“The impact of a cochlear implant on my hearing and my life has been truly remarkable and beyond my expectations”
I am a 66-year-old man who first experienced hearing loss 15 years ago and was fitted with hearing aids 11 years ago. Hearing aids were a great benefit, however, with each passing year my hearing continued to decline and my ability to understand speech became increasingly more difficult.
At age 60, my audiologist informed me, to my surprise, that I was a candidate for a cochlear implant. But at that time, I was not ready to make the jump.
Over the next five years the impact of my hearing loss on my life grew increasingly profound. I retired from my engineering job at age 60 partly because my hearing loss was reducing my effectiveness at work. Socially, I found that I was withdrawing because I could not keep up with conversations. Communication over the phone was next to impossible. When receiving a call, I always had to hand my phone to my wife. My wife was a champion throughout all of this, but I could tell that this was taking a toll on her. She pleaded with me to get a cochlear implant.
I met with Dr. Greene and Dr. Hanna in late 2020 and they reviewed my audiogram results and provided their recommendations regarding a cochlear implant. They were very professional in their communication while remaining professional and sensitive to my concerns and fears. They were both terrific. In November 2020 I decided to pull the trigger and had surgery (right ear only) in January 2021.
As of June 2021, the impact of a cochlear implant on my hearing and my life has been truly remarkable and beyond my expectations. While my hearing is not perfect, I can partake in conversations and for the first time, communicate over the phone with very little problem. I owe many thanks to Dr. Greene and Dr. Hanna for their outstanding efforts and would recommend them to anyone who can relate to the hearing issues I described above.