Do you have a question on hearing loss, hearing aids, cochlear implants? Do you have feedback on the site? Submit your question in the comment box below and I’ll publish your query if it will help someone else, or ignore it if it’s spam 🙂
For technical cochlear implant queries, please jump to Hearing Journey.
Published questions
Sound after cochlear implant activation.
Is it normal to hear a whisper at activation, instead of Mickey Mouse or normal voices?
What are the pricings for Instafit hearing?
I don’t know these as I’m not a hearing aid dispenser, Google is your friend here!
Cochlear implants and Menieres Disease.
I’m fed up – what are my options? Will going bilateral help?
Cochlear implants and concussion.
What can you do if you get a knock on the head?
Is it possible to wear glasses with a cochlear implant?
Yes! You need to consider the fit and thinness of the arms.
I’d like to set up a new website for hard of hearing people. What can I write?
Try writing about yourself!
I want to train hearing people to receive a text phone call – are there any training videos?
There are some avenues you can try, not necessarily videos. You might have to get creative!
Can I wear a helmet or hard hat with my cochlear implant?
There are a number of options!
How can I see subtitled cinema cheaply?
Get a CEA card!
If you’re in London, join the London Deaf Art-House Cinema Group (Facebook) for discounted screenings.
Is there an employment agency that specifically helps deaf people?
Dering Employment and Employment Opportunities
How can I meet other deaf people? It’s an invisible disability and no one understands what I’m going through.
Try Social Butterflies.
How can I improve my listening skills?
Try speech therapy or auditory verbal therapy. Ask at your local hearing centre. Be sure to do daily rehabilitation such as listening to audio books, music, TV, listening to people talk.
I look so I can hear.... 
Hey there.
Long time reader, keep up with your good work!
I have found Deaf4Life very useful and have saw your Deaf links in the UK listing – surprised you have not listed it?
They can be found at http://www.Deaf4Life.co.uk
Hope all is good with you.
Thanks,
dave
Will add! Thanks so much Dave 🙂
Hello Tina, I have been implanted for nearly 10 1/2 years, since then I have not had any therapy or AVT, is there anywhere where I can practise on? I know you may have answered this before. I need to improve my listening skills, my map is fine but I don’t seem to be improving. I do hear without lipreading some but I cannot get a full conversation. Maybe a 2nd ear would help 🙂
See my latest post on AVT! How much and what type of rehab are you doing?
Nothing at all.
But work is good practise with little kids, the radio and trying to get some of the conversations going on.
Hello great to see your web pages going from strength to strength. Imformative with good lighter articles with my mate Smudge. Would love to hear from you. Am still in Hampshire, remember helping me move house, you were a superstar, that was four years ago. Where has time gone?!!! Cheers. xxx
Arlene Romoff, whom I interviewed on my television program,has forwarded me your blog. Very good work. A lot of substance I look forward to reading all of it in the next day or so.
Where do you live in England?. I was training in Weston Supermare for a time in 1944, fought in Germany and attended college in England afterwards, an experience for which I remain grateful.
Richard Rosenthal
Hi Richard, I’m based in London. I haven’t been to Weston Super Mare but Somerset is a beautiful part of the country. My mother used to live in Minehead and loved it there. Thank you for your kind comments. There are plenty more exciting posts to come, with my upcoming bilateral implantation, and some exciting goodies for intending cochlear implant users.
Best wishes, Tina
Tina,
Very impressive blog! I greatly enjoyed reading some of your advice and information.
Thanks,
Rachel
Hello! I really enjoy your blog! Best wishes from Tina (Berlin)!
I’d like to share this info with your readers:
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Stem cell treatments for hearing disorders – http://repairstemcell.wordpress.com/hearing-disorders/
Also, a new stem cell treatment protocol for hearing disorders available soon. Cost is $18,500 requires int’l travel. No insurance coverage. Medical financing avail soon. Info on patients treated, protocols and success rates coming. For information and to receive a free stem cell newsletter fill out this form – bit.ly/PATIENTQUESTIONNAIRE
Hi Tina,
I’m so glad I found out about your blog through my friend Deb McClendon! I am HOH and have a CI from AB on one side and a hearing aid on the other. I blog about my hearing loss also (although on a much smaller scale!), so I am looking forward to reading through your posts. I think it will help me as I am currently working in England and feeling quite isolated, especially during the holidays. I miss all of my Deaf and HOH friends. Thanks for sharing through blogging!
Hi – where in England are you? I can put you in contact with lots of people – online or off! 🙂
so how can we contact Tina ?
You can leave a message here or if you have a query about cochlear implants, check out this link http://apps.advancedbionics.com/CTM/UK?BEA_IMPLANTS=B
Your page on “Choosing a brand” of cochlear implants mentions the success rate of two surgeons. Is there a a source where I can find this kind of success data for surgeons doing CI in Miami-Fort Lauderdale? Or at least info on how many procedures each surgeon has performed.
You can ask the cochlear implant centre directly.
I wonder what ‘success rate’ really means for a surgeon. Each patient has a different history, and accordingly different expectations. Who decides whether a patient is a success or not? What are the criteria?
Hiya – am ‘butterflies’ (Abi) – I was wondering how long it took you to get from initial referral – to assessments – then the op? I went to the audiology dept here at Preston on Friday, they told me I was being ‘urgently’ referred but I have yet to hear (ha ha) anything? Am I just rather impatient?
The teacher you asked about is Bill Allen who works through Derbyshire District Council (I believe? either that or the Derbyshire Dales DC; the class was in Matlock.) and teaches lipreading and basic BSL. He is very engaged and makes learning fun, even if it’s not always easy. I also took a basic BSL class, but the teacher had to stop teaching in that area and they couldn’t find a new one to take over. There’s a serious shortage of BSL teachers, I have seen, and it’s unfortunate as it leaves a lot of people like me with no resources.
Unfortunately I didn’t end up finishing the class (it runs all year) because I got pregnant and then moved to Germany, so… I haven’t been able to find out any services here, which is kind of leaving me in a bit of a bind. If I need my hearing aids tuned up again, I would have to go back to the UK for it. (privately purchased, as the NHS not only offered me just one, but analogue at that, and said tough, that’s all ya get. >.< Given I'd already told them my analogue hearing aids (gotten in Canada) were useless to me, and I need BOTH ears, I was not amused. I struggle with the actually pretty good digital ones I have as it is.)