My name is Bernhard, I live in Innsbruck and wear implants on both sides. My parents found out about my diagnosis hearing loss, when I was few months old. As a result, I wore conventional hearing aids until I was 13 years old, and later only on the right side, as I no longer felt improvement from the hearing aid on the left. That was enough for the familiar environment at home or at school. However, when I began with the studies, the demands on my hearing grew and I decided to go for an implant on the right side at the age of 23. I couldn´t hear on that side for 10 years. I was so convinced with the results that I decided to get implanted on the second side at the age of 25.

After the surgery, I was able to hear all sounds again, such as birds chirping. I have excellent speech understanding in a quiet environment, even speech understanding on TV and the radio got significantly better. Conversations with a protective face mask would not be possible with conventional hearing aids. That is why I recommend all parents to have their children implanted as early as possible, because a functional communication is a basis on which the whole social construct is built.