The Hype as The Next Best Thing (TM) since sliced bread

Certainly, there's hype surrounding the cochlear implants with lots of people extolling the virtues of it and claiming it to be "The Next Best Thing(TM)". To determine if a cochlear implant is the right thing to do, one must look beyond the hype and look at the data and scientific research. I've read lots of testimonials that said "oh yeah! Cochlear implants are the best!" Testimonials are great and all, but I still thirst for understanding why it's the best, and what qualifies it as better than other options. Yes, it does work for people with a profound loss. But even people with moderate losses are being implanted. Is it still the best? I know that there are people who will argue that "no, they would have heard fine with hearing aids." And that may be true. Where is the dividing line defined where cochlear implants or hearing aids are better for someone?

But what about stem cells? I suspect that they have a hype about them as well. There has been a lot of marketing press releases lately about clinical trials and initial successes. However, the issue I have with reading marketing presses is that it is designed to sell you water, even when you're surrounded by water. Stem cell research has been hyped up as "The Next Best Thing(TM)" lately. While it is a marvel of modern science, it still has a long way to go. I've heard from someone that someone else down in Costa Rica had a stem cell treatment for his hearing loss, and was able to recover quite a bit of his hearing. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of details on it. The more I read marketing publications about it, the more frustrated I get since there are no substantial data within it. It's all relative. It could be that the person who got the stem cell treatment hears better because he got over a cold. Well, that may be an extreme example. Still, without verifiable data, it is still hype. Hopefully the cord-blood clinical trial yields quantifiable data that is tangible that can help shape and define the understanding of what stem cells can and cannot do in the world of hearing (loss).

I'm a bit skeptical. It's all snake oil until I can get my head wrapped around it. I don't have the understanding that the cochlear implants are better for me than hearing aids. And I don't have the understanding that stem cells work or would work for me. I do know that hearing aids do work for me, just not as well as it used to in my right ear.

In other news, I ran into my old boss on the way out to lunch. I had a difficult time understanding her nowadays, mainly because I could not hear some of the sounds she was making as she was talking. I didn't have that issue before. It's a little frustrating. Maybe I'm just super paranoid about boosting the volume on anything lately since getting the news, and may not be amplifying enough.

Sound Bytes

Browsing over on the AllDeaf users forum, I came across a forum post regarding the sound bytes of what cochlear implants would output.

The following links are the sound byte samplings mentioned in the beforementioned forum post:
UC Irvine: Cochlear Implant Simulation
UC Irvine: Acoustic Simulations
House Ear Institute: Audio Demos for Speech Perception

It's really quite interesting to simulate the sounds as generated by the cochlear implants. When I first heard this through my hearing aids, I heard distortions, and it was quite difficult for me to understand - all but the original recordings. But, the brain is a remarkable adaptable tool that has the capability to be trained to understand sound and make it more natural. I had a similar experience when I transitioned from analog to digital hearing aids. The digital hearing aids sounded way different, but still perceivable and clear enough for me to understand. About 2 weeks later, sounds appeared to sound the same as they did with my analog hearing aids. So, I foresee that a similar case of brain re-training would occur with cochlear implants.

It was especially interesting since the people with cochlear implants say that it's not an accurate sampling. I do wonder what the people say when they transition from hearing aids to cochlear implants. I understand that some people with cochlear implants hear better than hearing aids, but I don't know what it means, especially when comparing 30,000 cochlear hairs to 28 electrodes. Do sounds appear the same? Distorted any? Is the full range of music still appealing or does one get portions here and there?

For example, with hearing aids, I have whatever hair that's living with my hearing loss, but can hear across the spectrum up to the point where I have no living cochlear hairs. Does that continue to hold true with cochlear implants (except up to 8 kHz since it's interfacing with the cochlear nerves)?

So many questions... and plenty of time to learn, study, and understand.

My Audiogram Today

Ok, here's my audiogram... normal hearing would be at the 0 dB (decibels - it's on a logarithmic scale) line across the board. Negative dB numbers are a good thing, it means you hear better than average. Positive dB numbers are not, as it would require at least that much additional volume to boost/amplify to get to the 0dB line.

Also, 120 dB is near the human pain threshold for ears. So nothing will be boosted more than 120dB, and in most cases, you don't want to be near that number of amplification as it's quite loud. 130 dB is the absolute threshold for pain. It's louder than the club music pounding away from the big speakers in a dance club. That's probably only 100-ish dB.

Left Ear (the better ear) and Right Ear (the worse ear):

The ponderings of becoming Borg

A couple weeks ago, I went to an audiologist to determine why I haven't been hearing as well as before. The news hasn't been much of a surprise - I've been losing more of my hearing. I'm fine with that. Since I'm already stretching the limits and bounds of hearing aids with my existing hearing loss, she suggested considering cochlear implants: an interesting device that is a marvel of modern technology. They drill a hole in the skull to lead an electrode wire (with 20-some electrodes) deep into the cochlear, to stimulate the cochlear where the dead cochlear hairs cannot. The neat thing about it is that I'd finally most likely be able to hear the S sounds (as in "houses" and "Sam" and "hiss") and other high frequency sounds. Maybe I'll finally hear music as it's supposed to be. Especially those lyrics I always seem to misunderstand, like:

"Just give me one walnut" ==> "Just give me one more night"
"Oh, looking through the window" ==> "Oh, look at what you do to me, oh...."

There's lots of questions that I have, and I've only begun to scratch the surface.