Hearing aids in but still not understanding words

@daveshaw I have heard of Envoy. And on a Zoom the other night Dr. Blevins from Stanford (outstanding presenter - knows more about CI's than anyone I've heard speak) also discussed technologies coming down the road . Though his comment was if you need a CI now, don't wait for the next technology. It could be 10 years until it is perfected and approved. Similar to what people are saying about Auracast, though CI's require more regulations to get through. Technology is amazing - there are so many options for us HOH people versus when I lost my hearing 25 years ago. I hope I am still alive for the technology that allows me to go to a loud Sports bar, use Auracast to listen to the game but also be able to program my hearing instrument using AI to only allow certain voices like my wife and daughter to filter through.

What HLAA Chapter is near you?

My local chapter is right here in suburban southeast Denver where I live.
Love to hear more about your CI experience. I just want the technology to get here sooner rather than later.
Fortunately I can function pretty well with my Signia 7 IX platform behind the ear hearing aids.
Envoy sounds really exciting and it is here right now. I wrote a letter to AARP last night and told them not to forget the millions of their members who are suffering from hearing loss. We are rarely if ever mentioned in all the literature they send me.
Good luck to you and tell me how long it takes for you to relearn how to hear with your CI’s. That is one thing making me reticent to take that step.
Enjoy the rest of your week.

@daveshaw I have heard of Envoy. And on a Zoom the other night Dr. Blevins from Stanford (outstanding presenter - knows more about CI's than anyone I've heard speak) also discussed technologies coming down the road . Though his comment was if you need a CI now, don't wait for the next technology. It could be 10 years until it is perfected and approved. Similar to what people are saying about Auracast, though CI's require more regulations to get through. Technology is amazing - there are so many options for us HOH people versus when I lost my hearing 25 years ago. I hope I am still alive for the technology that allows me to go to a loud Sports bar, use Auracast to listen to the game but also be able to program my hearing instrument using AI to only allow certain voices like my wife and daughter to filter through.

What HLAA Chapter is near you?

Julie I talked to the HLAA chapter in Washington and found out they have only eleven lobbyists.
This is contrasted with other organizations with 100’s of lobbyists.
He said the problem is most people don’t join their local HLAA chapter and get involved.
With tens of millions of people with hearing loss in this country why do we have so little involvement.
I plan on joining my local chapter and going to the next meeting.
Why don’t all the people on this site get involved so we can move the needle and get something done.
Overpriced hearing aids and CI are not the answer. Not when technology exists for fully implantable hearing aids if Medicare would just approve prosthetics for these hearing aids to be covered by Medicare.
I was not impressed with the national HLAA lobbyists that I talked to.
He sounded totally outnumbered and defeated.
Love to hear your thoughts as always.

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.

Not sure where to jump back into this conversation. I've been busy creating the latest HLAA Wisconsin newsletter this week. It's posted on the HLAAWI website if anyone is interested. http://www.hlaawi.org Lots of interesting information.

A reality: Far less attention has been done on hearing loss than on most other medical issues. You can blame organizations, people, researchers, whomever for that. Advocacy is something done by 'the people'. Hearing loss stigmas keep people from talking about it much less advocating for better products, more attention, etc. Sad but true.

I am sure there will be a totally implantable device for hearing in the future. The cochlear implant technology currently available is amazing. The idea of a 'cure' is wonderful but it's not a reality at this point in time. I hope it will be someday. Maybe AI will ultimately do that. We can dream about it any way.

The Envoy implantable hearing aid has been discussed and in development for years. I do not know enough about it currently to comment, so if you find more information please share it. It would be interesting to know how it would be 'fired'. How long will an internal battery last before needing to be replaced? Where in the human skull would there be room to fully implant a cochlear implant with processor?

I have a cochlear implant and a hearing aid. I swim. I take my devices off when I swim. I cannot hear at all. There are products that cover cochlear processors and hearing aids that allow a person to use them in the water. They are a bit cumbersome but people use them.

Having lived with diagnosed hearing loss since the early 1960s, I have benefitted greatly from the technology that has evolved. Initially I was told that NOTHING could ever help me during my life span. Not to waste $ on hearing aids that wouldn't help me. CIs were not even a thought then. When they did become a 'thought' they were ridiculed, and the very idea was a joke even among the medical profession specializing in this area.

I was fortunate to have become involved in the organization that was the precursor to HLAA in the early 80s and entered the conversations about how hearing loss affected us along with what was happening in R & D and what kind of strategies and assistive technology worked. We dreamed of the future when hearing aids would be better. We imagined things like automatic speech to text and having live captions on TV.

By then I had gotten hearing aids. They helped a little bit in quiet settings. Noisy environments were horrible until I learned about assistive technology I could connect to those analog hearing aids. Life changing. Why had no one told me about that? Sadly, that is still the main question we hear from people who are new at HLAA meetings. The people who are in 'business' to help us whether they are medical doctors, audiologists or hearing instrument specialists, don't provide us with the information we need to improve our lives significantly. Most of it comes from 'the people', just like those on MCC.

It wasn't that many years ago that we didn't have Google. Research was done at our local libraries. Many people who need information do not know how to find it. This is especially true in the senior population. Technology advancements have overwhelmed a generation. They have helped generations. They will continue to do that one step at a time.

Only thing I can say about the future is that it will come. 🙂 However if NOW is when you want to be able to hear and participate socially, etc., what is now available now is amazingly good. My only CI regret is that I didn't get the CI sooner. I was implanted in 2005 and have benefitted from upgrades since then, every one has been better than the one before it. Yes, we would all like to see more being done and things happening for the better faster. Until the population with hearing loss, especially those with adult onset hearing loss, decide to come out of the closet and start advocating, educating, writing to the congressional representatives, volunteering to do outreach, etc. it will likely not go any faster than it presently is.

Good to hear from you. Envoy is currently working with the Mayo Clinic with trials. You might want to talk with so of your contacts at the clinic and learn more about the trials they are conducting.
As far as people with hearing loss not speaking up I just scratch my head.
I did send a letter to AARP recently to encourage them to get more involved. They truly do have clout since older people vote more than any other age group. That should get representatives in the House and Senates attention.
Keep in touch and tell what you find out regarding the trials for Envoy fully implantable devices going on currently at the Mayo Clinic.
Enjoy your weekend.

@hedy I agree with you 100%. I've had hearing loss and worn aids for 20 years. I went to 4 different Audi's, all one person offices but all were recommended at the time. Then I went to Penn Audiology (Univ. of Penn.) and have found the best Audi I've ever met. Helpful, explains everything and because she is younger and grew up with technology, she is great at recommending and explaining what to buy and how to use it. A 2nd benefit is she is a CI trained Audi also so when I got my surgery 3 weeks ago for a CI she will remain as my Audi.

I also have a State college near me (West Chester Univ.) that offers free hearing tests through their Communications Disorders Dept. which is great for low income people. So I recommend to people I meet through my outreach I do with HLAA to consider University's also and those that did have been very happy.

Not sure where to jump back into this conversation. I've been busy creating the latest HLAA Wisconsin newsletter this week. It's posted on the HLAAWI website if anyone is interested. http://www.hlaawi.org Lots of interesting information.

A reality: Far less attention has been done on hearing loss than on most other medical issues. You can blame organizations, people, researchers, whomever for that. Advocacy is something done by 'the people'. Hearing loss stigmas keep people from talking about it much less advocating for better products, more attention, etc. Sad but true.

I am sure there will be a totally implantable device for hearing in the future. The cochlear implant technology currently available is amazing. The idea of a 'cure' is wonderful but it's not a reality at this point in time. I hope it will be someday. Maybe AI will ultimately do that. We can dream about it any way.

The Envoy implantable hearing aid has been discussed and in development for years. I do not know enough about it currently to comment, so if you find more information please share it. It would be interesting to know how it would be 'fired'. How long will an internal battery last before needing to be replaced? Where in the human skull would there be room to fully implant a cochlear implant with processor?

I have a cochlear implant and a hearing aid. I swim. I take my devices off when I swim. I cannot hear at all. There are products that cover cochlear processors and hearing aids that allow a person to use them in the water. They are a bit cumbersome but people use them.

Having lived with diagnosed hearing loss since the early 1960s, I have benefitted greatly from the technology that has evolved. Initially I was told that NOTHING could ever help me during my life span. Not to waste $ on hearing aids that wouldn't help me. CIs were not even a thought then. When they did become a 'thought' they were ridiculed, and the very idea was a joke even among the medical profession specializing in this area.

I was fortunate to have become involved in the organization that was the precursor to HLAA in the early 80s and entered the conversations about how hearing loss affected us along with what was happening in R & D and what kind of strategies and assistive technology worked. We dreamed of the future when hearing aids would be better. We imagined things like automatic speech to text and having live captions on TV.

By then I had gotten hearing aids. They helped a little bit in quiet settings. Noisy environments were horrible until I learned about assistive technology I could connect to those analog hearing aids. Life changing. Why had no one told me about that? Sadly, that is still the main question we hear from people who are new at HLAA meetings. The people who are in 'business' to help us whether they are medical doctors, audiologists or hearing instrument specialists, don't provide us with the information we need to improve our lives significantly. Most of it comes from 'the people', just like those on MCC.

It wasn't that many years ago that we didn't have Google. Research was done at our local libraries. Many people who need information do not know how to find it. This is especially true in the senior population. Technology advancements have overwhelmed a generation. They have helped generations. They will continue to do that one step at a time.

Only thing I can say about the future is that it will come. 🙂 However if NOW is when you want to be able to hear and participate socially, etc., what is now available now is amazingly good. My only CI regret is that I didn't get the CI sooner. I was implanted in 2005 and have benefitted from upgrades since then, every one has been better than the one before it. Yes, we would all like to see more being done and things happening for the better faster. Until the population with hearing loss, especially those with adult onset hearing loss, decide to come out of the closet and start advocating, educating, writing to the congressional representatives, volunteering to do outreach, etc. it will likely not go any faster than it presently is.