Stem cells is superior to cochlear implants. Well worth the wait!

I was discussing with my friend about stem cells vs. cochlear implants and how stem cells will be so much better. After all, stem cells can improve hearing and eventually make you hearing! Cochlear implants are just an aid to give a profoundly deaf person access to sounds but don't come close to natural hearing. I did talk about the fact I might get CI in 3-5 years but seeing that stem cell technology is advancing much faster, ill probably get the chance to get stem cells by then, that's my choice. I have made many valid points for my choice. Below are the advantages and disadvantages for your reference.

Advantages of stem cells:

1. Hear unaided

Perhaps the biggest advantage of them all and something I desire the most! Even a partial improvement of as little as 20db(although ive been told 40db is likley) will give me some ability to hear instead of the silent world I now experience. I get excited just thinking about this! It's going to be so surreal to hear something, reach for my HAs and find they aren't there! This is something cochlear implants can never, ever achieve. In fact, most people actually lose their residual hearing and thus their ability to hear even the loudest sounds. They can never go back to HA if CI doesn't work for any reason as CI usually wipes out your residual hearing. Even those who keep some residual hearing usually end up losing it within a year. Hybrid CIs are a failure for the same reason. Save your residual hearing for stem cells to improve upon that! CI never made sense for anyone with residual hearing but I, my audiologist, parents and friends admit it's great for those with no(or very, very little) residual hearing. No HA would help since you need residual hearing(110db max HL) to amplify.

2. Lower cost

Cochlear implants cost $50,000 per ear of which $35,000 is due to the surgery to implant. Insurance may sometimes subsidsize the cost for one implant. Many feel "one sided" with only one CI but can't afford the out of pocket cost for a 2nd CI which insurance rarely covers. No one knows what role insurance will have in covering stem cells, im guessing they will cover deaf babies and young children. They are very unlikley to cover HOH people since they are very functional with any decent HA and they can still hear some sounds/speech unaided. Also there's way more HOH people than deaf people and insurance can't afford this.

Older children and adults can take out a low(or even no) interest medical loan for the $20,000-$30,000 cost of getting both ears done with stem cells and pay off the loan over a decade. Many others may be able to get some financial support from (hearing) family and friends in the form of gifts and interest free loans. My parents will help me afford stem cells as they know how great it's to be hearing.

3. Lower risk

There's many associated risks of cochlear implants, surgery being the biggest risk. This is one reason I am not keen on getting CI. Neither my parents nor audiologist recommend CI for me either. Ive seen people develop all kinds of complications and infections including meningitis(vaccines reduce that one risk) damage to nerves and allergic reactions. Nerve damage may cause permanent numbness to the face, twitching of the eye, loss of the sense of taste and constant pain. The materials, including silicone in the internal CI can cause adverse affects. Silicone is toxic to everyone and should never be in the body! I read a blog of a lady who was allergic to the external speech processor and no one could remedy this so she was forced to stop wearing her CI. You also take the risk of being unable to get a MRI or other medical procedures that may ruin your internal CI.

Stem cells that are derived from your own skin/blood are risk free, your body will never reject your own stem cells! The process may be as simple as having a small vial of blood removed or a piece of skin scraped from your inside cheek or arm. Your cells are then processed into adult stem cells and injected(or inserted by IV) back in your arm. About the only risk is failing to improve your hearing. No residual hearing should be destroyed so you can go back to HAs and hear the same as before.

4. Wide acceptance

Once stem cells become mainstream and FDA approved, they will be accepted by 99.9% of hearing people and by 90% of deaf people. The deaf has learned to accept HAs and more recently CIs. They too will learn to accept stem cells for it's wonderful ability to let you hear sounds and speech.

5. Reduce tinnitus

Since tinnitus is very often associated with hearing loss, restoring your hearing even in part will also reduce your tinnitus. Ive read of people that find their tinnitus more annoying than their hearing loss and would trade away the rest of their hearing if they could live in peace without any tinnitus. With stem cells, they get to restore their hearing and reduce tinnitus! Cochlear implants have been known to make tinnitus worse!

6. Reduce recruitment

All deaf/HOH people experience recruitment where amplified sounds can quickly become too loud. Hearing people don't have this problem. Cochlear implants can also get around recruitment but not as well as actually restoring your natural hearing. I know people who still experience discomfort with loud sounds and are forced to turn their maps down. Their ability to hear decreases as well.

7. Best hearing

There is no argument that stem cells gives the best possible hearing. For those unhappy with how poorly they hear with powerful HAs and are considering a CI, they know that stem cells can do way better. After all, CI is just a tool like HAs but only stem cells is a cure. Even those who don't want to be cured of their deafness and become hearing, they can get a lower dose of stem cells and become less deaf. They will then hear better than CI with the right HAs programmed correctly and even if not, they can always get more stem cells! Cochlear implants gives aided hearing comparable to what a severely deaf person gets with HAs. I hear worse(not in the lows though) than what most hear with CI since im profoundly deaf(at 500Hz and above) but this will change when I get stem cells and ill hear better than almost all CI users. When I get stem cells a 2nd time, no CI in the world will even come close.

8. Waterproof

This is another huge advantage for stem cells that no CI(except for the rare totally internal CI) or even HA(I did read of a waterproof CIC HA, but won't help the deaf) can achieve. When I shower, my hair needs 2 hours to dry so I can't wear HAs during that time. When I prespire, I must remove HAs or risk ruining them. I have to stay out of the rain and other wet situations unless I remove my HAs then of course I hear nothing. I would love to experience swimming(pool, lake, ocean, waterpark) and showering with sounds! It would be so surreal!

9. Convenience

I won't have to deal with any of the hassles of HAs, you won't have to deal with CIs. People get lasik, prk, intacs, iols so they can reduce or even eliminate their dependency on glasses. The same will be said for stem cells to reduce or even eliminate dependency on hearing aids! I like HAs because they give me access to sounds but I won't miss them when I am hearing. No worries about feedback, molds, discomfort, changing batteries, repair, avoiding water, etc. Just pure, natural unaided hearing! CIs are just as inconvenient as HAs if not more so. The batteries only last a day or two, the processor is larger, heavier, more fragile. There's a cord and magnet to deal with as well. I often go without HAs when im alone because it's so much more convenient. I only wish I could hear some sounds without HAs! Those of you with more residual hearing than me are so lucky!

10. Reliablity

Face it, HAs and CIs are subject to failure or glitches. Of course stem cells won't prevent hearing loss but as long as you avoid loud noises and stay healthy, your hearing will remain and last way longer than your HAs or CI. I have had to get my HAs repaired about once every 3 years on average. For most people, their hearing lasts a lifetime with only the usual high frequency loss due to presbycusis. They can get stem cells for that when stem cell technology is mature.

Disadvantages of stem cells:

1. Blissful silence

That's about the only real disadvantage. You will be hearing 24/7 if you choose a full restoration of your hearing(25db or better) I was just thinking that alot of deaf people would go for a partial restoration and become less deaf. They would hear with powerful HAs better than CI for cheaper and less risk, yet still enjoy silence without HAs! Initially, stem cells won't be able to restore hearing in full but will be able to several years later. CI will be phased out so for the deaf who were looking to CI to hear more, they can go ahead and get stem cells or just live with what little residual hearing they have. That's your choice and I respect this, just respect my choice to improve my hearing as much as possible and I choose stem cells because it's so much better than CI.

I may get stem cells 2 or 3 times depending on the cost and extent of improvement. The first time, I expect at least 20db improvement but may achieve 40db. The second time, I would prefer to get down to normal or near normal hearing. If I end up with near normal hearing, say 35db loss I may decide not to get stem cells a 3rd time since any further improvement would be small and not worth the $20,000+ cost when for $2000 I can get mini open fit HAs that will aid me to 0-10db HL. I won't need HAs but wear them whenever I feel like and I can turn the HAs off to make very loud sounds much softer. I will decide when that time comes. For now, I have decided that ill get stem cells and can decide later if I want a repeat when stem cell technology matures.

2. Deaf culture

The Deaf fear the loss of their culture. They could get stem cells to be less deaf and not have to experience any of the disadvantages they can come up with. Cochlear implants didn't destroy their culture, stem cells might not either. There may be less deaf people since stem cells will be very popular for deaf babies born to hearing parents. Itll also be popular for late deafened adults and for the "oral only" deaf like me.

3. Few year wait

Stem cells is highly experimental today with only a few anecdotal reports. This "disadvantage" will go away after a few years. Those who are against hearing restoration which includes most Deaf people today say the wait is 20, 30, 40+ years or even that we might never live long enough to experience any restoration of our hearing. Guess what? It's already happening! My friend knows someone who got a 25db improvement in his hearing at a clinic in Costa Rica. Human clinical trials on children/babies under 18 months has begun! My friend says give it 6 months before we see human adult clinical trials and he will be a pioneer, getting stem cells first chance he gets. I will get stem cells after I see it on the news and read testimonals from the pioneers who are among the first, ill be right after those guys.

The saying goes "the time to hear is now" but keep in mind that those with CI may have to wait a decade longer before stem cells becomes advanced enough to repair the damage that CI causes. For one, you kiss your residual hearing bye. A 40db improvement for someone with an infinite loss might get you to 90db loss. But if you kept your 90db loss, you could be enjoying a 50db loss! The electricity CI uses can cause cochlea scarring gradually. Some fluid is removed from the cochlea to make room for the electrodes. Id rather just skip CI and wait 5 years for stem cells than get CI and have to wait 15 years for stem cells, but the choice is yours. Thanks for reading and feel free to ask questions or comment.

Update! 

Hearing regeneration with pills? They project 2010 as the year for human clinical trials! This could present another option besides stem cells!

Stem cells for deafness begins human trials? Great news!

Check this website!

Center Announces Hearing Loss Study

CBR is collaborating with three leading medical institutions to initiate a clinical study within the next few months that will evaluate the use of a child's own newborn stem cells to treat hearing loss caused by an accident or severe illness.

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My friend says clinical trials are being planned or may already be underway to treat hearing loss and other conditions in children using their own cord blood. Adult trials could occur next year, according to him. He already applied to be on the list and wants to be a pioneer for the first adult human deaf clinical trials. I give it 3-5 years. The wait is not so long, certainly not "decades" like some experts say to appease the Deaf who would oppose everything that treats hearing loss.

Stem cells is already being used for dozens of different diseases/conditions of which hearing loss is one of them. He wanted a cochlear implant but after learning that a hearing loss treatment is around the corner, he canceled the CI appointment and is going to wait for the real thing. He says if he isn't accepted to a clinical trial, he will just travel and get it done in another country. He's sick and tired of being deaf and not hearing good enough with HAs.

Hes currently emailing doctors and scientists for additional information and when they will perform their own trials. Adult trials will either use cord blood stem cells(making sure it's a good match) or your own adult stem cells which can be harvested from your skin/blood. Countries like China have been treating deafness/hearing loss for over a year now. The improvement is supposed to be on the order of 20-30db today but this will increase as stem cell technology matures. Ultimately normal hearing of 25db or better will be attained.

He told me that cochlear implants will be obsolete shortly after we hear news all over of success with hearing loss stem cells. He says those who got CI recently will be furious/irate that they didn't wait just a little longer. He also says that a CI damages/destroys all your residual hearing and other parts of the cochlea making your chances of ever being able to benefit from stem cells in the implanted ear poor. He's recommending anyone with residual hearing to save their ears and have a little patience for stem cells.

We also talked about it becomming mandatory for all deaf/hoh babies to get their hearing loss treated once stem cell technology is mature, could be 20 years from now. Just about all hearing parents will be more than happy to have their baby be hearing. Some deaf parents may oppose this which is selfish and unfair when such a safe, easy treatment is available.

There are so many advantages to stem cells over cochlear implants that it's worth the 3-5 year wait. He says itll be just a year. The cost will be perhaps $15,000 for both ears, the risks will be much less and the rewards much greater. He also believes that while todays stem cell technology can partially restore your hearing, in the near future youll be able to fully restore your hearing. I say this remains to be seen, it's a question of when, not if. But he knows about realistic expectations and we would be very happy to achieve a 20db improvement initally and later on achieve further improvements as stem cell technology matures.

Imagine that today is the year 2012 and that stem cells is being done on humans with great results. A such example would be something as shown below(see audiograms) from what we know so far. We know very little and still don't have a real answer on the date and such but im hearing from a growing number of people and the number of anecdotes is rapidly increasing. At this point, it is almost certain that before 2020 we will see large numbers of people getting stem cells. The wait is on the order of a few years, not decades! My parents are very excited for me and my dad will help me afford stem cells, including making the trip to another country if I can't get into a clinical trial in America.

This person wishes to hear better. Even with max gains(Deafdude: Max gains improved my speech by 20%!) on his HAs, his hearing still isn't that great. His unaided audiogram is very similar to mine and is typical for profound losses. Aided he hears great in the lows(Deafdude:  That's one reason I skipped CI) but it takes a nosedive above 500Hz in both quantity and quality. His mid frequency hearing, like mine is very poor and his highs are nonexistant. He is glad he saved both ears for stem cells instead of destroying/wasting it with CI.(Deafdude: I am not against CI if you already have no residual hearing to risk)  His old audiologist had recommended he wait a few years for stem cells and that a CI would probably disqualify you from being able to get stem cells for many reasons. The audiologist also pointed out that CI will soon be obsolete and no longer manufactored nor supported. 

He got the stem cell treatment and begin to improve. He is so glad he resisted the temptation for CI and saved his residual hearing in both ears. Some of his friends got CI and are happy with CI(Deafdude: I give CI the credit it deserves for those with no residual hearing) but won't be able to benefit from stem cells in the implanted ear.(Deafdude: More and more of my friends are skipping CI for stem cells) When all the hair cells have settled down in their new home in his cochlea, he noticed a very drastic improvement(Deafdude: A realistic improvement is 20db) in both unaided and aided hearing with the same HAs he had prior to the treatment. His HAs were reprogrammed with less than max gains in the lows as not to overamplify.(Deafdude: HAs can't give better than baseline of 0db HL)  He hears better than CI at 1000Hz and below. His speech score is almost as good as those with CI!  He can still attain further improvement so he will return when stem cell technology matures.



True to his word, he returned about three years later and achieved another huge improvement even though there's diminishing returns in the lows. He knows that stem cells can't give him normal unaided hearing. Even chickens/birds with their amazing natural ability to regrow hair cells still end up with a mild hearing loss! Given the fact he finds high frequencies annoying(Deafdude: My hearing friends and family cover their ears) and that very little sounds/speech takes place above 2000Hz(Deafdude: As I learned from my dad and others) and also the fact he hears way better than the now obsolete cochlear implant technology, he is leaving well enough alone on his doctor's advice. Getting more hair cells would not achieve much, if anything and risk hearing worse in the lows due to overcrowding. Too many hair cells living in your cochlea is as bad as too few!

All my audiograms thus far with my comments on them!

My audiograms are shown below. Click on each to enlarge.

This is the oldest audiogram I can find, its from 1998. That audiogram did say I have a stable profound hearing loss so I assume it was the same on previous audiograms. Maybe the audiologist somehow kept a copy before 1998, we will have to call around and find out. I can tell you that I didn't hear unaided even when I was little so I certainly wasn't HOH but deaf since birth.

I do wonder if I had cochlear dead zones in the high frequencies. I do remember being able to hear birds and whistles so I probably was still able to hear 3000Hz. My aided hearing took a big dip past 1500Hz despite my unaided hearing being flat. My dad says the audiologist programmed maximum gains in the mid and high frequencies but did turn the gains down a bit at 250Hz, that's why im missing out in that frequency :(

My mom found this audiogram in July 2009. I was shocked and surprised to see that I had no residual hearing above 500Hz! The arrows point downwards at 750Hz and up at the 110db max(90db max at 8000Hz) that this audiometer was capable of outputting. I was also shocked how much worse my hearing got! I never noticed that I lost what little high(er) frequencies I had! This means there's so few sounds that are high frequencies I never noticed I lost them!

My aided audiogram taken 20 days later. My unaided audiogram was input from 20 days ago, I don't think they retested my unaided hearing. My aided hearing at 250Hz remained the same 35db as it was in 1998 but it took a huge dive in the other frequencies. I am surprised at only hearing 50db aided with 95db unaided when I heard 30db aided with 90db unaided in 1998!

I am also surprised I heard aided to 3000Hz when I had no unaided hearing past 500Hz! Perhaps this was a false response due to cochlear dead regions? I am impressed I could understand some words on a speech test with such poor aided hearing! It goes to show how important the low frequencies are!

I was surprised at that 65db threshold at 250Hz! I also recorded better thresholds across the audiogram compared to 2002! Surely my hearing didn't improve? Maybe those are just false positive responses due to cochlear dead zones above 750Hz.

This left corner audiogram is from September 2008. My hearing falls off the bottom in the higher frequencies. Pretty much identical to my 2002 audiogram. The audiologist then said that no HA would touch a 120db loss and that he recommends CI. The next day he retracted his recommendation after seeing that I got some benefit from the new Phonak Naida HAs. I still hear pretty good in the lows.

I was surprised at the poor scores at 250Hz. Ive tested my hearing on several occasions after this audiogram and I can hear 70db at 250Hz. My aided 250Hz hearing is way better than 35db, I know because I hear 250Hz louder and further than 500Hz at home on my speakers. That audiometer needs to be recalibrated at 250Hz. However my other scores are accurate.

This audiogram from July 2009 was taken in-situ with audiogram direct, a feature my HAs support. My unaided hearing is 120db at 1000Hz and up. The aided scores are a home test with my speaker but they make sense given how much gain my HAs were programmed for. I plan to have another aided test in a soundfield for official scores now that my HAs have been reprogrammed. Ill edit this post with all future audiograms.

I might get CI in 3-5 years, need to learn more! My thoughts posted here.

Ive been thinking to myself about my future plans. There's still so much I need to learn about CI and so much more I need to research. Ive read many CI blogs and most with CI have a positive experience. But I just got done reading her negetive experience.  Although she did hear better with CI, she experienced complications with her CI and has stopped wearing her CI. She started wearing it again but is still experiencing problems and has stopped again. She also is sad to lose her residual hearing. I hope she can have her problems addressed and be happy with CI again. I do wish her well.

You may ask what happened to my plans for stem cells? The plan is still in action but no one yet knows when human clinical trials will begin. I plan to get a CI consultation in 2 years or so and if CI technology in 3-5 years can meet all my requirements and stem cells isn't around the corner by then, ill get one ear implanted and save the other one unless I lose all hearing in that ear.

Right now I have a 70-75% chance of improvement with CI over what my HAs can deliver. That comparsion was made with my current HAs programmed for maximum gains. I definately plan to try different HAs before getting CI. It makes me sad to see some people skip this important step. What if better HAs improve your speech from 20% to 70% or lets you hear 0db at several frequencies? Some of you do have enough residual hearing to accomplish just that.

Ive checked previous audiograms and my hearing has gotten worse. Ill post all my audiograms in another thread very soon. This is very important information for myself and for everyone reading to learn. I expect my hearing to slowly get worse and I might not hear above 500Hz a few years from now. In fact my 2002 audiogram shows no residual hearing above 500Hz but more recent audiograms place my loss in the 110-120db range above 500Hz. I will need a TEN test for cochlear dead regions.

Cochlear dead regions deserves it's own thread. But from what ive read, it's very interesting. A dead region is where you have no hair cells left and no residual hearing. You could still respond on the audiogram but the response is false and in fact arises from off-frequency stimulation. For example, a 120db stimulus can be heard by me as high as 2000Hz. But am I really hearing 2000Hz or are my hair cells at perhaps 500Hz responding? The piano thud test shows my hearing is "good" to 900Hz and goes downhill fast and ends at 1200Hz. Speech tests show pratically no benefit above 500Hz, any hearing above 500Hz doesn't really improve my speech score for some reason. Ill post about that in detail on another thread.

Ive been told that a CI should and probably will significantly benefit me today. My math places around a 3 out of 4 chance of hearing better with CI based on how much residual unaided hearing I have on a recent audiogram. You see, the more residual hearing a person has, the more benefit he will get from HAs. If I can hear 50db aided at a certain frequency and someone has 30db more residual hearing(say 90db vs. 120db) that person could be hearing 20db and not only that, the quality would improve since there's alot more surviving hair cells! There's some people who got CI who's audiograms I wish I had, id hear great with HAs with that much residual hearing. Ill have to wait for stem cells to improve my hearing to where their hearing currently is.

Hopefully CI technology gets to the point in 3-5 years where there's at least 90% chance ill hear better than with HAs. I am not comfortable with today's 70-75% odds. My friend says AB is working on 32 channels. We have seen 22 channel CIs for around 20 years now, about time for more channels! Ill be alot more interested if one of those CI companies can come out with 32 or more channels! This is very important for pitch perception but helps improve quality and even quantity of sounds!

There's alot of conditions that need to be met regarding CI.

1. I would like to hear better than 30db in the lows(125-500Hz) better than 40db in the mids(500-2000Hz) and better than 50db in the highs(2000-6000Hz+) and I would like to hear equal or better than my HAs at every frequency, even 125Hz and 250Hz! Today's CI technology stands a good chance of meeting my conditions in the mids and highs but a poor chance of just matching what I can hear with HAs in the lows. Maybe tomorrow's CI technology can at least match what I hear with HAs in the lows?

2. I would like to hear 100Hz or better all the way up to 6000Hz or better. For this, ill need a long electrode array inserted deep towards the apex of the cochlea. The low frequencies are the most important since most of the sounds and speech comes from the lows. I am simply curious what the highs sound like but regardless, getting to 6000Hz and better than 50db sounds realistic. The highs aren't of much importance from what my hearing friends say.

3. I want a 40% improvement in speech scores on a HINT-Q test or some other standard test. If I score 30% with my HAs, id like to reach at least 70% with CI. If I can score 40% or better with HAs, I will leave well enough alone even if I am a "borderline" candidate due to very loose CI criteria.

4. Id like to hear aided with CI comparable to what a severely deaf person hears aided with HAs and comparable to what a mildly HOH person hears unaided. Id of course like to hear better than what I and other profoundly deaf hear with the best HAs set to maximum gains.

5. I will need to be approved and financed by insurance, I can't afford the $50,000+ cost myself and even if I could, id be saving that for stuff such as a house, life saving surgery, retirement and even stem cells.

6. Id need to know what kind of risk id be taking by undergoing CI surgery. Id also need to know what complications can occur and the percent odds of them happening to me.

7. Id need to find an expert CI surgeon, team and audiologist to ensure the best possible CI results and to hopefully hear better than what I hear with HAs. Id want to talk in person to others who got CI and determine objectively how well they hear. Ill tell them to turn around and ill say sentences and see if they hear/understand. Ill also play tones and see if they can hear them further than I can.

8. Id be interested in the surgeon who has set records with CI, like he did with this lady who hears from -5 to 10db with her CI! He must have done everything right for her to get a record breaking result!

9. The audiologist will need to know how to correctly program/map my CI. He/she will need to work with me and let me see all the numbers/results entered. I will want to learn much about mapping a CI so I can help the audiologist map my own CI. I want the best possible thresholds and large dynamic ranges. 80% of a CI is the mapping and there's thousands of ways to map a CI, it's way more complicated than HAs.

10. I will need to learn more about CIs, what factors give good/bad results and see all the numbers/audiograms so I can compare and learn what results I can expect for myself. Those of you blogging your CI experience, please include all information/facts. Your subjective experience only tells half the story. How much residual hearing did you have before CI? Why were you not getting enough benefit from HAs? Did you try the best HAs with maximum gains? How well were you aided in the soundfield and what was your speech scores? How well do you hear with CI and how much, if any residual hearing did you keep per your new audiogram?

11. Stem cells is the wildcard. A CI will damage my hearing and cochlea and make it harder to get good results with stem cells in the far future. It would suck to be left out of stem cells for a long time in the implanted ear. I know the saying "the time is to hear now" but what if it means you end up not hearing in the future? I expect CI to be obsolete and no longer made/supported once stem cells takes off.

12. I will be paying close attention to the progress of stem cells all along the way. Ive seen a website in China that claims they can treat a variety of conditions including deafness today! What if in 3-5 years thousands of people travel overseas to become less deaf or HOH with stem cells and hear way better than CI with their HAs using their much improved residual hearing? Ive been thinking I could risk one ear with stem cells and if this doesn't work out then ill get a CI in that ear and wait for stem cell technology to mature. Then ill get stem cells in my non implanted ear while waiting for stem cells to make it possible to repair the damage CI does and improve my hearing enough in the CI ear too.

13. I am particularly curious why CI candidacy criteria is so loose and why they are/have implanted those with only a moderate hearing loss(such as 50db at 250Hz) a such person would still hear some sounds unaided that would be destroyed with a CI. I have a 70db loss at 250Hz and even I am worried about losing this residual hearing and hearing worse in the low frequencies. Why would someone who with the right HAs can hear 0-10db aided in several frequencies want to hear only 25-40db with CI? If they are that interested in hearing the highs, surely transposition would work?

14. I will try every powerful HA out there, especially the ones with transposition. I will do my best to make HAs work since CI is a last resort. My audiologist agrees that too many people buy into the CI hype and are too quick to give up on HAs that could be benefitting them! I know someone who scored 20% speech which improved to 70% when he tried different HAs! The longer you stick to HAs, the better CI technology will be when you finally get CI and if you can wait long enough, you can get stem cells!

That's all for now. I will keep blogging as I learn more. Feel free to comment and ill respond.

update(Nov 22) I spoke too soon about thinking about CI in 3-5 years. Stem cell technology has advanced faster than I previously thought and ill be getting my chance to get stem cells in less than 3-5 years. The experts predicting a 20+ timeframe for stem cells were wrong. I now see that stem cells for deafness has recently become available, making CI a moot point now and especially in 3-5 years. Hypothetically, if stem cell technology never existed then yea id get CI when CI technology improved some more. But now CI is old news and will quickly fade away.