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Dr. Mallory Raymond avatar

Mayo Q&A w/ Dr. Raymond: Cochlear Implant & Hearing July 1

Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT) | Last Active: Jul 20 9:51pm | Replies (22)
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Profile picture for justtodd @justtodd

Hello, Dr. Raymond.

Thanks you for taking time to answer our questions.

If one were to receive CIs, would any hearing ability, especially < 1kHz, be lost? I have pretty good (relative term) hearing in both ears below 1kHz, so if it is true that this would be lost after an implant, that would certainly sway my decision. Attached are audiogram test results from about 18 months ago. I currently wear Phonak Lumity Life 90s with P receivers and vented domes, and have grown rather attached to them, despite the limited battery life of 12-15 hours for me.

Also, I'm not sure of the criteria to qualify for implants, but I did find some guidelines on: https://www.cochlear.com/us/en/professionals/products-and-candidacy/candidacy/cochlear-implant that show I would be borderline, but fall right into their "hybrid" offering, whatever that is. Do my test results show that I should consider CIs in the future?

Thanks,
JustTodd

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Replies to "Hello, Dr. Raymond. Thanks you for taking time to answer our questions. If one were to..."
Dr. Mallory Raymond | @flotolaryngology | Jul 1 11:33am

Great question that comes up all the time. Hearing loss in the low frequencies is common after cochlear implant but not guaranteed. In fact, commonly now, through techniques that we generally refer to as hearing preservation, patients often maintain their low frequencies immediately after surgery. We do tend to see some decline or complete loss with time. For some, this loss does not outweigh the benefit of improvements in clarity that the implant gives them. Unfortunately, I cannot see the test results but would recommend in general considering a cochlear implant evaluation if you are still struggling with your hearing aids and your pure tone average is worse than 60dB in your better ear and word recognition score is worse than 60%.

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