I headed back to the audiologist this morning to verify that I am a bilateral CI candidate.
- Audiogram: unimplanted ear, unaided (right ear’s residual hearing)
- Audiogram: unimplanted ear, aided
- Audiogram: implanted ear, with CI
- Audiogram: implanted ear, without CI (left ear’s residual hearing)
- Sentence test: implanted ear with CI
- Sentence test: unimplanted ear without CI
Nothing new regarding my audiograms. I have never had any signs of progressive hearing loss. Aside from the typical 5dB difference that sometimes occur just because a person has a good/bad day, difference in the equipment used, different sound booths, and different people conducting the test….my audiogram in the unimplanted ear is almost exactly the same as it was 26 years ago when it was confirmed I was deaf.
I do have a little bit of residual hearing left in the implanted ear. Most people lose all of their residual hearing in the implanted ear. I have such a small amount left that it doesn’t really make a difference in terms of being able to ever wear a hearing aid if that implant failed *knocks on wood*
Sentence Test
We knew I would get a big fat 0% on those but we had to do them anyways. With the hearing aid (they gave me a powerful hearing aid to use for the test), I could tell I was only picking up pieces of sounds here and there. With the CI I could tell I was picking up all the sounds, the number of syllables, and number of words. However, I couldn’t tell you a single word that was being said. With the CI I always feel like it’s on the tip of my tongue and I should know what I’m hearing….but I don’t. Of course these tests were done without lipreading or knowing the context.
Audiogram with hearing aid
Results were that I could only hear sounds up to 55 dB. Most of the sounds I picked up were between 55 and 65 dB. That puts me right at the bottom and out of the speech banana (dB and frequency levels at which all the speech sounds occur at).
Audiogram with CI
Results were that I could hear sounds between 20-30 dB. This puts me right at the top and within the speech banana.
Next Step
Surgery date has been set for July 22nd.
Life Is About Creating Yourself 
What, no balance test?? So unfair! 😉
Hi Kelly,
I haven’t been reading or blogging much lately. It’s exciting that you’re going bilateral. I just finished helping with CI research that compared two CIs vs one. I hadn’t realized just how much location info I do get from too until all these tests. With one ear I could only tell a sound moved around because it changed in volume but with two I can really tell left and right. Still have trouble finding something if I drop it but definitely helps for finding someone talking faster. Good luck with your surgery. Hopefully you will adapt faster and not be overstimulated for too long this time.