Thursday, May 28

JP and I met with Dr. C, an ENT, today. She did several tests on JP, looked at this previous tests, and told JP about his options. Basically, his hearing in his left ear is probably gone. She told us that an MRI will not show bruising and how much damage the 8th cranial nerve suffered. I am not sure why the neurologist told us that it would. Anyway, he has three options:

1. CROS Hearing Aid: A contralateral routing of signals (CROS) hearing aid is a type of hearing aid that is used to treat unilateral hearing loss. It takes sound from the ear with poorer hearing and transmits to the ear with better hearing. Systems can involve two behind-the-ear units connected either by wire or by wireless transmission.

2. BAHA Hearing Aid: A Bone-Anchored Hearing Aid is a type of hearing aid based on bone conduction. one-anchored hearing aids use a surgically implanted abutment to transmit sound by direct conduction through bone to the inner ear, bypassing the external auditory canal and middle ear. A titanium "post" is surgically embedded into the skull with a small abutment exposed outside the skin. A sound processor sits on this abutment and transmits sound vibrations to the external abutment of the titanium implant. The implant vibrates the skull and inner ear, which stimulate the nerve fibers of the inner ear, allowing hearing.

3. Do nothing.

Dr. C told JP to guard his hearing in his right ear carefully. She told him that the ringing that he has will probably diminish over time. She also spoke with him about safety. He needs to walk with his good ear facing traffic, really look carefully when he crosses the street, etc...

JP didn't seem open to the option of the BAHA implant, but as time passes, maybe that will change.

The good news: the MRI showed no tumors or abnormalities and the EEG came back negative.