Life is Bliss - Lily's Cochlear Implant Journey

AB Harmony vs Nucleus 5

Advanced Bionics has posted a new comparison chart versus Cochlear's latest Nucleus 5. Click on the link for more insights.

3-D Scanner May Lead to Better Hearing Aids

Ran into an interesting article in the latest issue of Fast Company that looks at MIT's latest 3-D digital ear canal scanner. The technology will enable a better reading of the shapes and shifts in the ear canal than the traditional silicone ear molds. While the technology isn't likely to effect Lily and other cochlear implant users, it could be a big advance for those requiring hearing aids. MIT hopes to commercialize the technology by 2011.

Let Our Children Hear — And Learn To Speak - South Africa Editorial

A very interesting editorial in South Africa's The Time's called Let our children hear — and learn to speak

AB Cochlear Implant Article in the LA Times

There was an excellent article in the LA Times today called "Cochlear implants open deaf kids' ears to the world."  It chronicles a little boy named Tyler from CI surgery and activation, to speech at the John Tracy Clinic.   Hope we see more mainstream media covering this new generation of kids with Cochlear Implants.  Talk about a changing industry. It's certainly not business as usual. 

Do Women Hear Better then Men?

Scientists at the University of Rochester have discovered that the hormone estrogen plays a pivotal role in how the brain processes sounds...Understanding how estrogen changes the brain's response to sound, say the authors, might open the door to new ways of treating hearing deficiencies.

Check out this new discovery in the Hearing Review.

Update to Kid Featured in "Sound and Fury"

Do you remember "Sound and Fury," a 2000 Academy Award-nominated documentary about Cochlear Implants?  Part of the film documented Heather Artinian's journey toward the hearing world.  Made in 1998-99, the film focuses on Heather's parents as they struggle to decide whether to allow their 6-year-old daughter to have CI surgery, a procedure that Heather had been inquiring about since she was 4.

An interesting new article updates readers about Artinian, now a 15-year-old at Glen Cove High School with a Cochlear Implant and a star basketball, lacrosse and volleyball player.

Vivosonic - ABRs Without Sedation Or Anesthesia

One of the Google ads running on our site attracted my attention. It was an ad for the company Vivosonic that has developed a new ABR procedure that "enables recording clear responses without the risk or additional cost of sedation." It also allows the test to be administered in a variety of settings like schools, rather than a doctor's office. Here's a link to the product and a pretty good video outlining how it works.

When we took Lily in to the audiologist after her newborn hearing screening, we were told that she would need to be totally quiet and still to get accurate results. Because she was so young, we were able to test her by timing the doctor's appointment with her nursing and sleeping schedule so she slept through both ABRs without needing sedation. However, if she was any older or any more active that would not have been an option. Looks like now, parents may now have a better option. I'm not sure how prevalent this new technology is, but it's nice to see it becoming available. It's hard enough as a parent having to go through MRIs, CAT scans and CI surgery itself without having one more medical sedation.

Is anybody familiar with this product?

Hybrid Cochlear Implant

Interesting story out of Kansas City from the St Joseph News about a hybrid cochlear implant for people with more residual hearing to preserve.  Here is an excerpt:

The hybrid cochlear implant, however, contains a single electrode rather than multiple electrodes and is placed only 6 millimeters into the ear rather than 10 to 20 millimeters in, creating much less risk of damaging the inner ear structures responsible for residual hearing. And in addition to being less risky, the hybrid implant also is less expensive.

Ms. Kerner will return to Midwest Ear Institute on May 14 to be fitted with a hearing aid that will work with her implant, which is in her right ear. If everything works as intended, the hearing aid will drive sound waves and the implant’s electrode will stimulate the nerves leading into the inner ear, where Ms. Kerner still has low-frequency hearing. Through this stimulation, the implant will work with her residual hearing to restore the high-frequency hearing she’s lost.

Wis. could be first to require cochlear implant insurance coverage

A new AP article about Wisconsin's legislature passing a bill mandating insurance coverage for CIs, hearing aids and related treatment for those under 18. 

"Wisconsin could become the first state requiring private insurance companies to cover cochlear implants for children with severe hearing problems.  The state Legislature passed a bill Thursday requiring private health insurance plans to cover cochlear implants, hearing aids and related treatment for those under the age of 18. Gov. Jim Doyle has promised to sign it into law." 

Because our bill in Nebraska LB 493, that mandates CI coverage for all and doesn't address hearing aid coverage, continues to be stuck in committee until next year, I thought I'd pull some interesting notes from the Wisconsin press coverage.

"Wisconsin's insurance commissioner estimated last year that a similar, but slightly less-generous version of the bill would cost people enrolled in private insurance plans less than 10 cents per month. The analysis estimated that 1,200 kids in Wisconsin schools were deaf and up to one-third of them had cochlear implants."

"The potential cost of the mandate is unclear and will vary widely by company, said Phil Dougherty, senior executive officer of the Wisconsin Association of Health Plans. He said some of its members already provide coverage for hearing aids and cochlear implants while others do not."

Sen. Lassa [one of the authors of the Wisconsin bill] also noted research that suggests that Wisconsin taxpayers stand to save as much as $5,000 to $10,000 per child per year in reduced or eliminated special education services and a savings of about $1 million per person over their lifetime if more children can receive hearing aids and cochlear implants. Currently, thirteen states, including Minnesota, require that insurance companies cover hearing aids."  See Senator Lassa's Wisonsin Press release for more info.

Parents Magazine - May 2009

Interesting snippet in the May, 2009 Parents Magazine about Cochlear Implants.

"Deaf kids who receive cochlear implants report an improved quality of life - and the younger the age at which they receive them, the better, finds a new study in the Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research." 

Watch a CI Surgery Online

Here is an unbelievable opportunity to Watch a CI surgery online. 

On Tuesday, February 24th at 3pm CST, watch a Sequential Bilateral Cochlear Implant performed from University Hospitals Case Medical Center Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital in Cleveland.  Cliff Megerian, MD, The Richard and Patricia Pogue Chair in Auditory Surgery and Hearing Sciences at University Hospitals Case Medical Center Implants will perform the procedure and provide a detailed narration. Audiologist Gail Murray PhD., Clinical Director of the Cochlear Implant Program, will supply additional commentary. The physicians will be available during the webcast to answer any email questions from viewers

The Future Is Bright - Light May Help Future Cochlear Implants

In other research news, The Times of India published a story today about Northwestern researchers utilizing infrared light to stimulate neurons in the inner ear as precisely as sound waves. The discovery could lead to better cochlear implants in the future. 

Using guinea pigs as, well, guinea pigs, they have been able to precisely stimulate cells in a manner not possible using electrical stimulation methods used in today's cochlear implants. Here's an excerpt from the article:

"Richter said that electrical stimulation of the inner ear by a cochlear implant produces blurred maps, but the light stimulation produced maps that were as sharp as those produced by sound in hearing guinea pigs. 

While it's a mystery how light stimulates the neurons, as they do not contain light-sensitive proteins, Richter hypothesizes the heat that accompanies the light may play a role, and his team is now investigating the long-term effects of heating neurons.

The findings were presented at the Medical Bionics conference in Lorne, in the Australian state of Victoria, earlier this week."

While these advances are likely years away from being implemented, it's encouraging to know that hard work continues and that Lily may have even more options when she gets older.

Kih and New Programming Technology

Lily is on a roll.  It seems the Kih sound has arrived as well.  Such as Kih Kih Kick the ball.  No problem she found the ball and kicked it.  Other words she learned today or let on that she knew included wheel (as in the wheels on the bus go round and round) and xylophone. 

In other more technical news, a new company to watch is Audigence.  They have created software that helps improve the programing of both hearing aids and CIs.  It focuses on an automated approach to fine-tune digital hearing devices to a user’s needs. The automated evaluation is based on the most common features of speech that affect device users. The patient hears a nonsense word then repeats the sound. Next, an optimization algorithm processes the patient’s response and selects the next set of parameters to modify. This process continues until the patient reaches an optimum state of hearing.

The president of the company is a CI user and has partnered with the University of Florida to bring this idea to market.  They are currently negotiating with the CI manufacturers and have clinical trials going on with an undisclosed hearing aid company.

There are so many exciting advances just waiting in the wings to help Lily hear even better.  Technology is making all the difference.  When Lily grows up, I am sure she will be either a Scientist or a Techie like her Dad. 

Hair Cell Regeneration

One of the promising medical technologies that could at least partially restore hearing in some people with hearing loss is hair cell regeneration. This process refers to the ability to cause the cochlear hair cells to repair or replace themselves. Since the large majority of hearing loss is caused by damage to these hair cells, this technology offers great hope to many people with hearing loss.

This Web page tracks the progress of Hair Cell Regeneration.  The latest is from Oregon Health & Science University where scientists have successfully produced functional auditory hair cells in the cochlea of the mouse inner ear. The breakthrough suggests that a new therapy may be developed in the future to successfully treat hearing loss. However, this therapy is probably at least 20-30 years away.

AG Bell Presentation Materials Now Available

Susan, Lily and I had a fantastic time at the AG Bell Conference in Milwaukee this past June. Fabulous information, insights, and inspiration. For those not able to make it, AG Bell has now made the presentation materials available online. I'd highly encourage you to browse and learn from these. Great research and great info from professionals from around the world.

Also, while not a requirement to download, consider becoming an AG Bell member so resources like these can continue to be available to parents and their families. Happy surfing.

Back to School Tips

While Lily is a few years away from going to school, it's never too early to start planning and advocating for your child. Tonight we're going to a parent meeting with Lincoln Public Schools (LPS) where they're supposed to inform parents about the changes to the curriculum and services for the upcoming year. I'm sure we'll give more rundown once we know more.

In the meantime, here's a link to and article "Deaf or Hard of Hearing Child? What to do BEFORE School Starts" from the Hearing Exchange website with helpful tips for what to do before the first day of school to make the year go better.

Hearing Loss Epidemic

I found the following article interesting.  It really demonstrates the prevalence of hearing loss in the U.S.

U.S. facing possible hearing loss epidemic: study

CHICAGO (Reuters) - One of three U.S. adults already suffers from some degree of hearing loss and the use of personal stereos and an aging population may create a hearing impairment epidemic, researchers said on Monday.

A team at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore estimated that 55 million Americans have hearing loss in one or both ears, with men, whites and the least-educated most affected.

One out of six, or 29 million adults, have some trouble discerning speech, more than previous estimates, they reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Happy Birthday To The Cochlear Implant!

The cochlear implant turns 30 today! Dr. Graeme Clark performed the first cochlear implant surgery on August 1, 1978. Since then over 120,000 people have been helped by this little miracle of technology. Cheers!