: CI Candidacy Criteria

[Guest guest]

Hi !

Just wanted to clarify my statement about varying criteria for implantation.

This is based on the posts I've read on the various forums -- as well as my

own experience. When I was evaluated for a CI in 2001, I was told that I had

" a little too much hearing " to qualify. My loss was at 90+ dB in the low

frequencies at the time, so not much different than it was when I qualified

as a candidate back in the spring/summer of 2004. From what I understand,

the first CI center I was evaluated at did not perform the full battery of

hearing and speech discrimination tests like the center I'm attending now.

At the first CI center, I was only given 20 minutes worth of tests (i.e.

audiogram/pure tone, word tests aided). The center I'm attending now gave me

2-3 hours worth of hearing tests and even requested an ABR given my

premature birth history and risk for auditory neuropathy. The ABR was

negative for auditory neuropathy, but after the battery of hearing tests I

was given, I was declared a candidate with speech discrimination of 22%

aided. Perhaps I shouldn't have made a blanket statement about CI centers

and their candidacy criteria. I don't know for certain how CI candidacy

varies from center to center, but based on the various posts I've read on

the forums, I do know people who have been accepted as CI candidates who

have speech discrimination scores a little higher than 60% and hearing

thresholds starting at the 70 dB range decreasing to profound in the middle

and high frequencies.

Left ear - Nucleus 24 Contour Advance with 3G

Implanted: 12/22/04 Activated: 1/18/05

Right ear - Nucleus Freedom

Implanted: 2/1/06 Activation date: 3/1/06

Deafblind/Postlingual

Severe-profound hearing loss since 1995