Time for two?

The companion hearing aid for the Marvel processor is small, sleek and uses a smaller size of battery compared to the old models.  However, the audiologist at Sunnybrook told me that it might not be sufficiently powerful for my hearing loss.  She suggested I consider having a second cochlear implant instead as there is little hearing to be lost in my left ear.

In Ontario, children often have both ears implanted.  Until recently, however, adults could only receive one cochlear implant   In 2020, the Ontario government approved funding for second implants for eligible adults. I was informed of this at the time but, it being mid-pandemic, the timing wasn't great so I didn't pursue it further.

By June 2024, with the pandemic over, it was time for a fresh look. I was given an appointment for an evaluation in September 2024.  That gave me a month or two to get used to my new Marvel processor and to give some thought to a second implant.

The appointment was actually three appointments in one morning: first, an evaluation by an audiologist, then a balance test and finally an interview with the surgeon.  The outcome of all this was that I was approved for a second implant. The surgeon thought I would do well provided I was willing to put lots of work into the rehabilitation process.

Possible benefits:

• better hearing generally.  Not a certainty but it's quite possible that 1 +1 = 3, so to speak.
• better hearing in noise.  Noise is always challenging. For reasons that are not totally clear to me, having the ability to hear on both sides helps the brain to filter out noise and pick out the sounds it wants to hear.
• better directional hearing.  To me, most sounds seem to be coming from about 45 degrees to my right.  The exception, perhaps, are low-frequency sounds that I can pick up with both ears, e.g. cars and trucks.
• redundancy.  If my first implant fails or I have some health problem that precludes using the right side cochlear implant then I would still have a backup.

There are some potential drawbacks:

• cochlear implant processors and their parts are expensive. Upgrades and maintenance would be more costly.
• total deafness when I remove the processors, e.g. at night.  Well, I'm totally deaf at night anyway so this is not much of a drawback.
• surgery has some risks.  The risks are not large and the medical community now has quite a bit of experience with this.  In 2022, worldwide, the millionth patient received their implant!  Sunnybrook alone does about 260 implants a year.

This time around, I had no hesitation in accepting the recommendation.