I feel dumb

[phx]

Hi Kaybo,
My left ear has no more hearing, but my right still does. I would like hearing in both ears because then I know where noise is coming from and my head doesn't feel overloaded. Everything was removed from surgery. Something about everything being removed and my right ear still working well. Thanks for the help.

[Funnydream]

phx,

After my surgery which wasn't even a month ago. I would say my mind works fine as far as speech goes. I would say that the stress and worry is on high overload. And that's whats making my mind weaker. I was told my speech and swallowing would be affected because of nerves being pressed on. But I never noticed it.

I been having huge problems in crowds. A person will be right next to my good ear and I still can't filter the background crowd out correctly. Really sucks and makes me have to work really hard to get along.

P.S. Your not dumb. Not even close.

[CHD63]

phx .....

I keep hoping Jan will chime in here ..... she is our resident BAHA expert.  My very limited understanding is that a BAHA is only valuable if one is SSD.  Somehow the use of it does give directionality.  Perhaps your situation is different ..... Jan should know the answer.

Clarice

[Kaybo]

From what I understand, it doesn't give 100% directionality but can certainly help a little....mainly the hearing from that side...

K   

[JerseyGirl2]

phx .....
  My very limited understanding is that a BAHA is only valuable if one is SSD.  Somehow the use of it does give directionality.
Clarice

BAHAs were actually developed for people who, for various reasons, are unable to wear a traditional hearing aid (due to malformation or a variety of ear "conditions"). In these cases, the BAHA is worn instead of a traditional hearing aid, but it provides a similar function. The BAHA sends sounds to the ear on that side of the head. If they have a BAHA on the left side of their head, it's actually assisting the hearing in their left ear. If they wear two BAHAs, which is actually fairly common, the left-sided BAHA is assisting the left-sided ear, and the right-sided BAHA is assisting the right-sided ear.

It wasn't until some time after the development of the BAHA that it was determined that the BAHA could help single-sided deaf individuals.  In those instances, there's just one functioning ear, so the BAHA is placed on the non-functioning ear's side of the head and the sound is transmitted, via bone conduction, to the functioning ear on the other side of the head.

With regard to the issue of directionality, I attended an ANA/NJ seminar a couple of years ago at which a doctor who implants BAHAs spoke. He said that he always makes sure that his SSD patients understand two things before he implants a BAHA: (1) the BAHA will not not affect their degree of tinnitus -- it will neither make it better nor make it worse; and (2) the BAHA will not restore their ability to determine directionality. His theory is that shortly after becoming SSD (I believe he said it was a matter of a few weeks) the brain permanently loses its ability to distinguish directionality. I know that there are some BAHA-wearing folks on this forum who feel that they have regained directionality, so this theory may not hold true in every case. I suppose the assumption could be made that BAHA users who are not SSD do have a sense of directionality because their brain never lost that capability.

I think the important thing for us to remember is that not every BAHA user is SSD and the functionality of the BAHA differs depending on the user's condition.

Catherine (JerseyGirl 2)
 

[CHD63]

Catherine .....

Thanks for clearing up some misinformation I had regarding BAHAs.  My real concern was whether phx had accurate understanding from her doctor regarding the possibility of being a BAHA wearer successfully or not.

Hearing is a complicated process from the input of sound to the perception by the brain.  I think there is much that is unknown from individual to individual.

Clarice

[JerseyGirl2]

  I am not a good candidate because I have gone so long (almost 15 years) & so my brain has compesated.  BAHA's were not around then so I went for many years without a good substitute and so I guess my brain retrained itself. 


K   

K,

Could you go into a little more detail on how your doctor arrived at the conclusion you weren't a good BAHA candidate? Was it strictly based on the length of time you've been SSD? If so, did he/she mention what he/she considers to be the maximum length of time one can be SSD and still benefit from the BAHA? Did you have any hearing testing done that led to this conclusion?

Thanks for any information you can share about this.

Catherine (JerseyGirl 2)

[lori67]

The BAHA will not be a big help with directionality.  There are some people who can notice a difference in the way something sounds and determine that it's coming from their deaf side, but not everyone.  I can sometimes, but it's not something I can rely on, and I still have to do the turning around routine to figure out where the sound is coming from.

I love my BAHA, but you have to remember that it has its limitations and it's not ever going to be like your normal hearing.  As long as you keep your expectations realistic, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Lori

[Kaybo]

Catherine~
I have been to 2 Dr's (complete with hearing tests done by audiologist) and also tried a BAHA demo at the Symposium in Chicago.  I never had what I call the AHA - BAHA moment.  The last audiologist was the best in explaining and working with me.  When she was putting the demo on my head, she was talking on my deaf side, then she said, "Oh sorry - I need to repeat that for you" - she was completely by my ear, not talking loudly nor could I see her and I heard EVERY word!  Obviously, I would not have heard her if she were WHISPERING in my ear but I have compensated enough that, even though I still have very poor hearing overall, a BAHA would not help me enough to be worth it.  I had really high hopes after moving to Houston and seeing the docs here but they concur with everyone else!

K   

BAHA-less in Houston...

[phx]

Can someone tell me what "SSD" stands for? Thanks. I had a hearing test done and the audiologist said something about how if hearing in both ears weren't that good, a BAHA would be good. Even though I have zero hearing in my left ear now, my right ear is working at 100%. I will have problems with determining noise direction, but if my hearing is still good and I can still hear, would a BAHA be good? I just have trouble hearing when there lots of noises going at the same time.

[saralynn143]

phx, SSD = single side deafness.

According to the Cochlear web site, "the Baha System is designed to treat conductive and mixed hearing loss, and single sided deafness." That sounds like you.

Go to http://products.cochlearamericas.com/baha and poke around. Also check out some of the threads in the "Hearing Issues" forum here.

Best wishes,
Sara

[leapyrtwins]

Sorry I'm late to the party - work and parenting obligations prevented me from getting here any sooner.  Okay, and I confess I haven't run since Monday so I stopped at the gym, also.  I'm doing the HLAA Chicago Walk4Hearing tomorrow morning and my knees needed some "prepping".  (Nothing like getting old    )

phx -

I am SSD in my left (AN) ear and have 100% hearing in my right and I have a BAHA.  It works tremendously for me.  Catherine (jerseygirl 2) explained a lot of the "mechanics" of the BAHA.

I don't know why your doctor thinks a BAHA isn't for you - it certainly sounds to me like you're a candidate.  Perhaps he's a doc who doesn't think BAHAs are "worth it" - but unless he personally has one, that's not a fair opinion.

Where are you located?  I might be able to suggest a doc you can consult with who thinks BAHAs are great.

I was sold on the BAHA as soon as I tried the demo (4 months after my AN surgery) and I haven't been disappointed at all in it's performance.  I spent 9 miserable, depressing months before I had the implant.  The BAHA will never replace my "normal" hearing - that's gone for good - but IMO it's the next best thing.

As far as the question of directionality goes, I am one who feels I have gained some over the 2 1/2+ years I've worn a BAHA.

Last month I participated in a research study that my neurotologist and another doctor in his practice are conducting to see if BAHA wearers who have worn one for over 2 years actually have gained directionality.  I'm not sure when the results will be published, but I'm very anxious to see what the outcome is.

As far as mixing up your words goes and it being related to your hearing, I personally don't think it is.  I've had the mixing up words issue since my AN surgery - over 3 years ago.  The BAHA hasn't even made a dent in that issue.

Jan

[dalern]

I want to jump in here too.  I am one of those people who had SSD for almost 12 years before finally going to the neurotologist about a BAHA.  He did tell me that the longer a person has had SSD, they tend to accommodate to that mode and the BAHA MIGHT not be as effective.  I tried a couple of demos, on softbands, for 5 days at a time.  I really did hear a difference.  Now that it is implanted, it is even better than the demo.  Everyone is different, but it's worth trying the demo

Kaybo, if the demo made a difference for you, why would you think you are not a candidate?  I was told that however good the demo was, the real thing would be about 20% better.  Actually, it has turned out to be more than 20% for me.  I think the fact that I was not expecting to have normal hearing restored made a big difference.  I'm still new to this, but I'm happy!
~Dale

[Kaybo]

Dale~
It sure is good to hear from someone who had a hearing loss for years instead of months...I guess I wasn't clear - the demos made NO difference for me.  The Dr (here) did say that we could schedule a time and come back and wear it around the hospital and to lunch (there) & see what I thought.  With the move, we just haven't had time to do that, but would like to...

K   

[JerseyGirl2]

Dale and Kaybo,

This is an interesting discussion.

K, what sort of "spin" did the audiologists and doctors put on their decisions that you were not a good BAHA candidate? Did they say that since your brain has compensated over the past 15 years that you can hear as well as a BAHA user? Maybe the only thing that a BAHA user can hear that you can't is someone whispering on their deaf side (the whispering would be picked up by their sound processor). You indicated that you didn't need to turn in order to hear the audiologist on your deaf side -- is this generally the case (i.e., you can follow conversations in a group without having to turn to face the speaker)?

Dale, do you have 100% hearing in your good ear? The newest BAHA model -- which you have -- can be programmed to compensate for very mild hearing loss in the good ear. I'm wondering if that fact has contributed to the crisper sound which you can now hear? When the new BAHA was introduced, I had e-mailed my House Ear Clinic audiologist to see if perhaps that model could replace my Intenso ... but no such luck. I was told I would need to wait for the enhanced Intenso model, which hopefully will be introduced before too long.

Catherine (JerseyGirl 2)