Re: which ear

November 13, 2003

Dora,

No you have not confused me ), I have come to the conclusion on

some questions that there are really no concrete answers.. Seems to

me everyone is different and each has their own results.. I have also

learned that I will have to work hard (something I am not afraid of)

to be successfull no matter which ear I get implanted.. I am

generally a VERY positive thinker.. And I am also always asking a TON

of questions ) I have to know more than " it works " I want to

know " how and why it works " ) With your case I am wondering if

they had the contoured array when you had the N22 Implanted.. This

allows it to hug the cochlear for better placement.. maybe this had

more to do with it ? See i know a little already )

Thanks for the info.

Evel

> Hi Evel

> Trying to corner me are you??LOL!!

>

> Sometimes I do wonder if i am coming or going Or which ear is

which!!LOL!!

>

> Ok..when I first began my evaluation 7 yrs. ago for my N22 the ear

that would have been implanted was my L ear..which was the ear i had

last heard with.But then after my MRI it showed more callcification

so my R ear was implanted.I heard well.

>

> Then 3 yrs later I had my N24C implanted in the L ear.I heard

better .

>

> So actually I did hear better with the ear I had last heard with

but may have been due to gaining more electrodes which gave me more

high pitches.

>

> have I confused you even more????

>

> Dora Weber

> Nucleus Volunteer Advocate

> dora_weber@m...

>

> Bilateral

> N22-96

> N24C-01

> Cochlear Otosclerosis

>

November 14, 2003

Dora,

my last visit to my surgeon I mentioned the right ear is getting WORSE!! My

voulune is set at #4 and cant hear well unless both the implanted ear is turned

on and I popp the right ainide in the ear.my audi says she will test my right

when I go back on the 25th,after her vcation. He was all smilels and high fiving

me me after putiing my charter intfrount of his month to have me re -peat what

he sais ( my age of all things!) aFter my mapping. Too look at him he looks to

be by the book, very serios type, but when in the room alone , silly at times.

But when I mentioned that right ear and concern of not ignoring it like I did

before with the left, I felt a bit of a chill when he reipleied, I have done all

I can do, and something out how many he does and a ist or somethink that, of

course talking moving about the rooom did not help! not that good get! ]

But I came out with the felling getting an second implant that ear wasnt

happining. What should I do, Change to to U OF M in AnnArbor MI, about 1 1/2

drive but worth it if they wll onsider another implant . By no means do I want

to jump in front of the line to get it, I wait my turn, but what cant I have

impants both ears! I feel my right ear slipping more and more. but if I have to

with one ear of hearing, so be it.

Thank Cyndi in MI

Dora Weber <dora_weber@...> wrote:

Hi Evel

Absolutely..had the N24C been available 7 years ago i would not have had 12

electrodes disengaged.After I had the integrity test in January that is what my

audiologist said!!But the integrity test enabled him to map me by variable mode

and I ended up with 19 electrodes.Now after my repositioning of my receiver

stimulater the sound is soooo much better.This morning just wearing my n22 I was

able to converse easily with my 2 Grandsons.I have said it many times and I will

say it again and again..if anyone has trouble with their implants \Don't Give

UP!!Even if you are experiencing things that you think are weird share these

with your audiologist..and make sure he or she believes you.Noone but ourselfs

knows what goes on in our heads!!

Dora Weber

Nucleus Volunteer Advocate

dora_weber@...

Bilateral

N22-96

N24C-01

Cochlear Otosclerosis

November 14, 2003

Cyndi,

U of M doesn't do bilaterals at this time either.. They are waiting

for a time when insurance reimbursement becomes better than it is.

I've inquired about bilaterals before as I want one too, but i don't

see it happening in the near future at U of M either.

Hopefully as time passes and they map you more, you will hear better

and better.. It does take a good amount to get the full benefit.

If they were to give you full volume at this point, you'd probably

hate it.

I have no useable hearing in my right ear and get along with just my

implant which is providingme with near normal hearing in that ear.

I'm unsure of any place in Michigan that does bilaterals, but if

anyone does know.. by all means.. please let me know.

Good Luck Cyndi and if u should be approved for a 2nd implant, I'd

like to know.

Wishing you the best.

Hugs,

Silly

In , cyndi hetter <cyndihetter@y...> wrote:

> Dora,

> my last visit to my surgeon I mentioned the right ear is getting

WORSE!! My voulune is set at #4 and cant hear well unless both the

implanted ear is turned on and I popp the right ainide in the ear.my

audi says she will test my right when I go back on the 25th,after

her vcation. He was all smilels and high fiving me me after putiing

my charter intfrount of his month to have me re -peat what he sais (

my age of all things!) aFter my mapping. Too look at him he looks to

be by the book, very serios type, but when in the room alone , silly

at times. But when I mentioned that right ear and concern of not

ignoring it like I did before with the left, I felt a bit of a chill

when he reipleied, I have done all I can do, and something out how

many he does and a ist or somethink that, of course talking moving

about the rooom did not help! not that good get! ]

> But I came out with the felling getting an second implant that

ear wasnt happining. What should I do, Change to to U OF M in

AnnArbor MI, about 1 1/2 drive but worth it if they wll onsider

another implant . By no means do I want to jump in front of the line

to get it, I wait my turn, but what cant I have impants both ears! I

feel my right ear slipping more and more. but if I have to with one

ear of hearing, so be it.

> Thank Cyndi in MI

>

> Dora Weber <dora_weber@m...> wrote:

> Hi Evel

>

> Absolutely..had the N24C been available 7 years ago i would not

have had 12 electrodes disengaged.After I had the integrity test in

January that is what my audiologist said!!But the integrity test

enabled him to map me by variable mode and I ended up with 19

electrodes.Now after my repositioning of my receiver stimulater the

sound is soooo much better.This morning just wearing my n22 I was

able to converse easily with my 2 Grandsons.I have said it many times

and I will say it again and again..if anyone has trouble with their

implants \Don't Give UP!!Even if you are experiencing things that

you think are weird share these with your audiologist..and make sure

he or she believes you.Noone but ourselfs knows what goes on in our

heads!!

> Dora Weber

> Nucleus Volunteer Advocate

> dora_weber@m...

>

> Bilateral

> N22-96

> N24C-01

> Cochlear Otosclerosis

>

June 13, 2004

Lots of what you said makes sense. I'm just doing lots of fact-finding for my

16 year old son, in the event he ever decides a CI is for him. Right now he's

not on board with the idea, but his hearing / recognizable speech keeps

decreasing, and I think he'd do well with a CI. But until the recipient is

willing to go for it, can't do much about it. =) Vicki

which ear

Hi Vicky,

Depending on your loss and your preference, you get whichever ear you

want implanted. In my case, I was implanted in an ear that had NO

stimulation and NO hearing for 20 years. Dr. decided I had nothing to

lose if it didn't work, since I couldn't hear in that ear anyway. So we

did the left ear, and it worked like a charm.

Some suggest implanting the better ear, others the worse and saving

the better ear for using a hearing aid. Since i had no amplifiable

hearing in either ear, it made no difference to me. Dr. suggested using

the worse ear, or rather the one that had no hearing for the longest.

Others suggest the one most recently deafened. If you drive, you

might consider the fact that the left ear is going to be toward the

window all the time.

Nucleus Volunteer

Do most people have 2 CI's ? I've usually seen just one. If just

one, which side is it usually on, or is there a " usual " ?

=) Vicki

________________________________________________________________

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January 5, 2006

Hi ,

I know you from another forum lol. I have the Nucleus Freedom. Yes,

I'm very happy with my results as they have already exceeded my most

optimistic expectations. I can hear and understand my wife in her

office next door to my office. I dropped two empty paper splenda

packets on to a paper plate from about four inches and I could

actually hear them hit the plate. This is nothing short of a

miracle.

Jim

>

> Hi Jim,

> I, too, was implanted in the worse ear - one that had no

hearing, no

> stimulation for 20 years. Like your surgeon, mine figured I had

nothing

> to lose if it didn't work. But it did, WAY beyond what anyone

imagined.

> I understand speech without lipreading, can follow conversations

from

> another room, watch TV, go to movies, listen to radio, CDs and so

forth.

> And this with technology that was in clinical trials 8 years

ago. The

> Nucleus system has been upgraded internally 3 times since then

And the

> external upgrades are always made available to those of us with

the older

> implants.

> The Freedom implant now has all the " bells and whistles " that

were on

> the body worn processor I started with 8 years ago. Plus more.

> Amazing, what a dead ear can do.

>

> The Original

>

> From: " ak_mustang2000 " <ak_mustang2000@y...>

> Subject: Re: Which ear to implant

>

> Hi Barb,

>

> I also had a better ear and a worst ear. I had been essentially

> deaf in my left ear for over 35 years. I was unable to use a

> hearing aid in my left ear due to severe distortion, tinnitus and

> recruitment (sounds loud enough to hear were extremely painful).

I

> was able to wear a hearing aid in my right ear, but in order to

hear

> with it conditions had to be perfect and the speaker had to be

> within three feet. My surgeon wanted to implant my left ear since

> there was essentially nothing to lose on that side. I was

implanted

> on the left side on November 3rd, 2005 and activated on December

> 1st, 2005. I am very happy with the results of implanting the

worst

> ear. I was able to hear and understand speech by the end of my

> initial activation. The distortion and recruitment are no longer

> present and the tinnitus has markedly improved. I just had my 4th

> mapping last Monday and my Audiologist says I am doing excellent.

>

> Best regards,

>

> Jim

>

June 22, 2006

Hi ,

Many of us go through the same question - which ear to implant? When I

was making my decision, both my ears were audiolgically the same so I had the

choice of either one. Had my ears been different, my surgeon would have

recommended that I implant the ear which had the best hearing because he felt

that

the hearing nerve was better. Many people on this forum, over the years, have

had their worse ear implanted and have been very happy withy the results.

So ultimately, it is a decision between you and your surgeon. If you

surgeon feels strongly one way of the other then I would go with that. If you

are

given the choice then you could simply pick the ear on the same side as your

dominant hand, or the ear you would rather use the telephone with...don't

stress it!

June 22, 2006

Hi -

I was born with a profound hearing loss, and had my better ear implanted.

For the most part I had my right ear (better ear) aided until I lost the rest

of my residual hearing one day. I know how agonizing it is because you want

to preserve whatever hearing you have left. My surgeon recommended that I

have my better ear implanted since it was stimulated the longest, and had

better hearing discrimination while growing up. Eventually you will make a

decision based on what you gather at your future evaluation appointments.

CI user since March 1999

June 22, 2006

Hello

My situation was similar to yours. I had worn hearing aids for over 25

years and power aids for the past 8 years or so. I had my WORST ear

implanted. But even the " good " ear with just the hearing aid isnt much

use to me.

Since my switch-on, on April 26/27th this year, my progress has been

unbelievably good. I'm certain that in my case, the fact that I had

always worn my hearing aids and not chucked them in a drawer like some

people tend to do, benefitted me greatly. Probably by keeping the ears

stimulated and the brains funcions active.

Your prospective surgeon will be able to tell you more when he has

looked at your scans, but to my mind, if there arent any complications,

it makes sense to implant the worst ear.

Ted F.

>

> I know that it's important that the auditory nerve be stimulated. I

> was born with a progressive hearing loss and for the most part

> always wore two hearing aids. The hearing loss was about the same

> in both ears but was slightly worst in my right ear.

> I am having difficulty deciding which ear to implant - on one hand

> I want to preserve the slight residual hearing and discrimination

> skills I have for the left ear --- however I wonder if that ear

> will respond to the implant better since it has a history of better

> discrimination. Has anyone in

> this group ever implanted an ear that they could hear sounds but never

> could discriminate the sounds with? I hope I am making sense I

> confused myself when writing this

>

June 22, 2006

Hi ,

Although it's absolutely true, it's important to keep

the auditory nerves stimulated, in my case I had not

worn hearing aids for about 8 years prior to my

implantation last year (I felt it didn't do anything

in terms of speech discrim, and I wasn't interested in

hearing a lot of noise and sound--for better or worse)

and I chose my BETTER ear and I am doing very well. I

am even able to manage phone conversations on a cell

phone. Landline is more challenging, I'm still looking

for the best phone and working on my skills. I can

understand my dentist WITH his mask on his face! I

still use my lipreading skills especially in noisy

situations, but this plan worked for me.

Deb

--- " Ted F. " <ted.fletcher@...> wrote:

> Hello

> My situation was similar to yours. I had worn

> hearing aids for over 25

> years and power aids for the past 8 years or so. I

> had my WORST ear

> implanted. But even the " good " ear with just the

> hearing aid isnt much

> use to me.

>

> Since my switch-on, on April 26/27th this year, my

> progress has been

> unbelievably good. I'm certain that in my case, the

> fact that I had

> always worn my hearing aids and not chucked them in

> a drawer like some

> people tend to do, benefitted me greatly. Probably

> by keeping the ears

> stimulated and the brains funcions active.

>

> Your prospective surgeon will be able to tell you

> more when he has

> looked at your scans, but to my mind, if there arent

> any complications,

> it makes sense to implant the worst ear.

>

> Ted F.

>

> >

> > I know that it's important that the auditory nerve

> be stimulated. I

> > was born with a progressive hearing loss and for

> the most part

> > always wore two hearing aids. The hearing loss was

> about the same

> > in both ears but was slightly worst in my right

> ear.

>

> > I am having difficulty deciding which ear to

> implant - on one hand

> > I want to preserve the slight residual hearing and

> discrimination

> > skills I have for the left ear --- however I

> wonder if that ear

> > will respond to the implant better since it has a

> history of better

> > discrimination. Has anyone in

> > this group ever implanted an ear that they could

> hear sounds but never

> > could discriminate the sounds with? I hope I am

> making sense I

> > confused myself when writing this

> >

>

__________________________________________________

June 22, 2006

Hi

Ultimately it is your decision and only your decision which ear to implant but

maybe my experience with my CI will help you decide.

I have a very strong history of hearing loss in my family and most members of

the family began to lose their hearing in their teens and twenties. I bagan to

lost mine in my late 30, however, unlike other members of my family me loss

progressed much faster and by the time I was 50 hearing aids were not helping me

much. My situation within the family was also unique in that I have one ear

that is considerbly better than the other ear in discrimination (well of course

it is not that good or I wouldn't have qualified for a CI). We I began the

testing to see if I qualified I told my family that there was no way I was

letting them implant my " good " ear as that was all I had left. Thankfully the

doctor and audie agreed with me and my " bad " ear was implanted and I have had

nothing but amazing results since being activated. There is basically nothing I

can't do with my CI. So my story tells me that I did infact do the right thing

by implanting my " bad " ear. Again that

doesn't mean that is the right thing for you to do but it was for me.

Talk to you doctor and see what she/he says, try to gather as much information

as you can, and then go with your gut because ultimately it is your decision.

Please feel free to ask me any questions you might have.

Connie

Vacks <vacklist77@...> wrote:

I know that it's important that the auditory nerve be stimulated. I

was born with a progressive hearing loss and for the most part always

wore two hearing aids. The hearing loss was about the same in both

ears but was slightly worst in my right ear. I was never able to

discriminate the sounds I heard with just my right ear. I could

discriminate sounds in my left ear (using a hearing aid - even if I

turned off the right hearing aid I could discriminate sounds and

speech with the left ear) Due to an increase in hearing loss my

discrimination and understanding of speech has deteriorated to the

point I qualify for an implant. The hearing and discrimination is

still better on my left ear but only slightly. I am having difficulty

deciding which ear to implant - on one hand I want to preserve the

slight residual hearing and discrimination skills I have for the left

ear --- however I wonder if that ear will respond to the implant

better since it has a history of better discrimination. Has anyone in

this group ever implanted an ear that they could hear sounds but never

could discriminate the sounds with? I hope I am making sense I

confused myself when writing this

" The Miracle at Ohio State "

aka Nucleus Freedom

Implanted 10/04/2005

Activated 11/1/2005

Surgery: Ohio State University

Surgeon: Dr. Bradley Welling

http://internalmedicine.osu.edu/article.cfm?ID=2021

June 22, 2006

Hi, ,

You are making perfect sense. Your hearing loss progression sounds

exactly like mine. I wondered about implanting my right ear which only heard

noise and saving the left ear, which still gave me some distinction, although

very

soft. I'm here to tell you that if you are thinking of implanting the " bad "

ear, I absolutely agree and highly recommend going that route! Then you can

still wear the hearing aid in the unimplanted " good " ear and it may even help

" train " the CI. It was invaluable to me. Eventually I did go bilateral, but

until then I was so pleased to have both the CI and the hearing aid to

supplement - especially in the beginning.

If you have any other questions about this, feel free to write again

here or to me in private. Good luck!!

) Jackie

Implanted - right ear - Oct.2002 - Nucleus 24/3G

Reimplanted - right ear - Jan.2005 - Nucleus 24C/3G

Implanted - left ear - Sept.2005 - Nucleus-Freedom

June 22, 2006

I chose my " good " (right) ear for my implant. It was virtually useless by then.

I couldn't hold a one on one conversation in a quiet environment by that time.

I chose it, not for better odds for a successful implant but in the hope that I

could better understand a front seat passenger in the car <g>. Better than

flipping a coin, I guess. :<)

Virg

June 23, 2006

Hello and everyone,

I have turned into a bit of a lurker, but just thought I'd ask; I wonder if

it IS indeed true that one's auditory nerve needs to have been stimulated in

order to respond well to CI hearing. If it was true, why do so many

prelinguals do so well, or people who were born deaf and never really heard

sound? Many people do well with CI's that have never had either normal

hearing, or even hearing aid augmented hearing. If the nerve truly needed

to be stimulated in order to work, it wouldn't work for these people, it

would only work for the late deafened, or people who have had some kind of

prior hearing.

Binns

BEA Volunteer

----Original Message Follows----

From: " Vacks " <vacklist77@...>

Reply-

Subject: Which ear

Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2006 23:32:56 -0400