Hearing Aid

[formula30]

I am a little confused and I am sure someone here will be able to clear this up for me.  I met with the radiation/oncologist and he stated that a hearing aid would not help me..........he said that my hearing is borderline......and word discrimination is bad.  So does this rule out Baha, I didn't quite understand......since SSD from An's seems pretty common........and many people have the BAHA.  I will be having gamma knife on Tuesday......and wasn't sure if it was too soon to look into this option.

[TJ]

Don't know what you mean when you say that word discrimination is bad, but mine is about 50% on my left ear.  The hearing aid really helps.

Good Luck
TJ

[CHD63]

Post-surgery I have approximately 20% hearing in my AN ear, with 100% speech discrimination.  In other words, the "volume" is just too low.  At first I tried a MicroTech hearing aid with very frustrating results.  Many months later I now have a Widex hearing aid and I can hear nearly normally ..... at least it is so much better than no hearing aid!

Someone can correct me if I am wrong, but I think only totally deaf (in one ear) people are candidates for a BAHA.

I have had no experience with radiation treatment but I was told following surgery to wait at least six months for the hearing to settle.  Because of post-swelling with radiation treatment, I would think one's hearing would take a while to settle after that as well.

Best thoughts.  Clarice

[dalern]

I am not "totally deaf".  I hear sounds but also have essentially no word discrimination on the right side.  No, you don't have to be totally deaf, just not able to hear!  Does that make sense?  Word discrimination is the ability to understand what words are being said.  If someone is talking on the right side of my body, I either don't know they are there or hear faint sounds but cannot make out the words.  Hope that helps. 

Now, all that being said,  formula 30, from my understanding, a BAHA WOULD help you.  It conducts the sound through the bone from the deaf side to the hearing side. Are you SSD or bilateral?
~Dale

[leapyrtwins]

formula -

BAHAs are for people who are unilaterally deaf (SSD) - or have hearing that is greatly "compromised" on one side - and who can't be helped by a hearing aid.

The BAHA is not a hearing aid - it's a prothesis (or implant) that works through bone conduction.  Hearing aids just basically amplify sounds so that those with diminished hearing can hear things louder than they would without an aid.

Check out this link; it's one of my favorites and it will explain the "scientific" stuff behind a BAHA - something I never seem to be able to figure out 

http://www.umm.edu/otolaryngology/baha.htm

You do not have to be totally deaf on one side (I used to think you had to be, until my neurotologist corrected me) - but there are certain "requirements"; like how much you can or can't hear from your "bad" ear.

Each BAHA candidate is evaluated on a case by case basis - so your doc and/or audiologist can tell you if it will work for you.  And although I'm no doctor (or audiologist), like Dale, I believe a BAHA would help you.

Jan

[formula30]

Thanks everyone, this really explains things to me much better. 

[leapyrtwins]

Glad to hear it - no pun intended.

Good luck,

Jan