Anyone hear had a cochlear implant? Or some family member who did?

I have an 80 year old relative who's severely hard of hearing. Also, I have a feeling I may need one, if I live long enough.

Not sure the 80yo will qualify. IIRC, they prefer doing it on kids who are really, really hard of hearing.

There are very specific medical criteria that must be met, especially that the hearing loss is due to catastrophic damage of the cochlea. Not all elderly persons have hearing loss for that reason and thus most tend not to be a good candidate. Also, implantation into the cochlea destroys any remaining residual hearing in that ear, so should an infection (rare, but it can happen) require removing the implant, complete and irreversible hearing loss will affect the implanted ear.

There's a bit more to it but these are pretty much the big points to address the OP. The 80 yr old relative is better off working through other options with their audiologist and ENT doctor before cochlear implants can really be considered a last resort option....

How's everything going with Colin?

We just got back from the last day of school. This year just flew by! And he starts middle school in August... :crazy: I'm so not ready him to be this close to the number 13. But he just keeps growing like mad...

Here's hoping we all have a nice calm summer! (Yeah right! Ah well, at least all the household projects got completed before school let out...) Nice to see you again! :hi:

She began going deaf at age 15. By 35, her hearing was 90% gone. She had the surgery at 80-something (maybe late 70s), and now she can actually hear. It's not perfect, and she's about 50% deaf, I suppose, but much better. Her main problem is translating those sounds into something more than just garbage noise after being deaf for so long.