Thanks Mitch, and hope the new treatment works for you: I had read about this on various websites including Action for Hearing Loss (formerly RNID) and the Meniere's Disease Society. I wasn't sure if it would be advocated for the likes of me that have a very long history, or only people new to the disease. Sadly the wonderful surgeon who did the operation in 1981 is no longer of this world!
With the NHS wait in this area as it is, I am tempted to spend the life savings on private consultation and any treatment advised.
As I said above, I have pretty well no hearing in my left ear, since age 7, so why, some might ask, do I now have hearing aids in both ears? Yes, it's the CROS system, so the aid on the left picks up sound on my left and relays it to my only hearing (not so well!) right ear. Because I have been so many years without directionality, I was told it would not help this, but at least I do now hear some of the stuff that's going on on my left side - albeit in my right ear. And the aids have helped to get the consonants back, the s's and t's which were missing before.