See my post below about the profoundly deaf man scoring 90% on HINT. Someone linked me to a blog of a severely deaf man 85db HL, 35db aided whos scoring 100% on HINT! I am going to ask him some questions, maybe I can learn from him then work with my audiologist to have my HAs reprogrammed so I score at least the same as that profoundly deaf man. After all, I have better hearing than him! I am not expecting to score 100% but 80% to 90% is realistic and ive seen other deaf people score in that range.
Im actually not obsessed with high % speech, but it does serve as a barometer of how well im hearing and how well my HAs are programmed. My audie says he can get me down to 15db aided in the low frequencies and up to 30db in the mids. With transposition/soundrecover I should have access to the highs as well(ill hear the highs differently than hearing people). Those aided scores should put me at the top of the speech banana so I should score well.
My audiologist doesn't recommend CI for me as he says my hearing is still too good. He did say I might benefit from a CI but it's risky and if I hear worse with CI, there's no going back to HA in the implanted ear. I did ask him about the deaf cure and he doesn't believe ill see it in my lifetime. Maybe not but I don't need a cure, just some procedure/treatment(stem cells is one example) that will give me 20db more unaided hearing, then I would hear perfect with HAs according to him. Id also hear some sounds unaided as well.
Hey Hey,
ReplyDeleteSo you are looking at the Phonak Naida UP aid? That's actually a really good hearing aid to try just for the exact reason you mentioned. You have a corner audiogram and that hearing aid will essentially shift all the frequencies down into the region that you can HEAR.
As far as you hearing 70% of what your Dad says... that's great! Have you done any standardized testing with recorded material?
A really good indicator for candidacy is how you do on the HINT and CNC testing. I'd be curious as to what your scores were on those testing (recorded).
Would love to chat more!
I will stick with my hearing aid for now. I use a Beltone aid.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a candidate for a CI and I do just fine without one.
Have a good one.
Hey man, you said we have similar levels of hearing with mine perhaps a little more profound than yours. I'm surprised that you and the deaf guy you talked about can understand speech so well with HAs. My speech comprehension has been awful with HAs because I just don't get the high frequency sounds loud enough to separate out the words. It all sounds mushy gibberish to me, and not distinct at all. I find it hard to believe that a deaf guy with a similar audiogram as mine can understand speech with HAs.
ReplyDeleteMy hearing aids don't help with high frequency sounds either. I can't clarify anything sometimes, it is so weird.
ReplyDeleteAnd speech is very hard to distinguish, they deeper the voice, the slightly better I can understand it.
Mark, I already own two Phonak Naida V UP HAs since late 2008. Can you tell me more about transposition/soundrecover? What frequencies can be shifted down to what frequencies? Id like to shift anything above 1250Hz down to anywhere between 750Hz and 1250Hz.
ReplyDeleteNo idea what my HINT and CNC are, is it true if you score above 40% on any speech recognition test, you aren't a candidate for CI? Would I easily be able to score well above 40% on a HINT test if I were to take one? I do know that I have access to over 60% of the speech banana(transposition has not yet been enabled) so I hear about two thirds of all the letters spoken in speech. The third that im missing, I can fill in the blanks.
I did score a 72% on one of the close set online speech tests. Maybe I can get to 90% once my HAs are reprogrammed. I don't understand how someone else who scored a 95% on the same test was able to be a CI candidate and get CI. That person also had way better hearing than me.
Jelly, is your hearing too good for a CI? What's your unaided hearing, aided hearing, db loss and speech recognition?
Nabeel, Your HL in the worse ear is a bit worse than mine while in the better ear it's a bit better than mine. What HAs did you have and were you given a chance to try different HAs? Did you ever have the gains/amplification set to maximum? Couldn't your HAs be set to make sounds louder? Do you have any idea how well you heard aided in db HL? My audiologist believes ill be able to get down to 15db aided, if this happens to me, it should be possible for you too. Then your ability to understand speech should improve drastically.
deafdude, my HAs were brand new in 2005 and before I considered a CI, I asked my audiologist team if I would benefit from the new and cutting edge HAs.
ReplyDeleteThey said that I was already getting the maximum benefit from HAs - no matter how good they get. Any increase in gain or amplification would only make the low frequencies louder (which I didn't really need) but it would do nothing for the mid and high frequencies. Any upgrade would've been superfluous at best.
Besides, my 2008 audiogram shows "NR" for 1500-4000 HZ in my right ear, and 100 db in my left ear for those frequencies... the right ear actually got a little bit worse while my left ear stayed about the same since 2000.
you know what... since I'm planning to go the HA-left ear and CI-right ear route, I could ask my audiologist to tinker with my hearing aid once I get adjusted to the CI. It just might work... beefing up the HA to match what I hear with the CI so I get the full sound in both ears at least in the lows and mids. Something I might want to try.
ReplyDeleteThanks for explaining. If you couldn't hear above 1000Hz and had a profound loss in the low frequencies, then yea a CI is very likley to be better. Have you found your 2008 audiogram?
ReplyDeleteYoud benefit nicely from the bimodel approach. You may hear the lows better with HAs while you hear the mids and highs better with CI. Looking forward to see your progress :)