Hi everyone and greetings from germany,

​I’m looking for some advice, insights, or shared experiences from people with long-term Single-Sided Deafness who have looked into or received a Cochlear Implant.

​My Background:

I have been deaf/severely hard of hearing in my left ear for nearly 25 years (I'm 30 now). I wore hearing aids for about 10 years early on, but eventually stopped using them because of some complications and no advantage of using them.

Recently, my ENT recommended I go to a specialized clinic for a CI evaluation because my hearing tests were so poor that standard hearing aids are not an option.

​The Clinic Visit:

I went through the testing, and the results showed that a majority of the hair cells in my cochlea are dead. From a purely physiological standpoint, the diagnostics indicated that a CI would actually be the correct solution to stimulate the nerve.

​The Rejection:

However, during the post-evaluation consultation, the audiologist delivered a huge blow. She explained that their clinic generally does not implant patients who have been deaf for more than 10 years. According to her, clinical experience shows that most patients in this category cannot tolerate or accept the CI because the sound quality is "horrible" and the brain struggles too much to process it.

​I am incredibly disappointed... I had put a lot of hope into this process, thinking I might finally regain bilateral hearing and get my left side back.

​My Questions:

▪︎Has anyone here received a CI after being deaf in one ear for 10‐20+ years? What was your experience?

▪︎Is a strict 10-year cutoff normal practice, or should I look into getting a second opinion from another clinic?

▪︎For those who did get an implant after a long time: How difficult was the auditory training? Did the sound eventually become tolerable, natural, or useful?

​Thank you so much for reading and for any insights you can share!