Australian: Looking at bone conducting implant for single sided deafness

[AndrewMorrison]

Hi

I'm in Australia.

I have had single sided deafness all my life (early 40s now). A recent audiology assessment puts me as a good candidate for a bone conducting implant. A loan of a bone conducting headset was mind blowing in terms of how much extra sound i was getting. Fairly overwhelming. What struck me was all the noise that i was previously unaware of like my pen scratching on paper.

I'm not sure what kind of implant to get. Cost isn't the driver. It's more not wanting to get something that will wear out or be superceded in terms of performance.

My hearing at the moment is adequate - the implant will be mostly to get me closer to what a regular person can hear. I'd love to get to the point where i can get some benefit from surround sound or stereo sound, or even to just locate where in the house my family are calling me from.

 

[Mary Beth]

@AndrewMorrison

Have you considered a cochlear implant for your deaf side? Then you would have two separate ears which would help with localization of sound.

@Kylie may be able to share her experiences with single sided deafness and a CI in Australia 

[AndrewMorrison]

@Mary Beth Thank you for your reply. The internals on my deaf side work ok - apparently the cochlear bits are all good. It's just a lack of getting sound to the internals.

When wearing a bone conducting headset like runners / bikers use with a hearing aid type app, the sound defiintely feels like it is coming in to the left side rather than going across the skull.

When i spoke with an audiologist who specialises in implants, they were steering me towards bone conducting, and i'm ok with that, but just trying to weigh up options. I didn't like the idea of the stub for the baha, and the magnetic cochlear ones didn't look appealing in terms of good transmission. I'm mostly tossing up between bonebridge, and waiting for osia2 to get approved in australia.

I'm also wondering how people do music with their sound processors if they have single sided deafness only. I understand taht you can stream into your sound processor, but with headphones do they interfere with where the sound processor attaches to the head?

Edited January 20, 2021 by AndrewMorrison
adding note about headphones

[Kylie]

I have a cochlear implant after losing my hearing suddenly on one side, in my late 30s. Had my surgery 18 months ago.

I can't speak to your specific device choices but I can certainly speak to becoming stereo - it's 500% better! It's not just hearing the other side sounds but also orientation to sound, as you mentioned, and a deep richness to sound that doesn't happen with one side. Also I can hear whispering now and other soft nuances that lost me before. And I can process sounds in busy environments much better too. I could never go back to single sided hearing.

[Mary Beth]

@AndrewMorrison

terrific!  I did not realize your cochlea is typical on that side.  Definitely BoneBridge instead of a CI.