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Major 'oops - now what do I do'! Saw the surgeon yesterday - super nice and has a WONDERFUL VOICE even with a mask. I had no problems hearing him. So he doesn't think I have a major problem hearing, at least in a controlled, quiet setting. I'm now severe flat line. He said he normally finds it easy to either said 'yes you need it' or 'no you don't'. Apparently I'm in his gray area. I asked him what he would tell me if I was his Mom - basically to try hearing aids for another 3 months. However, that would appear to mean spending 6K on something that I might not need in 3 months! Hey, I'm a penny pincher - especially on what I consider big money!
I turned in my trial Phonak hearing aids - which I was having a great deal of trouble with anyway as background noise was constantly high. Dr Le gave me a Phonak loaner and it is sooo much better. Not sure which model it is. Dr W is going to talk to the team. He was concerned that the CI would make my hearing worse rather then better.
I'm also very good at 'cheating' - when I did the hearing tests on understanding sentences I did well because if I caught a few words I basically could fill in the rest - i.e. 'Little Red ? ? ? ? ?'. I also went on Phonak learning site where you listen to the voice and then select the matching answer. Once again some voices easy. Others I would get a word or two and then it was a piece of cake to select the correct answer. One of the reasons the family didn't catch on for years that I was having a problem hearing them. I'm guessing I'm not alone in the 'cheating' department.
So at the moment I'm in a dither and on 'hold'.
In the meantime we have a Medicare Home Heath nurse arriving to evaluate my husband = he has Kidney problem (CKD Stage 3) among other problems and is 88. Basically housebound. Can't even make to to visit grandkids.
Busy week!
Replies to "Major 'oops - now what do I do'! Saw the surgeon yesterday - super nice and..."
@billchitwood @julieo4 I've never heard of a CI making your hearing worse but I have to imagine it's because of the learning curve needed to retrain your brain on hearing differently. I agree with Julie that it doesn't take too many hearing tests before you start to remember those words (they call them spondees, I believe). Some audiologists use recordings for these words. It's to make sure that the volume of the words are consistent. I hope that one day the hearing system could be tested without our input. Heck, Dr. McCoy would be able to do it (this is a pun if you're not familiar). One thought comes to mind. Since most hearing loss is in the high frequencies and because the high frequencies are picked up near the opening of the cochlea, a hybrid device may be a consideration for the implant. The electrode array is shorter so as to not disturb the innermost part of the cochlea, which receives the low frequencies. The CI processor will function as a hearing aid so it amplifies the low frequencies and these sounds enter the cochlea as they normally do (air conduction). I know that Cochlear America makes a hybrid but I don't know if Med-El or Advanced Bionics offers a hybrid.
Tony in Michigan
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Yes. That 'cheating thing' is real. This is especially true for those of us who have been tested many times over the years. Our brain kind of knows what those sentences are. Some of the tests include nonsense sentences that don't make sense. Still, if they don't change those periodically we tend to figure them out. This is what we are doing in real life much of the time; filling in blanks.
No one wants to fail a test, so we try not to.
Were you given the 'speech in noise' test? That one starts out loud and clear and becomes difficult because typical noise is added after every few sentences. It doesn't take long before your head starts spinning. It's like being at a very noisy cocktail party. People with hearing loss don't do well in situations where background noise is prevalent. That's our nightmare.
How long can you keep the loaner hearing aids?