in this video I'm talking about cochlear implants for unilateral hearing loss and
single-sided deafness coming up hi guys cliff Olson doctor of Audiology and
founder of applied hearing solutions in anthem Arizona and on this channel I
cover a bunch of hearing related information to help make you a better
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a new video whether you were born deaf in one ear or you experienced a sudden
sensorineural hearing loss or even developed an acoustic neuroma that
rendered one ear completely ineffective you have a variety of different
treatment options at your disposal some of these treatment options are the
contralateral routing of signal otherwise known as cross treatment and
you also have bone conduction treatment both of which I have discussed in detail
and other videos while these are both effective treatment options to be able
to hear sound from your deaf side by taking that sound and putting it into
your better ear there are still a few limitations in the main one being that
you never actually get back true by neural hearing binaural hearing
otherwise known as hearing with two ears offers some significant improvements
over hearing with just one year such as being able to understand speech better
in a quiet and noisy situation and having more ease of listening
that being said more neurons actually get fired inside of your brain which
gives you a better ability to process information but perhaps the single
biggest thing about being able to hear with two ears is that you can actually
localize where sound is coming from just imagine that you're inside of your house
and your cell phone is ringing and you have no idea where that cell phone is at
because it requires two ears to be able to determine which direction sound is
coming from and if you have only one ear that works you're not going to be able
to do that now don't get me wrong bone conduction and cross treatment or
absolutely phenomenal treatment options for individuals with hearing and only
one ear that being said they do not give you back the ability to hear with both
ears however there is another less common treatment option that is more
commonly thought of for individuals with bilateral deafness and that is a
cochlear implant a cochlear implant actually has the ability to somewhat
restore hearing in a deaf ear by completely
bypassing all of the traditional structures of hearing this is how it
works first sound is picked up by the microphones on a sound processor the
processor converts this sound into a digital signal that is then transferred
to the coil the coil then sends this information to an implant that is
underneath your skin the implant then sends the signal through an electrode to
the cochlea which is your hearing organ your auditory nerve fibers pick up these
digital signals in the form of electrical impulses these impulses
travel up the nerve to the brain where your brain interprets the sound which
results in hearing by giving hearing back to the deaf ear while not
guaranteed could restore some aspect of binaural hearing to include localization
ability which by now you know is something that you just can't get from
cross treatment or bone conduction treatment a few weeks ago the FDA
approved the Met L cochlear implant system as the first cochlear implants
for the treatment of single-sided deafness and asymmetrical hearing loss
the press release announcing this specifically indicated that the metal
cochlear implant systems including synchrony and the recently fda-approved
synchrony two are now indicated for individuals aged five years and older
with single-sided deafness who have profound sensorineural hearing loss in
one ear and normal hearing or mild sensorineural hearing loss in the other
ear for individuals aged five years and older with asymmetrical hearing loss who
have profound sensorineural hearing loss in one ear and mild to moderately severe
sensorineural hearing loss in the other ear with a difference of at least 15
decibels and pure tone averages between ears
prior to this FDA approval cochlear implants were already being used to
treat single-sided deafness just with an off-label use which basically means that
the FDA never actually approved it now just because the FDA has approved a
cochlear implant for the treatment of single-sided deafness it does not
guarantee that you'll be able to get a cochlear implant to treat your condition
there are specific candidacy requirements that must be met in order
to get implanted for adults you must receive limited benefit from unilateral
amplification basically meaning putting a hearing aid in the affected ear then
you must score less than 5% worse correct in quiet on the cnc word list on
the ear to be implanted for children ated speech perception tests using
developmentally appropriate monosyllabic word lists must also score 5% or less in
the ear to be implanted both adults and children must have at least one month of
experience wearing a hearing aid a cross device or another relevant device with
no reported subjective benefit the other potential barrier to implantation would
be cost there are insurance companies out there already who would be willing
to pay for cochlear implants for individuals with single-sided deafness
but this is definitely not the norm and it typically takes insurance companies a
little while to follow the FDA's lead and with the private pay costs of
surgery and Technology ranging anywhere between $30,000 and $50,000 or more for
a single cochlear implant it's definitely possible to privately pay for
cochlear implantation but it's just gonna cost you what it would take to buy
a really nice new car that being said don't make cost be the
main deterrent preventing you from getting a cochlear implant if you feel
that that is the best treatment option for you with enough appeals to an
insurance company there is the possibility that they will end up paying
for the treatment for you and if they don't there are some charitable
organizations out there who may be able to help you cover at least a portion of
your treatment that's it for this video if you have any questions leave them in
the comments section below if you like the video please share it if you want to
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see you next time