ENT = Ear, Nose, and Throat.
Otolaryngologist oto (latin combining form for ear) laryn...(larynx, the medical term for your voice box, part of the throat) - ologist (specialist)
Two terms for the same doctor.
You say you've had these hearing aids for two years, and still have word differentiation problems. This should have been reported to the ENT doctor within your first year. It can take between 2-6 months to get used to wearing hearing aids for the first time, especially if you have word differentiation trouble and the hearing aids are higher end with a lot of nuances and different settings. I'm assuming you've been using higher end aids, since you paid $6500 for them.
Cochlear implants are usually best only for people with profound or total deafness. They're not very useful for people who can already hear at least moderately well - and can completely wreck your enjoyment of music, if you have any currently.
It sounds to me like you need a different audiologist. But before you go to one, you need to check with your ENT person to see if there's something other than your hearing that's the problem (such as something blocking the signal in your brain that interprets the sound coming from the other side of the cochlea).
|