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Can I get by with one CI?

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The health system here doesnt pay for a second unless there is something like blindness that requires two ear hearing. So I am stuck with a CI if I get implanted.
My concern is if I can function with hearing via one CI

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You’ll definitely function fine. Hearing out of one ear with a hearing aid, and now is all I ever had and it’s been great!

I’m also (cochlear N7 & Resound aid) I function with one and aid extremely well. Some days are a bit tougher than others, eg if I’m tired, in pain, not sleeping well etc.

I did for 20 years. Then got concerned about the future of my health insurance coverage and sought out a second. Having bilatereal is a big benefit over just one. Much better in noisy situations.

In reply to @eyesgreendeaf

Yes you can.
My first implant was about 3 months before getting the second one. It was a big improvement over two bad ears with aids that didn’t help much.

But…hearing with both ears is even better if this applies to you.

Thank you all.
I’m 47 and I may be going to evaluation process in a few months.
Understanding speech without feeling frustrated is my hope ( mostly in calm situations since one CI )

@eyesgreendeaf

There are thousands possibly millions of people only with 1 x .

I have 2 x friends with 1 x CI each. They are twins. They have only got 1 x CI as they wanted to keep the other ear with only, so it’s suitable for treatment in SN hearing loss. They have been waiting over 30 years tho.

Here in the UK, adults can only get 1 x CI funded unless blind as well.

They have very limited speech and speech understanding but they’ve both been told it’s down to how their brain hears rather than the nerve or other parts of the ear.

They actually prefer to use sign language.

They were both re-implanted with newer internal implants to see if it would help but made no difference what so ever.

I have another friend who has 1 x and she hears really well and you wouldn’t know she was deaf.

That’s interesting to see some can’t get enough perception from whereas some just get nearly normal range.
I sometimes worry exactly about this. I do hear people from distance with my paradise UPs but cannot understand it. It just sounds distorted. Loudness is ok but perception is not.
I was a hearing boy before about 11 years old. I remember talking to my friends, understanding everything. It was so vivid memories. Long gone. Sometimes, remembering those times throws me down to a spiraling depression , deep dark feelings for some time. It’s like stumbling and then keeping walking again. I cannot tell these feelings to my hearing family or friends. Nobody cares. I’m sorry I’ve been off topic. But I do feel these up and downs every single day.

As long as you had hearing before when you were hearing like i was before my hearing was wrecked, you probably will have good performance out of it but do not give up hope… it takes a year or more to get it back… i had to listen to youtube videos because my nerve was were sleeping … it was like each freqency came back in stages like i heard the the first 500 hz at activation, and 2 week later i was hearing up to 1000 hz etc etc… and wore my implant like 18 hours a day, every day and i slowly crept up to high performance range which took like 5 years in the making

In reply to @Zebras

@Zebras said:

I have another friend who has 1 x CI and she hears really well and you wouldn’t know she was deaf.

I went to RIT and there was a lot of people like this… It amazed me and I was jealous until i got one myself!

From what I did search and research. I believe Bi-model is the most common users. It really rare to go 2 CIs.

With 1 CI on worse ear and 1 on the better ear. You pretty much get everything 80% results.

I guess the complementary question is this: Are there functional advantages to . More natural sound? Obviously how good your non-implanted ear is would have a lot to do with it. My latest audiologist broached the subject of , so add me to the list of people looking into it.

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