Power hearing aids vs Cochlear Implant (no easy choice)

I went to Vanderbilt last week and yes, I am a candidate in my left ear. Still on the early side. Surgeon said they tend to have better results with younger patients before other health issues set in. ANd having some hearing in my other ear and possible residual after surgery, it usually makes rehab a little smoother.

Thanks for sharing.
I guess us older folks are lucky to get 90% plus speech understanding with CI.
Hopefully I am not out of line.

@joanhawsey said:

ANd having some hearing in my other ear and possible residual after surgery, it usually makes rehab a little smoother.

Exactly my case, I was a young 28 year old person who got it and performs extremely well, too good to be true and it went far beyond i can imagine

I’m 47 and I don’t know if this would affect my adaptation. I might be 49-50 when implanted due to long waiting times.

OK, i need to clarify “young” ! lol I am 60. Since I am just over the border for qualifying, I asked if I would be better off waiting. That’s when the Dr. said doing it now before other health issues creep in could be an advantage.

Thanks for the cheers. I am leaning toward Advanced Bionics with the Phonak Marvel link aid that connects to it. My local CI AuD can adjust Phonak and having access locally to mappings will be helpful. I will likely return to Vanderbilt for one mapping after the activation and then think about doing the rest locally barring any issues. I may have to take some time without pay to get this handled. I don’t have a lot of leave time available. But do have a very understanding boss/company.

I may be as “old” as you. All relative…Im younger at 60 now than I will be later if I wait. And never out of line. lol

The age comment was pointed at Vanderbilt, not you.
My implants were done at 65, now 67.

The CI evaluation covers a lot of bases, not just a person’s hearing loss.
The CT or MRI plus a lot of questions about your state of mind concerning CI. I guess age could play a part in this.

My audiologist said I was one of his youngest patients which I thought was odd at the time. Could have misunderstood him too.

Yes it is true that electrodes spread their current over a bunch of nerves. But that doesn’t matter as ssa already tried to explain. “Brain” is a fantastic thing - it is ways better than AI.

On the other hand of course a CI is NOT a replacement for a good hearing ear. You will always loose. BUT for CI-candidates(!) in most cases it outperforms using a power HA - if the wearer is doing his job and consequently trains her brain. The brains needs to re-arrange thousands of synopsis.

My clinic did an intresting test with normal hearing folks and bilateral CI wearer (including myself). They tried to find out the minimum difference two pitches have to have so that one can surely distinguish these two sounds. Normal hearing people needed a different of 2.5Hz (in the lows at around 120Hz) in this test whereas I need a difference of 5Hz to distinguish two tones. This is way not that much/bad as expected when reading your post.

@stevemink said:

Please don’t spread false information. Its common knowledge that CI do not do well with music. In fact most CI users are unable to enjoy music through their implant. Also its common knowledge CI do not work well with incoming background noise. There are certainly many pluses with a well fitted and properly adjusted CI’s. Unfortunately listening to music or trying to communicate with someone in noisy situations is not one of them.

You are stuck to the info from the late 90’s and early 00’s. It’s you who is spreading false information. It is “common knowledge” to those who decline CIs.

A CI is not a replacement for a healthy ear but for an ear with profound loss.
Look at my audiogram. That was made before getting my implants. With these values and wearing a HA I was not able to listen to someone in noisy environments. Today with CIs (with no residual hearing) it is much easier to listen to talking people in the same envrironments.

Music sounded weird in the few months after the first fitting. Today I love my favourite music even more than it sounded in the past with or without my hearing aids. And be sure: I am far not the only one having this success.

@stevemink said:

The music perception and more specifically the appreciation of music is a common aspiration among cochlear implant (CI) adult users. In the majority of patients, only rhythm perception is reported to be similar to that of listeners with normal hearing. Melody and timbre recognition requires more spectral and temporal fine structure cues that are not well supported by the CI representation: for these reasons music appreciation represents actually a true challenge for adult CI users.

Could you please tell us what is your point? May I recall the headline of your thread:

Power hearing aids vs Cochlear Implant

Being stuck to power hearing aids is totally different to having healthy ears.

@stevemink said:

Again, this is not a knock agaisnt CI’s

No, I don’t believe you. You already made your decision against CI.

@astrohip said:

Again, if you don’t want one, don’t get it. But don’t tell the vast majority of CI users who are VERY happy with their implant how it’s not worth it.

I should have read till here before posting 3 useless posts You are so right!

I couldn’t agree with you more, my CI from almost 5 years ago literally changed my life 100% for the better. Once the internal CI passes testing and is available I plan on getting a second one on my left side to I never have to turn it off.

Cheers, Tim

@Deaf_piper I know this is an old thread, but did you manage to get the Nucleus 8?
Thx

Sheryl did get the N8.
She has been quiet lately.
Hope she chimes in.