Hearing Loss: Come introduce yourself and connect with others

Sorry. The website of HLAA is http://www.hearingloss.org

Hello my name is Janelle I am 42 and have just received an Osia 2 Bone conduction implant on Nov 23rd. Today is Dec 16th and my head is swollen around the implant area 😔. Started to be concerned about my decision. Has anyone experienced this as well?

CI’s are not the answer for everyone and hopefully you had adequate testing to make sure you needed CI’s.
I saw an audiologist at a large hospital in the Denver area and she did not recommend them because my hearing would not be any better than I was getting from my existing hearing aids. She adjusted them better than my in network overworked audiologist and only charged me $86 and it will be $50 to $60 dollars for additional visits. The amount of testing she did lasted over an hour and was far more extensive than any testing I have had done in the past.
I am fortunate to have a Medicare Advantage plan with excellent hearing aid benefits as long as you stick with Signia. They are one of the major players in the industry and you can get their most advanced platform for $999 per hearing aid.
Good luck to you with your CI implants. I hope your issues improve.

@jnelly82 Have you contacted your surgery center about this? If not, I encourage you to do so.

I’m 63: soon to be having a cochlear implant evaluation. I highly doubt I will get the implant because I know it is going to take up to 12 months of hearing therapy…cochlear implant is a great option, but talk about “ high pressure,” and “ lying about the implant,” which I already know a lot about because my best friend has an implant, and I know that once the implant is turned on, it is not likely that I’m suddenly going to have bionic hearing. I wear one hearing aid in my right ear, and I don’t have any issues..but I’m still going to have an evaluation and discuss with the doctor all of my options. Thank you

Good luck to you. I will share the same advice that was given to me when I had my cochlear implant surgery when I was 65 years old. I had been fit with one hearing aid several years prior. It was my decision to have that unaided ear implanted even though I was told I had sensory deprivation in that unaided ear.

A dear friend suggested that I get an aid for that poorer ear that had a telecoil like the other one had. That way I could use the telecoils to listen to audio books on a small portable radio/recorder. (They are obsolete today but available if you look for them) I used a neckloop to listen. I did that for a full year before having the CI surgery. I spent about an hour each day listening to audio books, but also to music that I was familiar with. Amazingly, I was able to hear fairly well. Not perfect, but the 'good ear' helped.

The day my CI was activated I could hear sound and identify some of it. It started with the clock ticking. When I arrived home from the CI center I heard birds for the first time. I wasn't sure what they were, but my husband pointed out the bird in the tree by our home. Amazing.

Within a couple of weeks I was understanding sentences. I had asked that the telecoil be activated in the new CI processor so I continued to listen to those audio books; sometimes with only the CI processor and sometimes with both the hearing aid and processor. Within a couple of months I was understanding speech very well. Later that year I tested with 90% word understanding.

I truly credit my friend who advised me to spend a year rehabbing that ear that had gone unaided for about 25 years for my CI success. I also credit the information and support I received from the Hearing Loss Association of America. I met that friend through HLAA.

I share that story with people I know who are considering the CI option because I believe that rehab made a big difference for me. My only regret about my cochlear implant is that I didn't do it sooner. I was still working, and my work life would have been far less stressful. Same for my personal life.

I have the same feelings as you Frances. I’m 81 and have had hearing loss since my service in Vietnam. I regard those “engagement managers” as sort of specialized salesmen. I was recently referred for a CI evaluation which is soon to be scheduled. And I’ve been paying attention to CI issues for several years now. I’m not a real social person and often enjoy quiet over struggling to hear. It’s going to be a tough and important call to decide on getting a CI for me too. I plan to seek out some counseling from knowledgeable people to help me make an informed decision. I’ve never thought of myself as needing counseling, but in this case I’m going to request it.

I am 73 years old and have been wearing hearing aids for 7-8 years. My in network audiologist is excellent but extremely overwhelmed because her company has cut back to one audiologist for all their offices. They used to have two per office.
I went out of network to UCH the biggest hospital in the Denver area. The Audiologist they assigned me to spent an hour and half with me did extensive testing and determined that a CI would be no better than my top of the line hearing aids and proceeded to adjust them based on the results of my hearing test. I left hearing better than I had before and was appreciative of her opinion regarding Cochlear Implants.
Like you I was hesitant to take that step and thanks to her knowledge I was able to make an informed decision.

in reply to @arrowshooter Thanks. Had the company not lied to me about being able to hear from day one, I might have more respect for them. As I mentioned, or not, a friend received an implant years ago, and it was not until about a year ago that she was able to "try to listen to music." Music is very important to me, especially now with this post concussion thing, But I am going to go through the evaluation, and then I will talk to my hearing aid dealer, who has "adopted me." My sister has some very expensive bluetooth hearing aids, is planning to get new ones, and the hearing aid dealer, Betty, who we both see, said that my sister's aids would work well for me. I am doing quite well with one hearing aid, really don't care if I hear or not, given I live alone in a noisy apartment. Sometimes the silence is welcoming, if you know what I mean. But boy, that pressure is really over the top, even when I called them out on the lie...even tho the woman agreed with me that I would not hear normally once the implant is turned on post surgery, 20 minutes a day of listening therapy is more than I bargained for , and this is why I want to gather as much information as I can before I make an informed decision. MY sister's neighbor, also a Vietnam veteran, also suffered hearing loss in the war, bought hearing aids at Coscto, but I would am not interested in a Coscto hearing aid for obvious reasons. I would rather pay more money and get great customer service from my friend Betty who I have known for years.
Thanks again and happy holidays

If you or anyone else is a veteran they offer excellent hearing aids at an extremely low cost to you. Take advantage of that and thank you for your service. Two veterans I know are extremely happy with their hearing aids. Talk to your audiologist and she can check out what is available for you. I was not aware how high pressure the CI industry is and seeing an out of network audiologist who could have very easily recommended I get CI’s since she deals with both was very refreshing.
Good luck.