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Hold Off Cochlear Implant until after CES convention 2025

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Edited

Because you might just see some new AR/Smart glasses coming out with “live speech translation captioning” that will make a a thing of the past. Right now if you want to pay a pretty penny it appears Xander Glasses might have the best Speech to glasses captioning lens display on the market. At $5000 a pop they are not cheap and frames are on the bulky side. But they appear to work well though then need to improve on battery life. My assumption come January is we will see other strong competitors going head to head with Xander glasses, hopefully at a lower price.

But man when you compare the unknown risks of a CI and the very long learning curve and with no guaranteed results its seems a no brainer to wait for upcoming AR/Smart glasses for the deaf and hearing impaired. Yea Apple and Meta are in the game but it appears they are at least two years off from show time. Meta is a head of Apple but no one knows when either company will offer live Speech to Text captioning display for those in need. Until then we have smaller high tech companies (start ups) coming forth with new products and I hope to see four or five standouts come January. Hopefully early next year we have a possible winner or stand out product in January that will push a CI into a distant third option. First choice obviously power hearing aids. Second choice AR glasses and third choice CI. Its coming.

And even though Xander glasses are overly priced, their still way, way cheaper then a $60,000 to $80,000 plus Cochlear Implant.

12 people in this conversation14 min readJump to latest

Where to begin…

I disagree with every electron of your post. First, having a is about restoring your hearing, NOT being able to understand the speech of someone in front of you. What about radio, what about TV, what about music, what about… you get the idea.

Then you say “when you compare the unknown risks of a CI and the very long learning curve and with no guaranteed results”, and again, I disagree with every word. I have a CI, since 2008, and am very happy. And in fact, I’m in the approval process for a second one. While a CI is not totally risk free, it’s darn close. It’s not a long learning curve. Yes it takes time, but it’s not like it takes years. It took me a couple months. And while there are no guaranteed results with anything in life, stats I’ve read show a greater than 98% approval from people who stick with their CI.

I love the idea of caption glasses. I really do. But they will NOT replace a CI, and there’s no need for you to disparage them. Both can co-exist.

Edited

To each his own. There are hundreds of thousands of people all over the world that are clear candidates for a , who choose not to get one. Why. Because there’s no guarantee how things will turn out. No doctor, no Audi, no specialist will promise any candidate the end results of a CI, because there’s no 100% certainty. Yes the odds say a CI should work as planned but I’m not into odds and that’s another story. What we have now is “a new kid on the block” and AR/Smart glasses are going to open a whole new world of communication for the deaf and severely hearing impaired. And when you think about it Astrohip, why shouldn’t someone give live speech to text captioning glasses a chance before deciding if he or she wants to go the CI route.

You see with AR/Smart glasses you get to keep what ever residual hearing you have left, which is not the case if you get an CI. You also can use glasses with current ’s. And you don’t need a doctor or surgeon’s approval to purchase glasses. In many cases there might be a solid return policy, so if glasses are not what you thought you just return. Unfortunately with a CI once completed you cannot go back.

Like I say for anyone out there sitting on the fence regarding a future CI, hold off and wait for January CES convention. There might just be some late Santa presents coming that can improve your hearing/reading capabilities. In less than three months.

In reply to @SayAgain3

To you your own, more like. If you had said, hey, cool new tool that might help people with hearing loss, I don’t think people would disagree. But yo, these are the best things since ear horns and can replace cochlear implants, which is certainly how you come off, well no, your zealotry is uncalled for. Going through life with subtitles is not hearing. Yes, to each his own. Cochlear implant evaluation is a long drawn out process with many considerations, so yes, one can reasonably opt not to go for implants, and yes, maybe these glasses can help. But to say that these things are a game changing revolution that will upend the world of hearing loss and that can reasonably replace cochlear implants is way overstating the case.

As @wilfried said, you are presenting this is a binary decision, as black or white. Do you want a , or do you want these amazing new glasses. As I said, I would be very interested in these, but not in lieu of my implant. Stop trying to sell these as better than a CI, and instead present them as another option for the hearing impaired.

If I’m wearing these, with no implant, and the person next to me or behind me makes a comment, I’d never know. With an implant, I would know they said something. Maybe I understood it, or maybe I need to turn and face them. Either way, glasses with captions will NEVER replace hearing. Great addition, but not a 100% substitute.

I’ve made my point, no need to beat it to death. I hope these glasses work, and work well, and come to market. I’m still going thru with my second implant, hopefully in January.

It is MY case! I am deaf born, I use hearing aids, but I cannot recognize any speech. So these glasses absolutely must have for me!

In reply to @astrohip

@astrohip said:

Then you say “when you compare the unknown risks of a CI and the very long learning curve and with no guaranteed results”, and again, I disagree with every word. I have a CI, since 2008, and am very happy.

I completely agree. There is a high chance that you will have the implant for most of your life (or even whole) without re-operation. You can search on Google/Bing for “Nucleus reliability report” or “Advanced Bionics reliability report”.

.

@SayAgain3 said:

First choice obviously power hearing aids. Second choice AR glasses and third choice CI.

In most cases I don’t agree. shouldn’t be presented as an “alternative” to high power . CI isn’t “better HA”. CI should be considered mainly when even the best power HA wouldn’t help with speech understanding. If the power HA helps satisfactorily, CI is not an option.

@Bimodal_user said:

In most cases I don’t agree. CI shouldn’t be presented as an “alternative” to high power HA. CI isn’t “better HA”. CI should be considered mainly when even the best power HA wouldn’t help with speech understanding. If the power HA helps satisfactorily, CI is not an option.

Disagree. Speech understanding does not depend on or , but depends on auditory memory. If you have not auditory memory - you will hear the same mumbling even with CI. So AR glasses can be very good support in such cases.

I have severe hearing loss and my hearing has stabilized, but if it became necessary i would not hesitate to get an implant. For me I probably will lose my eyesight before I lose my hearing. I have macular degeneration. I hate captions. But do love reading.

In reply to @anon33641277

I have written “In most cases”, not including everyone. I understand that glasses may be a great solution for patients not wanting a or wanting a CI with additional assistance.
If you, as an individual, are not considering a CI, that is okay.

However, in other discussions, you saw the graph column that says it is quite possible that prelingually deafened adults could get benefits from CI. The conclusion is: despite the fact that auditory memory provides great help for auditory training (I speak for myself), it is possible to train artificial hearing by CI without it, with the use of other cues such as lipreading, glasses, etc.

When discussing guidelines for that type of patient as an group, CI can be seriously considered, warranted by the specific abilities of the individual patient (motivation, lipreading, using phonic language etc.)

Edited

In reply to @cvkemp

Sorry cvkemp but for every person like yourself who claims they would not hesitate to get a if hearing declined, there are many, many more who would not. Do a google search of how many CI have been done In U.S. since they first came out and you would be shocked at such a low numbers.

In the United States, roughly 118,100 devices have been implanted in adults and 65,000 in children per 2024 count. Those numbers are based over a 40 to 50 year period. Yet I can tell you right now in the U.S. there are probably over fifteen million people who qualify for a CI but choose not to get one.

But now those who have a severe hearing loss, or are deaf or are not able to wear hearing aids, etc. have another option. AR glasses with English live captioning text display. You know not everyone who qualifies for a CI is over 65 and has medicare to pay for it. So high cost of a CI also plays into the low number of actual users. But soon AR glasses will offer the “hearing challenged” a chance to read what’s being said for say $500 to $2000 in a year or two. Don’t know about you but I’d jump at the chance paying say $1000 or so to read what someone is saying to me at some noisy restaurant, versus wearing a CI and hearing nothing. And just think no invasive skull surgery, No six months to a year trying to have your brain re-calibrate the strange incoming sound of a CI. And with AR glasses if you do have some hearing left to assist you (with aids) you keep it, where which ever ear gets a CI your residual hearing is gone - for good.

So like I said in an earlier post. Anyone who has a hearing loss should consider hearing aids first. Be it or power aids. But when you fall into the category of hearing impaired group (severe, profound or deaf) why not consider AR/Smart glasses before taking the plunge into cochlear implants. Please don’t shoot the messenger.

Cochlear implants deliver sound directly into your cochlea. The Xander glasses do not. They are just hearing aids built into the frame of the glasses.

cochlear_implant_graphic_t800 (1)

I’m very excited about Smart glasses, too.

I don’t think they overlap with but they’re a great option for everybody wearing /CI and wanting a better speech understanding (most of us, I think).

Check out the ER G1B smart glasses, they seem to be working amazingly already, and they only cost 600 dollars. And there’s just a small start up behind them, imagine when big tech will be finally ready…

I’ve been following the development of smart glasses with great interest, but first generation tech products are always expensive and buggy. If you have money to waste go ahead and try one now, but for retirees like me on a fixed income it is always better to wait for the 3rd generation when tech companies usually get it right.

In reply to @cvkemp

I have similar issues, eyes and ears both kinda fading out. In fact, when I first got my , I thought long and hard about deaf vs blind vs deaf-and-blind. Obviously, it wasn’t really a choice, but it helped me think.
Now, I have a reasonable level of hearing with my CIs, and a couple of helpful tools for vision (various Screen magnifiers and a screen reader). Many software tools for visual accessibility depend on the user being able to hear well enough to understand speech, including newer technologies that do an amazingly good job of describing things in the world.
I don’t have choices about what’s happening with my eyes and ears, but I’m so glad to be able to choose technologies that help me access the outside world.

In reply to @SayAgain3

@SayAgain3 said:

But when you fall into the category of hearing impaired group (severe, profound or deaf) why not consider AR/Smart glasses before taking the plunge into cochlear implants. Please don’t shoot the messenger.

Agree. However, we should be careful about describing that glasses as thing which “make a a thing of the past”.

@SayAgain3 said:

But man when you compare the unknown risks of a CI and the very long learning curve and with no guaranteed results its seems a no brainer to wait for upcoming AR/Smart glasses for the deaf and hearing impaired.

Our reaction to your post isn’t a willingness to “beat the messenger”.

We simply noticed that scaring someone (e.g., new users with no knowledge) with “unknown” consequences may cause unnecessary delay of CI even in patients who are fully eligible for it and who have a great chance to get a better life.

That delay may cause unnecessary loss of life-positive chances and prolongs stressful functioning in a deaf condition, which can negatively affect physical and cognitive/psychological health.

CI evaluation is a procedure that helps obtain information about whether CI could be beneficial or unnecessary at a given time.

As a person with a very long learning curve (or not, depending on which angle one sees it), I think it is better to inform potential candidates about the necessity of commitment to rehabilitation and different length of it without scaring them unnecessarily.

TL;DR: Informing people about glasses as a great very useful assistive device - strongly yes.

Scaring people about “unknown” risks of CI - strongly no.

In reply to @SayAgain3

@SayAgain3 said:

Don’t know about you but I’d jump at the chance paying say $1000 or so to read what someone is saying to me at some noisy restaurant, versus wearing a CI and hearing nothing. And just think no invasive skull surgery, No six months to a year trying to have your brain re-calibrate the strange incoming sound of a CI. And with AR glasses if you do have some hearing left to assist you (with aids) you keep it, where which ever ear gets a CI your residual hearing is gone - for good.

So like I said in an earlier post. Anyone who has a hearing loss should consider hearing aids first. Be it OTC or power aids. But when you fall into the category of hearing impaired group (severe, profound or deaf) why not consider AR/Smart glasses before taking the plunge into cochlear implants. Please don’t shoot the messenger.

When the messenger is full of misinformation, should we ignore them, or shoot them? I vote we try to counter your incredibly one-sided POV with some reality.

All of these “wonder glasses” are going to be an incredible tool when they become a working, functional reality. We are years away from that. A Cochlear Implant delivers verifiable results NOW. One doesn’t preclude the other. I didn’t get a (and getting my 2nd in a couple months) ONLY because I want to hear the person across from me. I wanted to hear the faucet I left running, the birds as I walk, the sound my car makes when I drive too fast, and especially MUSIC! I stream music every day to my CI/ combo, and I love it.

None of those things will be provided by the amazing world of caption glasses. They will have their use, and I may well even try them. But quit selling them as an end-all, be-all to all hearing problems. Your spiel is getting tiring. I speak from experience. You speak like a salesman.

There was zero misinformation in my posts, so take a deep breath and relax. Talking about misinformation with your “years away from wonder glasses comment”, care to do some research on Xander glasses? Of just ignore what’s currently on the market and then complain. ’s have different outcomes for everyone who uses them. Some have good results and some not so. Like I said the majority of CI are successful but not always. You posted earlier that CI do wonders with hearing music. I knew you were off base then because one of the complaints of people with CI is they cannot enjoy nor hear music clearly. Sorry but CI are not “incoming music” best friend.

You’re also grabbing straws with your “you speak like a salesman”. Hardly. I’m just pointing out that live English captioning glasses to text are here and now and you’ll probably see more coming out at CES convention in six weeks. Getting a CI is a big decision and should not be rushed. Furthermore if new technology is coming out maybe someone sitting on the fence regarding a future CI, might beneift by first trying AR/Smart glasses. What can it hurt and you can always return if not satisfied with results.

Time to realize more options are coming to those with severe hearing loss and those options are non-surgery and won’t impact someone’s auditory nerve which happens sometimes during a CI operation.

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