Hearing Loss: Come introduce yourself and connect with others

Hello, my name is Tina, and last July I started to lose my hearing. Eventually I was diagnosed with AIED auto immune inner ear disease after the ups and downs, pretty much going down. I’m giving it one last try and prednisone shots in my inner ear, but ultimately more than likely I will be losing my hearing I do have some appointments set up for evaluation for a cochlear implant. Just curious if anybody would like to share their experience with their CI and how they’ve adjusted to it how their life is with it how the hearing is I really appreciate that. Thank you.

That’s my trouble with my hearing aides. I can hear but don’t understand what is being said all the time. The volume is not the issue but clarity.

My audiologist always tells me that half the problem is how people speak. Usually they don’t face each other. There’s a lot of background noise they don’t talk clear they have food in their mouth so I think which I am doing myself unfortunately, is I try to not go in those really crazy loud situations and I try to have the conversations one on one or in a quiet setting. It’s a little harder to always find that, but that would be my best suggestion to you. I do completely understand your situation.

Over time there has been a lot of discussion on cochlear implants. Look in 'search' and you'll find discussions. Perhaps it's time to start a fresh one!

I believe we are going to see more and more people go the CI route as the criteria for qualification has become less restrictive. Now people with single sided deafness may qualify. Also, those who have what is considered 'severe' hearing loss (not necessarily profound hearing loss), are CI candidates. Unlike hearing aids, in most cases insurance and Medicare cover cochlear implants.

The technology involved in CIs has improved a great deal. There are three manufacturers that provide CIs, and all have excellent products with excellent results.

I was implanted in 2005 with Cochlear America's Freedom implant. It was life changing for me. I am 'bimodal', meaning I use both a hearing aid and a CI. The external equipment is compatible with the internal implant. I have upgraded the external equipment 3 times, and each upgrade is considerably better than the one before it.

What kind of research have you done on CIs?

That’s interesting news about chickens. At some point we will learn how their system does that and the knowledge can be transferred to humans. Those hair cells, I believe is what we lose with a SSHL.

Hi Julie, sorry I put Julia before I was text talking. I apologize for that. I have not done any research yet. I do have my CI evaluation set up for August 18 at which time they will test me to see if I qualify and then they’ll introduce me to the three current manufactures. I am told that they all have different technology capabilities so until I really sit down and look at all three of them I won’t know, but I’ll be starting with one on the left and my right ear is stable right now, but I’m anticipating when I wean off the meds that the right ear will start to fail as well so I am trying to get the left CI functioning and getting up to speed on my hearing capabilities preparing for that second one.

Since I now know you have a CI how do you feel about it call I need to take you to get used to it. Do you enjoy life can you listen to music can you hear conversations, have you learned how to decipher sounds now I’m told that’s the most difficult part.

I am on my third set of hearing aids and have adjusted to them. I was wondering whether anyone has seen the tv commercial showing a mother and her adult daughter talking, where the daughter is describing how her mother often did not hear people talking to her and of course didn't respond They both laughed and thought it was quite humorous that the mother couldn't hear. I am wondering if anyone has seen that commercial and if you did, what are your thoughts about it. My thought, and maybe I am too sensitive at my major hearing loss, but that commercial is not funny and honestly, offensive. I have thought about writing to the company or even the ADA because I find it insensitive. I am not mentioning the name of the manufacturer for obvious reasons. Admin, you can delete this if you find it unsuitable for our group. Thank you.

@gencha

Hi,

I haven't seen the commercial but it sounds insensitive to me. What was the purpose of the commercial...in other words what where they selling and how was that interaction between the mom and daughter relevant to the product? Even if it was an ad for OTC hearing aids, it is not appropriate and no, you are not being overly sensitive. You can give details without mentioning the manufacturer....I am really curious and I would contact the company. I bet a lot of people may already have. Advertisers have pulled many commercials that the public found offensive.

FL Mary

It was an advertisement for a hearing aid. I apologize for omitting that info.

Hi Mary, thank you for your response. The commercial is for Miracle Ear. It is a tv spot featuring 75 years Melissa and Deborah and it looks like it came out in June. You can search for it online. I think it shows on the iSpot.tv but you can search on YouTube and it should bring it up. I checked with our Moderator before posting the additional information to stay within guidelines.