Cochlear Implant: One Success Case Shows the Nerve Connectivity Can Be in Usable Shape After Decades

[GregCA]

We sometimes wonder how long it takes after our hair cells die for the pathways to the hearing nerve to retract. We worry that if we wait too long, any therapy that will regrow cells will be confronted with the problem of not having any connectivity pathways to pass the signal on to the brain.

Well this article is a case of one (clearly not enough to generalize), but it's interesting because the person lost hearing at age 13 (due to Ménière's Disease) and waited for about 5 decades before getting a Cochlear Implant. And now, at 68, he is actually hearing and playing music!

Good for him, and good news to all of us who have hopes on regenerative therapies.

https://www.10tv.com/article/cochlear-implant-gives-columbus-man-gift-music

 

[Contrast]

This is actually really awesome that the auditory nerve fiber does not decay.

 

[Champ]

This is really awesome news. I guess the nerve decay thing was never really tested comprehensively.

 

[Apolonia]

We sometimes wonder how long it takes after our hair cells die for the pathways to the hearing nerve to retract. We worry that if we wait too long, any therapy that will regrow cells will be confronted with the problem of not having any connectivity pathways to pass the signal on to the brain.

Well this article is a case of one (clearly not enough to generalize), but it's interesting because the person lost hearing at age 13 (due to Ménière's Disease) and waited for about 5 decades before getting a Cochlear Implant. And now, at 68, he is actually hearing and playing music!

Good for him, and good news to all of us who have hopes on regenerative therapies.

https://www.10tv.com/article/cochlear-implant-gives-columbus-man-gift-music

I ve seen how music transmits through cochlear implants , IT is hard to hear anything at all.. everything is static...i guess he adjusted but IT Just does not sound the same anymore... Not even close to real sound... People should be working on implants that could capture music as well, since there are no cures for ears....

 

[GregCA]

I ve seen how music transmits through cochlear implants

Where have you "seen" that? Can you please provide a link?

 

[Apolonia]

Where have you "seen" that? Can you please provide a link?

There is a page about how cochlear implants and hearing aids sound... https://www.sciencefriday.com/educational-resources/cochlear-implants-hearing-aids-sound-like/
I mean, I guess People adjust to that sound and maybe the brain after a few months starts really hearing Sounds, but I am really scared of this...
Also, there is a YouTube video...Just type in how music Sounds through a cochlear implant.
I have read and heard is better to say than "seen".. sorry for wrong word

 

[GregCA]

There is a page about how cochlear implants and hearing aids sound... https://www.sciencefriday.com/educational-resources/cochlear-implants-hearing-aids-sound-like/
I mean, I guess People adjust to that sound and maybe the brain after a few months starts really hearing Sounds, but I am really scared of this...
Also, there is a YouTube video...Just type in how music Sounds through a cochlear implant.
I have read and heard is better to say than "seen".. sorry for wrong word

I knew about these simulations. They are just simulations - they may not be accurate at all.
More interesting - I think - are testimonies of people who have a unilateral implant, because they can compare the sound coming from a CI vs natural sound (from their good ear). Here's an example:

 

[Apolonia]

I knew about these simulations. They are just simulations - they may not be accurate at all.
More interesting - I think - are testimonies of people who have a unilateral implant, because they can compare the sound coming from a CI vs natural sound (from their good ear). Here's an example:

I saw this as well.. still they can't Hear music... Not good :/ they need to make better aids for music

 

[GregCA]

I saw this as well.. still they can't Hear music... Not good :/ they need to make better aids for music

Well that's exactly why the article I quoted at the beginning of this thread is interesting, right? It claims the man "plays music" with the CI (whatever that means).
The article mentions violin and piano: you do need to have some indication of pitch to play either one of these.

 

[Andrei90]

We sometimes wonder how long it takes after our hair cells die for the pathways to the hearing nerve to retract. We worry that if we wait too long, any therapy that will regrow cells will be confronted with the problem of not having any connectivity pathways to pass the signal on to the brain.

Well this article is a case of one (clearly not enough to generalize), but it's interesting because the person lost hearing at age 13 (due to Ménière's Disease) and waited for about 5 decades before getting a Cochlear Implant. And now, at 68, he is actually hearing and playing music!

Good for him, and good news to all of us who have hopes on regenerative therapies.

https://www.10tv.com/article/cochlear-implant-gives-columbus-man-gift-music

This doesn't change anything for many of us. The man had Meniere's which doesn't attack the synapses. Only the hair cells were damaged leaving the nerves fully intact. Yes, it's good to know they don't retract when healthy but what about when you have nerve damage from acoustic trauma? We already know the fibers sustain damage before the hearing cells die off. My hidden hearing loss is awful and I suspect my loss of hearing is a result of the nerves finally giving out after so much punishment, taking the hearing cells with them.

 

[Contrast]

We sometimes wonder how long it takes after our hair cells die for the pathways to the hearing nerve to retract. We worry that if we wait too long, any therapy that will regrow cells will be confronted with the problem of not having any connectivity pathways to pass the signal on to the brain.

Well this article is a case of one (clearly not enough to generalize), but it's interesting because the person lost hearing at age 13 (due to Ménière's Disease) and waited for about 5 decades before getting a Cochlear Implant. And now, at 68, he is actually hearing and playing music!

Good for him, and good news to all of us who have hopes on regenerative therapies.

https://www.10tv.com/article/cochlear-implant-gives-columbus-man-gift-music

It appears Vincent had tinnitus badly, it made no mention if his tinnitus improved after the implant.
Someone needs to contact him via email and find out

https://blog.medel.com/cochlear-implants-tinnitus-cure/
It appears here that all 26 patients with bad tinnitus benefited from cochlear implants

yet two threads on this website claim that CI made tinnitus worse making me very confused?
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/tinnitus-after-cochlear-implant.19744/
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/development-of-tinnitus-post-bilateral-cochlear-implants.25062/

 

[Aaron123]

https://blog.medel.com/cochlear-implants-tinnitus-cure/
It appears here that all 26 patients with bad tinnitus benefited from cochlear implants

Med El is a manufacturer of CIs.

yet two threads on this website claim that CI made tinnitus worse making me very confused?

It's like everything else - people are different, and some people improve with a CI, some experience no change, and some get worse.

 

[Contrast]

Med El is a manufacturer of CIs.

It's like everything else - people are different, and some people improve with a CI, some experience no change, and some get worse.

Yes, but it seems to more more likely that CI's helped I don't think results were fabricated to boost CI sales but they may have been cherry picked. Incases where CI's made tinnitus worse is where they should investigate if the CI also made aspects of their hearing worse.

http://www.tinnitusjournal.com/articles/can-cochlear-implants-decrease-tinnitus.pdf
Here's another paper done in 2006 about cochlear implants helping tinnitus in most cases but not all.

 

[Contrast]