How can you hear 800hz - 1600hz with complete hearing loss?

[buzneg]

I was diagnosed with "no usable hearing" remaining on my left side due to an AN.  But in hearing tests by audiologists at the ENT office and at a hearing aid place, I heard something on my "deaf" side at one isolated frequency.  The ENT's audiologist blew it off and put me down as a "baseline of zero" (?) and when I asked the guy at the hearing aid place how could I have heard something on my deaf side, he never elaborated as his motivation was to get back to trying to sell me a hearing aid for $1500 more than was advertised.

So I did one of those online hearing tests on YouTube and sure enough... around 800hz to around 1600hz... I heard the tone.  Obviously that is not enough to be of any benefit unless I want to compete with German Shepherds on hearing fax tones and dial up internet boot-up tones.  Yet, neither audiologist was willing to talk about it.   I know there is an article out there called "Usefulness of 1000 Hz Tone-Burst-Evoked Responses in the Diagnosis of Acoustic Neuroma" but have no idea what it meant.

Anybody? 

[Blw]

Very good ENT's will test your hearing through the bone. You will pick up sound through your skull even if your hearing is gone. Bone Anchored Hearing Aids use that principal. I think one of the tests is that they will put an ear bud in the bad side and run static through it along with test sounds that you will have to respond to. They also will put a sound device outside your ear (behind, I think) and run sound through that. It depends on the ear clinic. We have a very big one here in San Antonio and they'll run every possible test on hearing, and a few experimentals. They also do balance testing with a spinning chair and movable floor, warm water in your ear, etc. Very thorough.

[ANSydney]

If you try to use a phone in your poorer ear, what do you hear?

[buzneg]

If you try to use a phone in your poorer ear, what do you hear?

Nothing.  Zero.  Zilch.

[ANSydney]

If you try to use a phone in your poorer ear, what do you hear?

Nothing.  Zero.  Zilch.

That doesn't sound like a hearing aid would do anything fore you.

Why not get the hearing aid place to give you a trial unit. If it works, buy it, otherwise return it.

[buzneg]

If you try to use a phone in your poorer ear, what do you hear?

Nothing.  Zero.  Zilch.

That doesn't sound like a hearing aid would do anything fore you.

Why not get the hearing aid place to give you a trial unit. If it works, buy it, otherwise return it.

I was looking for a hearing aid for my remaining functioning ear, not the "deaf" side.   They still test both sides for whatever reason.

The hearing aid I tried in the office was a tremendous help in my non-AN-damaged ear.  The price was out of line.  Will continue to shop around on it.

[gary.s]

Hi buzneg,

I have almost total deafness on the right side due to my AN. I recently purchased the Phonak Audeo B hearing aid for the good ear and the Phonak Cros B for my bad ear. The Cros B is essentially a microphone that sends sound wirelessly to the good ear. So I now hear sounds on both sides of my head, although it is all coming into my left ear via the hearing aid. Very expensive, but a life changer. Best of luck.

Gary

[buzneg]

The third place I went to ordered a Phonak for me that has the "new improved chip" in it.  And for less than half than what the first place wanted and just a tad over half of what the second place wanted for a comparable aid.  And the place has a 4.9 out of 5 on dozens of online reviews.  It's a good idea to go to several places and not just go with the first place you visit unless you have a money tree growing in your back yard.

[notaclone13]

Hi Buzneg,
Congrats on getting a good deal on your hearing aid. I hope it will prove to be a good solution to your SSD. Good to see that your 6 month post GK MRI shows no growth. Hopefully your next one will show significant shrinkage. Will your next MRI be a year from now? Thanks for sharing your experiences with us.

[buzneg]

Hi Buzneg,
Congrats on getting a good deal on your hearing aid. I hope it will prove to be a good solution to your SSD. Good to see that your 6 month post GK MRI shows no growth. Hopefully your next one will show significant shrinkage. Will your next MRI be a year from now? Thanks for sharing your experiences with us.

It should help my "good" ear hear better (only moderate hearing loss in that one... but combined with total hearing loss in the AN ear, a bad combination) but every place I went knew all about AN's and were very nice...just some places are greedy on the $$ side.  That doesn't mean you have to go to Sam's or Costco to not be robbed, it just means more time on google searching, looking at the places websites and calling them to get a feel for who is going to charge egregiously and who is not.  And then a place that says they have a rechargeable that would work for you for 1550.00 on the phone ends up wanting a grand more in person. So you keep shopping.

I didn't get the CROS or BiCROS for now but may switch to it later.  I'm still studying on that.