Comments on: Hearing impaired get better hearing with cochlear implant plus hearing aid

By: Paul Michalski

Paul Michalski — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 18:05:39 +0000

Sara,

I’m actually being evaluated for a CI by Lisa Potts, Phd., one of the authors of the paper about the benefits of bimodal hearing. I noticed in your blog that you are an engineer. What kind of engineer are you? I’m an electrical engineer at Boeing (the former McDonnell Douglas). I wear a BTE HA in my right ear and nothing in my left ear (which has a profound loss). The concern that Lisa Potts has is that since I have not used a hearing aid in my left ear in so long (nearly 40 years), how it will respond to stimulation from the CI? I’m going to follow your blog since I’m supposed to meet with those who’ve had CI’s and read about other’s experiences. I’ll let you know how it goes for me.

Paul

By: Earplugs

Earplugs — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 00:30:04 +0000

I agree with PinkLAM — what’s the difference between 2 CIs and 1 CI plus 1 hearing aid? I”m very curious. It seems an no-brainer that having at least something in the ear (be it 2 hearing aids, 1 CI plus 1 hearing aid, or 2 hearing aids) will increase understanding of sound. Has anyone tried to study how the brain becomes “wired” for sounds? Identify what changes with diferent hearing devices?

By: PinkLAM

PinkLAM — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 01:27:54 +0000

Interesting, but I agree. The cost thing is not the best argument, and I’m sure there are plenty of seniors who would be more than happy to have a second implant. With that said, I find it really annoying that they never do studies on CI+HA vs. 2 CI’s. They’re either 1 CI vs. 1 CI+HA or 1 vs. 2 CI’s. I mean, no duh that if you’re hearing something out of your other ear it’s going to help somewhat!

I, personally, like music (and everything else) much better with 2 implants. With my hearing aid, music often sounded more distorted and I could just wear my CI and not tell much of a difference if I had my hearing aid in. Now, I feel like I enjoy music much more. With that said, I also retained some residual hearing in both ears. I haven’t had a booth test (yet) but it seems that my left ear can only hear higher frequencies (weird, I know), and my right can only hear the lows. If I turn my headphones loud enough so that I can hear it with my “natural hearing”, even though it comes through very faintly, the combination is really awesome! It adds more dimension, but I don’t like my music quite that loud, so I rarely do that!

By: Daisy

Daisy — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 22:21:24 +0000

I wear hearing aids, and my loss is moderate, not profound. I often wonder if CI would be an option; it might not, given that mine is a nerve loss. This combination therapy sounds fascinating.

By: Sara

Sara — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 02:59:19 +0000

Same here… music is much better with the acoustic / electric combination.

By: Nabeel

Nabeel — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 02:54:52 +0000

I can definitely attest to the music sounding better with both CI and hearing aid. Using either one or the other seems to give an incomplete experience, but using both is like putting 2 and 2 together and getting 5. Or should I say 1 + 3 = 5

By: Sara

Sara — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 02:46:48 +0000

“A high-power hearing aid may cost a couple thousand dollars, while a cochlear implant costs tens of thousands of dollars,”

Not really a practical argument when it comes to your pocketbook if insurance pays for the cochlear implant and not the hearing aids.