Is Bilateral Really Better?

One of the most common questions people ask me is "So what's the difference between having a child with unilateral and bilateral hearing?"



Having a child who wears only one cochlear implant (CI), but also a child who wears two, lets me see on a daily basis how different my children are in that respect. Before I begin telling you about my kids, I wanted to mention that not everyone is a candidate for bilateral CIs. It may surprise you to hear that just because your child received a cochlear implant in one ear, doesn't necessarily mean that they would be a good candidate for bilateral CIs. Maybe they have good access to sound with amplification or a hearing aid or maybe medically they don't qualify for the surgery itself, but you should always consult your surgeon and audiologist to help determine whether your child would be a good candidate. In my son's case, his anatomy prevents him from receiving a second cochlear implant. He has severe inner ear malformations and his facial nerve is also higher than that which is found in a typical patient. In fact it took two attempts for him to receive his one CI.

When each of my children received their cochlear implant (Gage at age 3 1/2, Brook at age 2 1/2), we knew we had done the right thing. We couldn't have been more pleased with the results, they were actually hearing. It was amazing to watch them listen to new things, hearing soft sounds they never knew existed. While at the audiologist's office for a routine visit, we were told that my daughter would be a great candidate to receive a second CI. I told her we would think about it, but I seriously doubted that we would be interested. I had already read about the benefits of bilateral hearing: I knew that it would help with localization (figuring out the direction where sounds are coming from), I knew that she would have an easier time hearing, I knew she would be less tired at the end of the day. My concern was that I had a five year old boy, who I could not offer these things to. How could parents offer all these great and wonderful things to one child, and not the other? After many sleepless nights, I realized that we as parents shouldn't deny my daughter these things either, just because her brother was not a bilateral candidate. I called the audiologist's office, and we began the pre-implant process once again.

Like before, we didn't really know what they were missing until she received this second cochlear implant. She wore both processors from the beginning, removing her first one during therapy visits, so that we could try to teach her to hear with the newly implanted ear, just as we did after the first surgery. Within weeks, my now bilateral child, could actually hold a conversation in the car without me having to turn around to face her, something I still need to do with my son. Even today, over a year later, she cannot only hold a conversation in the car, but she can do it with the radio on. I also discovered that she was no longer searching for sounds, they simply found her. If they are both playing on the floor and the telephone rings, my son's head pops up, he looks from side to side, and resumes play, realizing it was the telephone. My daughter never even looks up, but might say "Is that my Nanny calling?" She automatically processes the information since she can determine direction from where sound is coming.

While outside playing, my son can hear cars pass by and for safety reasons alone, we are so thankful he can. My daughter however, can hear the cars approaching, before they pass by, truly amazing. When using the phone, my son needs to use the telecoil option on his processor. My daughter can use the speaker phone and not only hear the person on the other end of the line, but she can hear background information from that party and detect what is going on at that house. She heard her grandmother cooking as she spoke to her on the phone one day, and that was incidental information. We naturally say my son's name before we speak to him, to let him know that he needs to listen to us, but with my bilateral daughter, we can skip this and jump straight into conversation and she can follow along with greater ease. If someone approaches my son unexpectedly or doesn't announce that they are speaking to him, he always follows with "what?" needing a repeat.

Those considering bilateral cochlear implants for their child need to also consider the added expenses. The child will need to have both processors mapped as opposed to just one device, and there will be other added expenses such as batteries, copays, etc. For us, we decided the benefits outweighed these expenses and we chose to proceed with our daughter's second device. We felt that having a back up way to hear, should one CI lose sound temporarily, would be to her advantage. I can certainly tell when my daughter only has one device on, because she needs frequent repeats just like her brother. We feel good that she now benefits from the bilateral hearing, and we know that her brother has learned to adapt well with his unilateral hearing. He automatically positions himself close to the speaker, he uses closed captioning when available, and he has little sister to look to for help when he needs it.

Written by Val B.