New Hearing Aid for the "Other" Ear

Today I got hooked up with a Phonak Naida V hearing aid on my left ear (the CI is in my right ear). The sounds were much clearer and more crisp, and the ear mold is much more comfortable. My audiologist put me in the testing booth to see how much I could hear with my new hearing aid.

I don't have the audiogram with me, but it shows that I could hear at 40-45 dB in the lower to medium frequencies and at around 60 dB in the high frequencies. It was funny to see her amazed expression on her face when I finished the booth test, and she had me take off my hearing aid to see how much I could hear without it. I had my CI turned off for both hearing tests.

I could not hear anything, without my hearing aid. At all. I kept turning to look at my audiologist the whole time, because I was wondering what she was doing or when she was going to give me some sound. After a few minutes, she got up, opened the door, gave me a puzzled look, and asked "did you hear anything?"

"No, I didn't hear anything. At all."

"Well, you should come see the audiogram... this is what you heard with your hearing aid turned on."

I wasn't surprised that I could hear as soft as 40 dB in the lows, but that I could actually hear at 60 dB in the highs. I think it was that my cochlear implant made my brain (or nerve pathways) more sensitive and aware of the high frequency sounds that are very important in speech comprehension. Plus, there's the fact that my left ear is the better ear and my right ear is the worse ear. For that reason, I had my right ear implanted, and opted to continue using the hearing aid in my left ear.

So, with some time, both of my ears will start working together to give me the maximum benefit out of the two different devices. It wasn't cheap, but I think it was a good investment.