5 ms·
It might be the condition I have, otosclerosis, where the bones of the middle ear fuse. The surgery, a stapedectomy, involves removing the bones and replacing t
by dhosek 2y ago
It might be the condition I have, otosclerosis, where the bones of the middle ear fuse. The surgery, a stapedectomy, involves removing the bones and replacing them with a metallic prosthesis. Unfortunately, in my case, the calcification is also happening in my cochlea which means that at some indeterminate time in the future, I will end up losing all hearing. Not to mention that even with the prosthetic, my hearing isn’t 100% so I have a difficult time understanding speech. There might be some gene therapy that can remedy things, but I think what I may be hoping to see is the ability to grow a new inner and middle ear from stem cells and transplant them into my head, but I suspect that at age 55, I won’t see this happen in time for me.
- jfengel 2y agoI had no idea that was possible. If you'd asked me, I would have guessed that it wasn't. Astonishing. Sorry it's not a permanent fix for you, but it's impressive as hell that they could do anything.
- throwaway2037 2y agoThank you to share about your personal experience. Will a cochlear implant help for your condition?
- dhosek 2y agoIt will, but with the caveat that hearing with a cochlear implant is (at least at current technology levels), inferior to hearing with an actual cochlea. So there’s a balancing act where they want to continue having me hear with my cochlea as long as possible. The other problem is that with a CI, I have no hearing at all without the receiver which means that I would be completely deaf while swimming, showering, etc. while I have at least some hearing without my hearing aids right now (although I had an ear infection in December which left me completely deaf for a week. It was a bit startling how much people were unwilling to engage in the smallest adaptations for me—I found how to set up live transcriptions on my phone and I remember the cashier at the grocery store being unwilling to use that so I could see what she was saying).
- dhosek 2y ago(With the live transcription feature, I was actually able to engage in normal-ish telephone conversations, maybe even a little more effective than I can with using the audio.)
- shirleyquirk 2y agoDid your sense of taste change after your surgery? My sister is considering a similar procedure and is concerned that everything could start tasting like hot garbage.
- dhosek 2y agoNo, I had a bit of dizziness for the first day or so, but otherwise there were no side effects. Absolutely no impact on my sense of taste.
- Geee 2y agoAnother viable future tech for this might be neural implants similar to Neuralink. Not sure how viable it would be.
- SJC_Hacker 2y agoThey already have those - called cochlear implants (CI user here)
- mariebks 2y agoHello fellow CI user!
- izend 2y agoI was recently diagnosed with otosclerosis, have you found a hearing aid that works best for otosclerosis, my Doctor mentioned that most hearing aids don't work well for low frequency loss.
- randlet 2y agoI have moderate to severe hearing loss mostly in the low frequency region from otosclerosis...I use Widex Moment 440s BTE with custom ear moulds. They sound fantastic. My only complaint is that require a necklace pendant to get Bluetooth connectivity but other than that I love them. They're expensive but worth every penny IMO.
- tunesmith 2y agoThose torps are pretty cool but they can get dislodged. I got one in college but I think the benefits for me didn't last more than a year or two. I'll try again someday because my nerve hearing is excellent, it's only my conductive that is poor.