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Phonak Naida instead of Cochlear Implant

Hearing Loss | Last Active: Oct 2 10:09am | Replies (3)
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@julieo4

Every major brand of hearing aids has a powerful option that may be worth trying before going the cochlear implant route. It would be interesting to know how that worked for you and IF it helped you hear in settings with a great deal of background noise.

Cochlear implants are not perfect, but successful users nearly always find them to be better in noisy settings than their hearing aids were. Last night I had dinner out in a noisy restaurant with friends. I used the mini mic 2+ that works with my CI processor and was able to participate quite well in conversation. CIs are a big step up from even the most powerful hearing aids. Those powerful hearing aids are certainly, worth a try though.

I commend your audiologist for suggesting that a CI might be worth considering.

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Replies to "Every major brand of hearing aids has a powerful option that may be worth trying before..."
daveshaw | @daveshaw | Oct 2 10:09am

I was hoping to hear from you after you said you tried to reach me.
I did talk with the Envoy company about the Esteem hearing aid that is FDA approved and has been out at least 14 years. They said it was nothing like the CI’s and could restore a persons hearing while being invisible and never having to come out.
That would be life changing for so many people that post on this forum.
The problem is the cost of $50,000 per ear and the fact that it is a prosthetic and Medicare refuses to cover it presently. There is a bill in Congress to get that approval but that is a long and arduous path.
Why don’t Audiologist’s mention it. If my research is correct CI’s can cost roughly the same and Medicare will pay for those. Secondly why can’t Medicare approve both and negotiate with both companies? I am sure lobbyist’s have quite a bit to do with that.
I would welcome responses from our moderator or anyone else in the group.
Maybe we should all put pressure on AARP.

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