they do practice hearing in the environments you are now struggling in should help.
Can you hear where sounds are coming from? Localization? This is something that also takes two ears to do. If you can not localize sounds, listening to birds in the yard just might help you.
For me with bilateral I could hear birds but couldn’t tell where they were. With lots of practice and watching for the bird that’s making the sounds I learned localization. It took a couple or three months but I got it. This has really been helpful in life with most hearing things. I do pretty good in noise too. It’s all about the practicing.
I will chime in but with very limited long time experience to share (as others hear have). Your worst ear is not horrible and you have decent word recognition (said from one that had 0% in my left with profound loss). Loud places can be difficult for many with great hearing. I have been places that friends have asked “what” numerous times and they have superb hearing. Saying that only because in my opinion that wouldn’t be the primary reason to move forward with a .
However, I had my implant on the left on Nov 12th. Processor was activated 12/1. So I am 8 full days only wearing mine. I was not one that understood words immediately. I got noise. Certainly could tell the difference between a constant background noise vs someone speaking but not words. My instructions were to wear it daily; read to myself outloud at least 2 hrs a day and then use the programs on the remote over the next 3 weeks to continue to adjust the sound level prior to my next appointment in Jan at which time they will do more adjustment.
Today in my car controlled environment I was parked, took a phone call. With the volume higher on the car speaker (higher vs what I would “need” with my right/better ear) but blocking my right ear meaning plugging the right, that particular caller’s voice was clear. I understood what they were saying. NOT the same for everything on the radio or conversations in person with others but there was a glimpse!
I will say that it seems to me that with my good ear and the CI even in a crowded place (where the CI would NOT seem clear with word recognition to me) that I didnt need to ask people to repeat themselves as often. Is it because of the CI? Just time/place? Not sure but an observation.
My left was profound 100’s and below; no word recognition so for me it was a bit “easier” (but still anxiety provoking) decision since I didn’t have anything to lose.
Get your evaluation. See what they say. But also look into some of the mic options recommended as potentially it could assist you in the noisy locations.
I can hear almost normally, just some loss of high end, with my left ear, the one with the Phonak Link. The right ear has the , with loss of residual hearing. What I do hear in the CI only is high pitched distortion, but I do understand words. Perhaps because I waited about 4 years to get the CI this may never change. I am unable to localize sounds. As to your bird comment, I do some birding and pay a lot of attention to their songs and calls. But I have no idea where the sounds come from, so everything sounds like they’re coming from my left - Phonak - side. I have heard that for those who are bilateral, localization is possible but less so than we who are .
I have heard that for those who are bilateral, localization is possible but less so than we who are binaural.
This is incorrect IMO. I do not see a difference between and an aid from an ear. The localization comment is about getting both sides of your hearing tuned up in your brain. That takes practice and understanding how these two ears are figured out by the brain. The brain is lazy and goes the easy direction when it can. In your case it’s the hearing aid. Somehow you need to make the CI priority. Force the brain to learn the CI. Streaming only to the CI is one way to do this. Taking the hearing aid off and using the CI only is another way.
What percentage of WRS (Word Recognition Score) you have in left and right ear separately and then in binaural condition? Perhaps your left ear doesn’t contribute much to speech understanding?
From testing on Oct. 9, Speech in Sound Field: L ear (w/implant) @60 62%, Phoneme
Score 79. Apparently no test for R ear or both ears that day. Next Appt. Jan 13.
i just returned from a Holiday party with around 15 people in a raucous room.
My cheeks are tired from smiling and pretending that I understood what others were saying. I have worn ’s for over 30 years and am now ready to try the next step. I have been approved for a and would qualify for two. I’m anxious to begin; however, we have a month long trip planned In March, but I won’t hesitate after that. I can’t help think it will be an improvement Carpe Diem!
This is also my question @FredO . I am wondering if his CI rehabilitation is counter productive with the hearing aid in use. For some people it’s important to rehab the new CI by itself without the hearing aid in the other ear.
My audi. told me to listen & read along with only the to train hearing. I’ve done that both for human speakers (which can be difficult) and for NY Times articles “read by an automated voice.” The computer voices are occasionally not natural (for example a word in quotes sometimes is read as “quote quote quote quote”) but they are generally very clear. Understanding them is no longer a challenge.
I find listening to articles is useful when I’m eating breakfast,
As for the Roger microphone, mentioned in other msgs., I find pointing it at a speaker (triangle icon) does not work well but having a speaker wear it helps a lot. Also, on this forum, I’ve seen complaints about the switch failing. (Mine works so far). I also have a Phonak Partner Mic. I got with KS10 ’s and that works with the implant.
It’s my opinion also. Almost year ago, in Apr 23’, @Raudrive have had given advice to hear only by CI on my left without any involvement of my better ear. I used my Phone Clip for Bluetooth streaming extensively to listen to podcasts, even if I didn’t understand them at all.
I had a break from rehab about 2,5 months due to exam in October, after which I returned to CI training.
At the end of January, in WRS test in quiet (CI only in 65 dbA) I have 80%
I had not perform that test on …
Okay, I just wanted to point out so as not to discourage OP unnecessarily.
Writing “totally deaf” I mean no response from any frequency in audiogram.
Sometimes marked as flat 120 dB line, which is a bit misleading, because probably there are some 120 dB losses, which is usable e.g. just for sound awareness.
Writing “future CI ear” I mean the left ear of the OP, which is planned to get CI.
It depends. When someone are a few years old (I have my audiogram the same for my whole life since t…
I do lots of rehab every morning with just the when streaming from my computer and phone. I also don’t put my hearing aid in until lunchtime. I’ve maintained this routine since implanted March 2024.
I do lots of rehab every morning with just the CI when streaming from my computer and phone. I also don’t put my hearing aid in until lunchtime.
But do you have your better ear plugged? In my case, rehab in home with no and no earplug is much less effective. See my - I still can hear much. So I even have bought custom supersoft silicone earplug, which gives me additional ~40 sound attenuation if I listen something from loudspeakers.
If you have more occluded earmold or powerdomes tight enough, you can simply turn off the HA.
However, the streaming to only is less troublesome.
In noise hearing is challenging. I have found just getting into those environments often has helped me. Same for music.
I have quite good occluding powerdomes. A few days ago, when I came back from my family I turned off the HA when someone talking in front of me and I realized that despite ~70 dB train noise, I heard much better than a few months ago. Still not ideally, but much better. That was with the SCAN2 program with automatic Forward Focus.
Texas Hill Country
Poland
Melbourne
I had not perform that test on …