Cochlear BAHA sound arc

I have been SSD since 1995, and I was told on two different occasions I was a CI candidate. The first time, after taking all the tests, getting Medicare qualified and setting up the surgical consult, the surgeon greeted me with, “I don’t think you would be a successful candidate for a CI. You’ve been deaf for too long, and you are too old.” I had never been told I was too old for something before, and it was a gut punch. I asked him why he thought my age had anything to do with it, and he told me that it takes a lot of time and work to teach your brain how to decode the chirps and tones from the CI into sounds that made sense. He didn’t think I was up to the task. The second thing he said was that they don’t have any data of successful implants over 15 years.

He then pitched the Osia device to me. I was impressed with it, but I had already decided that this surgeon was not going to cut on me.

After some searching and more inquiries, I found another surgeon at a different practice. After meeting with him, he was willing to implant the CI, but now Medicare wouldn’t cover it. So I decided that God had closed the CI door and opened the Osia door. I was implanted in December and activated in January.

Since the implant, I have not doubted for a moment the decision to implant the Osia. I am now hearing all of those sounds in the “shadow” of my skull. And my crazy brain is even starting to make proper guesses as to where those sounds are coming from. I never expected that to happen.

I hope that whatever path you choose, that it makes your life more complete and pleasurable.