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Hearing aids in but still not understanding words
Hearing Loss | Last Active: Nov 4 4:08pm | Replies (135)Comment receiving replies
For those of us who hear sounds well but have trouble understanding speech even in quiet situations (and there are many) I have long put this down to auditory nerve damage. When my Word Recognition Score in one ear plummeted one year my audiologist sent me to my ENT for a test to determine the processing of the auditory nerve (looking for a tumor I gathered). The ENT doctor found none and said if he had (they are typically benign) he wouldn’t do anything about it. He attributed the auditory nerve damage to age.
So given this knowledge I am not convinced that any hearing aid could make much difference in that ear for me but perhaps a CI that stimulates the auditory nerve directly could. At 84 I still have the usual reservations about undergoing that route though and I am still hoping that using accessories will fill in some gaps. I have a new audiologist who uses PhD students to help with accessories and I could have used help when trying out (now returned) the Roger On in recently.
For those interested this blog article explains the role of the auditory nerve and processing difficulties. https://www.lobe.ca/en/blog/adulte-hearing/hearing-loss-auditory-nerve-damage#:~:text=When%20the%20auditory%20nerve%20is,inner%20ear%20to%20the%20brain.
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It is important to understand that cochlear implants stimulate a 'functional' auditory nerve, not a damaged one. Cochlear implants bypass the cochlea where hair cells that determine sounds have been damaged. The electrodes are able to stimulate that nerve that sends sound signals to the brain for interpretation. For generations, the belief was that when hearing loss occurred, the auditory nerve was 'dead' or damaged. When researchers figured out that was not the case, it led to the possibility of and development of cochlea implants.
The auditory nerve can be damaged. In that event a CI will not work. Prior to receiving a CI, it is typical to have an MRI and brain scan to determine whether or not there is something that would make a CI ineffective. Acoustic neuroma tumors can be the cause. In most cases they affect one ear, not both. That causes single sided deafness. There are remedies for SSD that involve implanted devices. That is a whole different topic.
Most medical professionals who are practicing today do not use the term 'nerve deafness'. They understand that assumption is no longer true. However, because many people were told, years ago, that they had nerve deafness, this is still a common statement.
If anyone is considering a cochlear implant, it would be wise to be tested and examined in the audiology department of a university that is doing research in this area. There are many of them.