Im 23 and have been deaf since I was 5 years old.. I have struggled the worse. And im desperate to find a cure... i have done some research to find out if there are any laser corrective surgery for the deaf? Does anyone know anything???? :confused:

Thank you... your reply would be greatly appreciated.. :angel:

hi,
i do not know for sure, there are several procedures for this, i would contact johns hopkins or another leading hospital and ask what they may offer. good luck, lib

Yes there is : Here is some information for you : It is Called:

The Vibrant Soundbridge

Dr. Prasad explains that a normal hearing aid works by producing amplification of sound, using a microphone, amplifier and speaker to turn up volume inside the ear canal. The new, implanted hearing device vibrates the bones in the middle ear directly in a mechanical way rather than just amplifying the sound. Therefore, it mimics the way sound is naturally transmitted.

The Vibrant Soundbridge consists of two components — one is surgically implanted and the other works externally. The external component consists of the audio processor. This contains the microphone that picks up sounds from the environment and a digital signal processor that converts them into an electrical signal. The sounds are then transmitted across the skin to the internal implanted receiver that is connected to a tiny transducer. The transducer directly vibrates the tiny bones in the inner ear (cochlea), which, in turn, stimulate the hair cells. The hair cells provide stimuli to the auditory nerve that are interpreted by the brain as sound.
The surgical procedure, performed under general anesthesia, usually takes from 90 minutes to 2 hours. The patient goes home the same day, and returns to the surgeon eight weeks later to be attached to the external component, a processor the size of a quarter that sits behind the ear and is usually obscured by hair.
Before performing the surgery at Suburban Hospital this past spring, Dr. Prasad received training and observed similar surgeries at some out-of-state hospitals, including Portsmouth Naval Hospital in Norfolk, Virginia. Suburban also sent its surgical nurses to be trained, and the hospital purchased specialized technology to support the procedure.

Hi, I am new here, and just looking around, but your post caught my eye, errr, maybe that should be "my EAR!"
Well, I've heard of the procedure that the person mentioned about the "Vibrant Soundbridge", not sure if it has other names or not, but be aware that this procedure will only work IF you have healthy hair fibers (cilia) left in your ears. You don't say what the cause of your deafness is, but if there are no working fibers (or very few), then this procedure will not work. But, there is also a procedure that sort of replaces the hair fibers, called a cochlear implant. Many people have had very good results with these, and I know several people who have had them done, and all of them I know personally have had great results. But, all the people I know gradually lost their hearing, so learned to speak and heard sounds in the past. There are people who never heard before, and they do have some success, some do much better than others, some are able to understand voices, etc. The ones that I know are able to talk on the phone, with the exception of one, who probably "could" but is just too nervous to do so :). Anyway, you could do a search on the cochlear implants, and see if this sounds like something you'd be interested in or not. I can tell you that there are three companies that make these devices at the present time, and that they all have fairly equal good results. For these to work, you do need a healthy auditory nerve, but the cilia fibers do not need to be working or healthy. I hope this helps you some, and if you want more information, I can tell you a lot about them, as four people in my family have had this done, and I know several other family's where one, two, or three members have had it done.

Best of luck,
TimeForAChange

Well, my son is the one that has been having the problems. Yes, I know about that one as well. His specialists does all of those. Right now, those are not an option for my son. I don't know why. But, he has had 16 surgeries on his ears. He lost his mastoid bone, encus bone, and a taste nerve. He is 16 years old now. We are just waiting

Momagin, I think the orginal poster was seeking info on more of a cure, rather then devices to help the deaf hear. People who use devices such as the Vibrant Soundbridge, the CI, that new hearing aid that doesn't have an earmold, and other devices still have a hearing loss, and are still deaf/hoh when the devices are switched off.
As of right now there are no cures for SN hearing loss, and quite frankly being the cynical person that I am, I seriously doubt that a cure will be forthcoming any time soon since the profit margin on things like CIs, mappings, batteries, hearing aids and audilogy visits are so high.
Crazyaboutblue, I understand 100% what you're going through. I'm hoh and have been since birth. At one time I really really really wanted to be hearing and ditch my aids. I was frustrated with being hoh in a hearing world. What really helped me was learning to accept my hearing loss and getting involved in Deaf culture and meeting other people like me. There's nothing wrong with being deaf. Deaf (and hoh) people can do anything except hear!

Crazyaboutblue,

It depends TOTALLY on the kind of deafness you suffer. If your cochlea and your hearing nerves are intact and functional then there is hope for a surgical cure.
What you need is a good audiological evaluation and maybe an MRI with the results going to a good otosurgeon. He'll be able to determine if any procedures will be useful for you.

Thank you all for posting. I made an appt to my doctor next week and I will contact him.. I have done many research over the internet but i couldnt find anything.

There is new aids that are out..

Federal jobs Im applying require good hearing.. so i was hoping that there will be hope.

THANK YOU!

crazy about blue, maybe a good idea might be to go to a psycologist trained in dealing with emoitional issues associated with being deaf/hoh. It's not that unusual to be messed up emoitionally and socially in terms of hearing loss. You have no idea how many times I've seen postings like " my hoh child is severely depressed b/c the kids tease her or b/c she feels like she doesn't fit in anywhere" Were you mostly mainstreamed...did you know other kids like you? Maybe join SHHH or other dhh groups. Learn Sign...you'll discover a whole new world where you belong.
Yes, there are new hearing aids. They might work....my advice is experiment.

Thank you for the posts..

I have tried to counseling, but because i have other issues... but i never brought up the fact that im hearing impaired. My parents are supportive, they get mad at me when i cant hear something correctly, and they are ashamed.. or they make me feel ashamed. My sister is embarrassed to have my hearing aid show when i put my hair up.

Being hearing impaired has scarred me emotionally but its just now im learning to accept it.. its been 18 years. Yet, im so uncomfortable telling ppl.

Im giong to doctor next week so i will talk to him. I know that some options are not available for anyone.

Just glad i was able to post.

thank you.

Hey guys...im new here myself and I myself was born with a mild to moderate hearing loss....but the worst part about my hearing is that i have a really hard time understanding people. My mother has told me about two different types of hearing loss, one which is volume, not being able to hear soft sounds or whatever and the second is having trouble distinguishing different constonants, I believe I have both because a lot of the time i can rarely understand people. Letters like b, c, d, e, g, p, t and all those all sound the same so therefore I can never understand people. Is there a simple way to cure this....hearing aids dont really help cuz i cant hear volume well enough, I just cant understand people.

Hi...

I am not sure what type of hearing loss you all are dealing with. I deal with sensory neural hearing loss, and for me, is a genetic hand me down. Currently I have about 10 to 15 percent of my hearing left in both ears.

My ENT and my audiologist told me that once my hearing aids stopped working, the next step would be the Cochlear Implants.

I, myself, will not be going that route when everything finally goes quiet. I have a self issue of allowing someone to operate on my head like that. But that is just me. The procedure itself, has helped MANY people ranging from children to adults.

Check with your ENT and audiologist as to whether the Cochlear Implants would be beneficial to your hearing issues.

God Bless,

Leslie

i had a nasty fever when i was 3 and it fried my nerves in my brain for my ears i guess. i remember being able to hear and stuff when i was that young. I also have a grandma who was hearin impaired also. So i think its genetic but the fever really made it kick in. anyone else ever had a fever be the cause of there hearing loss or something similar?

There are many ways to try out to improve your hearing. You have to have severe-to-profound hearing loss ONLY to qualify for a cochlear implant. You can't have better hearing for this because it destroys your remaining hearing. It is also a must for many people deaf since birth or infancy to take auditory verbal therapy to learn to hear again PLUS some who have been deaf for many years may find it beneficial. Many recently deafened or deafened as adults usually don't need therapy because they have a memory of sounds. Keep in mind that a cochlear implant is NOT a cure. It will never give you normal hearing, but enhance it. There is not success or failure of hearing. Everyone's unique in how it helps them hear everyday.

There are 3 implants currently available in the USA. Here are the websites to get you started.

http://www.bionicear.com

http://www.cochlear.com

http://www.medel.com

You won't find anything saying that one is better than the other. The decision lies on the look of the device. If you qualify, your audiologist team will show you each of them up front for you to feel and look.

The other is for mild-severe or moderate-severe hearing loss. It's called the Vibrant Soundbridge. You can't be more than severe in hearing loss to qualify for this, it's not powerful enough.

There are also implantable HEARING AIDS called BAHA. Might want to try looking http://www.baha.com or just do a search engine BAHA+hearing aid, something like that.

Also, hearing aids have come a LONG WAY. The key to finding the right one is to try them for a trial period for free. Usually 30 to 45 days. Make sure you always get a contract that says you can return them. Go to a reputable audiologist and try out different hearing aids they might recommend. Search other audiologists for other hearing aids as there are many out there. The only thing you might pay are the ear molds and service fee maybe. Generally, it's recommended that you try hearing aids before going on to surgery if you qualify. Some people have found miracles in one hearing brand unlike their old ones. They may find they hear speech for the first time, hear the 's' sound and things like that. It's worth a shot.

Apply for Medicaid even if you qualify or not because whatever your insurance doesn't pay Medicaid will cover the surgeries. Of course, insurance in the usa will not cover hearing aids, so Medicaid will if you want to buy them.

Some links to hearing aids:

http://www.avrsono.com
http://www.phonak.com
http://www.widexsenso.com
http://www.oticon.com

There is no cure out there as far as I know. If there were, I would have done it, but there isn't. What they are currently researching is the hair cells regeneration if you have nerve deafness, then your hair cells in the cochlea is damaged which they want to see if they can regenerate those cells. You can search online about them. I think there is one site where you can give donations. I am planning on doing so, to help it move on faster.

Also, there are MANY forums on Y A H O O G R O U P S.com, hearingexchange.com, listen-up.com and search engines to websites about cochlear implants, hearing aids, etc, etc, etc. Just search, you'll find information.

Hope this helped a lot of people.

crazyabout blue,

Did you ever find a surgery to correct your hearing? I am just wondering. I am 22 and have deafness in both ears. I wear hearing aids now, but would love to have my hearing corrected.

Annie

Well, My son did have surgery. What they did was put a prostheic device in there. It is a callled a bridge. What that does is takes the place of the bones that he lost. Yes, it did bring back his hearing :)

hbannie:

Thank you for writing. I have search everywhere.. but nothing to avail. Im wearing in the canal hearing aids.. I keep my hair down to keep it unnoticeable. I wish you luck.. but even if you cant get it fix, it doesnt change who u are.

goodluck!

crazyabout blue,

You are right, having a hearing aid does not change who we are. :)

I wear the big bolky behind the ear kind of hearing aids. At first I felt really insecure about letting them show because I felt people were not going to give me a chance to prove I am "normal". I have now learned that, it's not fair to me that I have to hide the fact that I have to wear hearing aids. It's not fair that other people get that privaledge. Why do we have to miss out on wearing our hair in updo styles. I have also noticed, no one really cares. Most people are more concerned with their own lives to look in the ears of strangers. If I hide my hearing disabilty, I am at the same time closing the door even more for people to accept the hearing impaired. (A good thing about being hearing impaired is, shutting the hearing aids off when you do not want to hear certain people, just sit, smile, nod, Just kidding.) Sorry for the long reply but I feel strong about this.

Annie

the big bolky behind the ear kind of hearing aids. I love how the hearing aid manufacters make it seem like the BTE aids are more noticable then they actually are. I wear BTEs and hardly anyone notices that I'm hoh! (and I have the cool colored ones and have decorated them too to be noticable!) I mean, come on BTEs aren't like ear horns or body worn aids!

I love how the hearing aid manufacters make it seem like the BTE aids are more noticable then they actually are. I wear BTEs and hardly anyone notices that I'm hoh! (and I have the cool colored ones and have decorated them too to be noticable!)


I mean, come on BTEs aren't like ear horns or body worn aids!

LOL... I had to laugh. I feel that it isn't fair to hide the hearing aids if you can not change the fact. They DO HELP to hear.

Annie

I am new here, and just noticed Timefora change's reply about cochlear implant. I am scheduled for that surgery in a few weeks. I was glad to hear about the successes you mantioned.