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It feels like the "student" part of student-athletes is being pushed further into the background every single year. Do you guys think the current system can even survive without a massive overhaul of how everything is regulated?
If anyone is looking for some insight from a patient who has "been through the ringer" with all this, feel free to ask.
I’m in my early 50s, and until about two years ago, my hearing was absolutely stellar. Then, life happened—I had a nasty fall from a height resulting in a severe concussion, which unfortunately led to a fractured cochlea due to a temporal bone fracture. Since then, my hearing has been pretty much gone; according to the clinical findings, I’m down to about 4% in one ear. At first, I tried using a standard analog hearing aid. It did enough to "boost" the sound, but the quality was terrible and incredibly dynamic. Little things, like the tapping of a fork on a plate, were just gratingly irritating.
Eventually, I decided to invest in the most advanced digital option available, the Oticon Epox WP, complete with a Bluetooth streamer for phone calls. It cost me about $2,300 out of pocket, and after a few fine-tunings, it was more than satisfactory. I used it for about a year. On the recommendation of my specialist, I took the advice to get a cochlear implant, because apparently, that tiny bit of residual hearing I had left was destined to vanish quickly. Now, I am "satisfied" with my Cochlear implant. Why the quotes? Well, because it’s just not quite what it was before, you know?
I still have my hearing aids on hand if anyone is interested... Ask away, because I happen to be quite well-versed in electronics and IT.
While I have you, let me ask something: What do you all know, or what are your experiences with, the "system" or the legal regulations regarding repairs, servicing, or replacing the external speech processor for a cochlear implant? (I heard there might be some changes coming to the regulations this year.)