SINGLE SIDED DEAFNESS
What is it?
Normal hearing in one ear and no hearing in the other ear.
Hearing with only one ear means:
- Hearing speech is difficult when there is also competing noise, in a restaurant for example.
- You can’t locate where a sound is coming from.
- It is hard to hear people on your deaf side.
What are the options?
- CROS hearing aid system
- Bone Conduction implants
- Cochlear Implants
CROS Hearing Aids (Contralateral Routing of Signal)
A person wears what looks like two hearing aids but the “hearing aid” on the deaf side is a microphone. The microphone detects sound on the deaf side and wirelessly sends the message over to the hearing aid on the good ear.
This solution helps people with SSD to hear people on their deaf side and hear better in small groups but there are still limitations telling where a sound is coming from and hearing in noisy situations.
Bone Conduction Implants
In persons with SSD, a bone conduction implant works much like a CROS hearing aid. The bone conduction implant is inserted by an Ear, Nose and Throat surgeon on the person’s deaf side. The sound that is detected by the processor on the deaf side is sent by vibration across the skull to better hearing ear.
This solution helps people with SSD to hear people on their deaf side and hear better in small groups but there are still limitations telling where a sound is coming from and hearing in noisy situations.
Cochlear Implants
A cochlear implant may be an option for people with an acquired profound hearing loss in one ear. An Ear, Nose and Throat surgeon inserts a cochlear implant into the hearing nerve on the deaf side. An external processor detects sound on the deaf side and encodes it into an electrical message which bypasses the damaged section of the cochlea and stimulates the hearing nerve endings directly.
This solution helps people with SSD to hear people on their deaf side, hear better in small groups and with time a person may also hear better in noisy situations. Some people also show an improvement in their ability to locate sound but this outcome is variable. Intensive auditory rehabilitation must be undertaken and a good outcome may take up to a year to achieve.