Preparing for the start of my journey

[Bob Monsour]

I suffered a sudden hearing loss in my left ear about 9 years ago. They tried what they could...oral steroids, injected steroids, anti-viral, head MRI. And then, when nothing worked, they shrugged their shoulders and said that my hearing was not likely to return. I've had several hearing tests over the years to see if anything improved. But when they turn up the volume and inject those words into my ear, it's all garbled nonsense. Since I am retired and not often in noisy environments, I proceeded to "cope" with my hearing loss.

Recently, I've come to realize that the hearing loss has indeed affected my quality of life as I tend not to socialize as much as I had in the past. And I have significant tinnitus. So, in noisy environments, like some restaurants, it's extremely difficult to carry on a conversation as the tinnitus just gets louder.

It's also hard to feel safe just walking through parking lots as I am unable to tell what direction any sound is coming from. Shortly after my hearing loss, I was almost hit by a car coming my way on my left. I am much more vigilant these days.

As a result of all this, I've decided to take a serious look at a cochlear implant. I'm 68 years old, active, and in relatively good health.

I am scheduled for my first of 2 hearing assessments at the UCSF cochlear implant center.

I'm glad to have found this MED-EL community and hope to learn a lot from those that have gone before me. I'm a bit nervous about the whole thing, but at the same time, it would be really nice to be able to hear again in my left ear. 

Wish me luck...and thank you all for being here.

[Lauren]

Welcome! Feel free to ask any questions you have. There’s a lot of knowledgeable helpful people here. 

[Kylie]

I am also single sided deaf and I have found it of huge benefit having a cochlear implant and returning to stereo hearing. It's not just volume but also orientation (as you discovered!), and overall richness and quality. Would highly recommend to consider it

[Tim]

@Bob Monsour I'm SSD.  Started losing it about 16 or so years ago.  Was finally able to get insurance to approve a CI and was implanted & activated in January 2023.  Glad that I did. 

I'll share a few specifics from my SSD perspective and like others here, happy to help answer any questions.

1. I had 24x7 tinnitus that prompted me to often keep background noise going just to drown it out.  Come to think of it, I haven't felt the need to drown it out which may be more telling than just not thinking of hearing it.  I used to like hanging out in loud coffee shops or fast food places as a spot to work to just have good white noise.
2. Really nice to stop doing what I call the SSD 2-step.  I take a small step turning left to point my right ear to a speaker in a hard to hear setting.  They subconsciouly take a step to my left to better face, me.  I take another step turning left, and it keeps repeating.  Not exactly my favorite dance move.  One time we made it 180 degrees around before I finally asked the person to stop moving! 
3. Love that a beeping fire alarm or phone, doesn't set me spinning in circles with no clue where it is coming from. I'm not as good as a normal hearing person with spatial awareness but I'm SO much better than I was.
4. I don't have the unexplained exhaustion just from being in a big and loud meeting for a couple of hours. 

 

[Mary Beth]

@Bob Monsour

Welcome to HearPeers!  We are a friendly group.  If you would like to join in our next GoogleMeet chat, just follow this link and reply there.

Wishing you the best on your journey 

[Bob Monsour]

I would love to attend the Google Meet, but I'll be busy at that time as my wife is having hip replacement surgery just a few days earlier. Next time.

[Bob Monsour]

Thanks, @Tim. I am wondering about insurance coverage as it appears that Medicare covers CIs for bilateral hearing loss. It seems that they made a change last year that does cover CIs for unilateral loss in the context of a clinical trial. I'll be interested to hear (pun intended) what they say about it at UCSF. 

Regarding your point #1, I find background noise unhelpful. In fact, when we're cooking on the stove and we have the exhaust fan on, I am markedly relieved when we finally turn it off. We're all different, I guess.

I haven't had #2 happen yet, but I guess I'd chuckle at it...and also ask the person to stop moving.

On #3, when the siren is nearby, I have to cover my ears. I'm not sure if it's because my good ear is so sensitive or what. We went to see Oppenheimer in IMAX a few months ago. One of the things that I hated about it was the gratuitous use of loud explosive sounds. I was covering my ears during those sequences.

And on #4, I feel that I have subconsciously avoided most chances to be in large and loud meetings. I don't hate meetings, but the exhaustion you point out is very real.

Many thanks to you for your thoughts.

[Tim]

@Bob Monsour Welcome to the community.

Insurance policies and coverage vary.  Good luck!

For item #1 (going to a coffee shop to cover up the tinnitus), that is only when I didn't want to talk to people and instead be in my own little bubble covering up the tinnitus.  If I wanted to actually talk with someone there, it would be awful! 

For item #2, now that you know about the "SSD 2-Step" dance move, maybe you'll find that you've been occasionally doing it too. 

As for #4, I too would avoid some of those events.  Also, when I had to be there, I would try to show up 5 or 10 minutes early to claim an ideal spot based on the acoustics, who would be speaking, and from where in the room.