Invisible Cochlear Implant

[harrys daughter]

Hi everyone. Does anyone know if there is a cochlear implant that is invisible to the naked eye??

Basically, i may look at an implant for my 2 year old daughter, but wanted to know if there was one on the market which is invisible. I have heard of esteem but they do not do it for children.

Any info anyone??

[DocAudio]

Hi everyone. Does anyone know if there is a cochlear implant that is invisible to the naked eye??

Basically, i may look at an implant for my 2 year old daughter, but wanted to know if there was one on the market which is invisible. I have heard of esteem but they do not do it for children.

Any info anyone??

What kind of hearing loss does your daughter have? An esteem is not appropriate for a lot of types of losses.

A Cochlear implant has an external device that is visible.I don't know of any that are not visible at all...

Not to be rude, but why do you care if someone sees it??? I'm sure your 2 year-old won't care if someone sees it...children are a lot more exposed to children of varying disabilities and physical differences and are not so likely to poke fun at kids who have something "different".

[seb]

My kids elementary school also had a school for the deaf and hard of hearing on the same grounds. The kids that were HOH also main streamed at the elementary school for about half the day and very few if any kids were teased for wearing HA or CI. Also most kids with HA or CI had them decorated with beads , flowers, stars, stars and stripes which brought your attention to the fact that they were different and proud of it and some of the kids who had normal hearing were actually jealous of the kids with HA, so let your 2 year old be who she is and be proud of who she is and don't try to hide it.

[harrys daughter]

Hi thanks for the info, however, im not worried about what people think now, im worried for my daughter when shes 11years old plus. The world is evil, and ive seen bullying in school for someone with hearing aids, evn though i never bullied anyone for their support advices/differences etc. I know what people are like, and it would hurt me knowing people would bully my daughter, so im trying to protect her from evil people. Not worried for next few years, im worried for her teenage years. If i was deaf, i would have a cochlear implant and wouldnt hide it - so i dont want people thinking im against it look. My daughter has severe - profound hearing loss ranging from 55 - 95 db. Plus i have heard from an ENT Prof. that a clinical trial is still in progress where there has been a invisible cochlear implant (not esteem) implanted in adults. If successful, they would be for children aswell.

[Maureen]

My son started wearing hearing aids at 16 months old. When he was in elementary school he chose to have bright colored ear molds as did most of the kids in his Deaf and Hard of Hearing program (which was in a regular elementary school). He's 14 now and so used to wearing hearing aids he easily answers questions about them and is very casual about them - they are like his glasses, no big deal. He no longer gets colored ear molds but wants his next aids to be blue.
This year he just started high school and is the only kid wearing hearing aids. When I asked him if people say anything about them he says nobody does and most don't notice them. He actually got fussed at in the library one day because a teacher who doesn't normally have him thought he had on some type of bluetooth device and was listening to music. He calmly set the record straight (to the mortification of the teacher) and went on about his business.

[DocAudio]

Hi thanks for the info, however, im not worried about what people think now, im worried for my daughter when shes 11years old plus. The world is evil, and ive seen bullying in school for someone with hearing aids, evn though i never bullied anyone for their support advices/differences etc. I know what people are like, and it would hurt me knowing people would bully my daughter, so im trying to protect her from evil people. Not worried for next few years, im worried for her teenage years. If i was deaf, i would have a cochlear implant and wouldnt hide it - so i dont want people thinking im against it look. My daughter has severe - profound hearing loss ranging from 55 - 95 db. Plus i have heard from an ENT Prof. that a clinical trial is still in progress where there has been a invisible cochlear implant (not esteem) implanted in adults. If successful, they would be for children aswell.

Kids will be cruel about anything. If it's not the CI, it will be something else. The thing is, if you teach her that her CI is nothing to be ashamed or embarrassed about and to have confidence in herself the few children that decide to pick on her for that (if they do even, schools are so integrated with children with disabilities I don't think most kids would even notice or care) then she'll be able to brush them off as annoyances. Plus, she's a girl...if she's embarrassed about it, she can just grow her hair long and no one will see it. It's not worth waiting for the clinical trials to end and be approved for children because that will take years...many many years, and the speech and language development of your daughter isn't worth waiting because you are worried about her being teased about it 15 years down the road. Kids would be a lot more likely to poke fun at a kid who talks weird than one who wears a CI or HA.

[harrys daughter]

Doc Audio - i agree with your views totally. I have put HA on both ears, and im not asshamed and no one asks which i think is unusual, obviously hey must think why shes got the HA as she was not born with hearing loss only happened in this last 4 month.

I intend to keep HA on her, but im thinking of contingency plans in case my daughters condition worsen to the point where HA dont work for her - thats why i asked about Invisible CI. HA are like glasse - they are an aid to help one of your senses. FACT. I pray to god for her to get by these early years with her HA and help her develop her speech.

So many research is happening, and i wish the FDA think of people instead of money