A Poll: Would You Want a CI If You Were Born Today?

Well, I'm going to take an ambivalent stance; I would vote Yes, if I had hearing parents. Otherwise, I would vote No, if I had Deaf parents. It's all about language acquisition during those critical newborn/infant years.
 
I vote no, Why would I want an electronic device in my brain? No thanks for me. ;)
 
I vote NO! I refused to use CI in my brain no thanks. I like myself being deaf than CI ;)
 
I vote NO!


I am proud for who I am!

too many side affect!

I know quite few hearing wish they were deaf!

Can't change black to white!

Can't change from adult to baby!

Why should I give in to hearing people? OPPRESSION! HECK NO!

Deaf is who I am and it is MY CULTURE!

I can give more reasons to why I said NO!
 
I vote NO!


I am proud for who I am!

too many side affect!

I know quite few hearing wish they were deaf!

Can't change black to white!

Can't change from adult to baby!

Why should I give in to hearing people? OPPRESSION! HECK NO!

Deaf, I am and it is MY CULTURE!

I can give more reasons to why I said NO!
 
PurrMeow said:
I am not sure about CI since i dont know much about CI and for digital or something that i heard ppls saying that its very helpful whats the different between CI and digital ?
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It is too long of an answer and it would be off topic here. Suffice to say while they are functionally the same (i.e., provide hearing), there is a world of difference between them. I assume when you say digital you meant a digital HA. The short (very short) answer is that a CI requires surgery and it uses electrical impulses to stimulate hearing while a digital HA is a state of the art HA by amplifying sounds into the ear canal using the natural hearing system (no surgery required and is just like any old fashion HA).
 
Um - there's quite a few embarrassing misconceptions in the posts from some of those opposed to CIs. If you are going to make a decision make sure it is informed :)

1. The device isn't in the brain. It's not brain surgery.
2. You are still deaf after having a CI and you can actually turn it off if you want a bit of peace and quiet - and you can still be proud to be deaf :)
3. CIs have made a big difference for some deaf adults - these depend on certain factors of course such as prior auditory experience.
4. Having a CI doesn't preclude the use of sign language - some children with CIs are educated in a total communication environment.

And lastly:

5. Having a CI doesn't turn you into a robot. As a matter of fact you don't need an electrical device to be a robot. You can be a robot just by following the crowd without making your own informed decisions.

Vive La Difference!
 
R2D2 said:
Um - there's quite a few embarrassing misconceptions in the posts from some of those opposed to CIs. If you are going to make a decision make sure it is informed :)

1. The device isn't in the brain. It's not brain surgery.
2. You are still deaf after having a CI and you can actually turn it off if you want a bit of peace and quiet - and you can still be proud to be deaf :)
3. CIs have made a big difference for some deaf adults - these depend on certain factors of course such as prior auditory experience.
4. Having a CI doesn't preclude the use of sign language - some children with CIs are educated in a total communication environment.

And lastly:

5. Having a CI doesn't turn you into a robot. As a matter of fact you don't need an electrical device to be a robot. You can be a robot just by following the crowd without making your own informed decisions.

Vive La Difference!
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Excellent comment, even though few people will listen to that. They have become the robot you talk about in #5.. For them there's only 1 way.... and progress isn't it.

I cheated in the poll because I voted for my daughter. She's 3-1/2 years old and has CI. YES, we made the decision for her, almost 1-1/2 years ago.
And now, she can communicate with not only deaf people (she can sign) but in addition to her grandparents, to hearing friends, to people she randomly meets in the street, on the plane. She can sing along with music, she can even whisper!
She can get our attention when we do not look at her, she can carry her toys and say that she's going out to play. Or just shout from another room telling us that she wants to go... NOW!!
But I can also ask her across a noisy room what kind of icecream she wants...

Sure, she would have been fine without CI, being completely deaf (hearing aid didn't help her), she would have been a wonderfull person. Hearing, she's a wonderfull person as well.
 
Cloggy said:
And now, she can communicate with not only deaf people (she can sign) but in addition to her grandparents, to hearing friends, to people she randomly meets in the street, on the plane. She can sing along with music, she can even whisper!
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All of that is quite great, indeed. More importantly, how is her language development progressing? I know you said she's 3 1/2 years old, so it's kind hard to gauge how well she's doing with English.

A few years down the road is when you will really find out how successful your CI decision was for your daughter; If her language skills are lacking, then your CI decision was not successful. That all said, I strongly suspect that is not the case! Modern CI's are much more better and have better results in similiar cases as far as language development is concerned. I have no reason to doubt that your daughter will be another success story, validating your CI decision.

More gratifying, I'm very pleased to see your daughter learning ASL! Not a lot of parents do that with their recently implanted infants. In fact, you're the first one I've come across. May I ask why you decided to allow your daughter to learn ASL? (Are you Deaf or a CODA?) Learning ASL only helps, not subtracts, your daughter's language development along with the CI regimen.
 
Nope! I am in processing get one but now I am having 2nd thought....so I'll wait and see...
 
Eyeth said:
All of that is quite great, indeed. More importantly, how is her language development progressing? I know you said she's 3 1/2 years old, so it's kind hard to gauge how well she's doing with English.

A few years down the road is when you will really find out how successful your CI decision was for your daughter; If her language skills are lacking, then your CI decision was not successful. That all said, I strongly suspect that is not the case! Modern CI's are much more better and have better results in similiar cases as far as language development is concerned. I have no reason to doubt that your daughter will be another success story, validating your CI decision.

More gratifying, I'm very pleased to see your daughter learning ASL! Not a lot of parents do that with their recently implanted infants. In fact, you're the first one I've come across. May I ask why you decided to allow your daughter to learn ASL? (Are you Deaf or a CODA?) Learning ASL only helps, not subtracts, your daughter's language development along with the CI regimen.
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Thanks for your reply and questions.

Actually she's speaking dutch (at home) and norwegian(friends and kindergarden). Sign she got before CI and we decided that she should continue until speech has developed enough. We assumed that she will decide for herself, and that's the case now. She won't sign with me any more, but will sign with others that use sign. She has discovered to power of speech.

Our family (on my and my wife side) has no deafness in the family so no-one was /is familiar with sign. One of our reasons for her having CI is that we want her to communicate with everyone around us.
And it's wonderfull to see her communicate with her grandparents - in speech. To see the look on her face and on her grandparents when the speak and laugh is wonderfull.

Sign was decided upon before we even knew about CI. Norway is great in providing sign courses for free. (plus additional info). When she started signing we never doubted that we would continue to sign. That is / was her basis. Now, however we see that see needs to be exposed more to speech to prevent loosing the CI-advantage. It's a juggling game.
 
R2D2, you're right about your comments. If you get a CI, it doesn't make you any less deaf, it only makes you a bit more aware of sounds around you. There's a lot of training revolved around the obtaining of the cochlear implant.

However, there's a vote here - when I was born, they weren't available. I have one now, and I received it when I was already an adult. I am one of those who did not pursue active auditory and speech training, so therefore all the CI has done for me is to make me more aware of the sounds around me and has allowed me to hear at frequencies that I've never before been subjected to.

It's hard to say whether or not you'd want one if you were born today. Maybe in another decade they'll come out with something that will cure deafness entirely...LOL. Or maybe not. :dunno:

It is OKAY to be happy the way you are, people...it's fine! CI's dont make you foreign or any different than your deaf hearing-aid wearing peers.

My vote? No, I probably wouldn't. But those of you who know of my brush with meningitis will understand my reasoning.
 
Malfoyish said:
My vote? No, I probably wouldn't. But those of you who know of my brush with meningitis will understand my reasoning.
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Excellant comments.

I wonder if the baby with CI would probably get highly fever, such as meningitus, then he/she loss their ability of hearing again?

My firm answer is Nope...
 
Mookie said:
Excellant comments.

I wonder if the baby with CI would probably get highly fever, such as meningitus, then he/she loss their ability of hearing again?
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Actually, Mookie, I'm not sure what your question is - but hopefully this will help. I contracted meningitis in 2004 - I was 24 years old. The believed reason that I became sick was because of a positioner used with my 2002 cochlear implant. (The positioner is a spacer that will hold the electrodes in place.)

Since my case and some others, they have ceased use of a positioner. Now, those receiving a CI will most likely be at less risk of getting meningitis from the CI itself. Just a stroke of bad luck. :)

I'll take a stab at your question since I'm not sure if it's even the right one, but...if a baby who has a CI were to contract meningitis, it would be possible for this baby, if he or she recovers from the illness, to hear again with the aid of the CI. I THINK this is what you're asking - correct me if I am mistaken.

If the CI is removed for whatever reason, though, the residual hearing in the once-implanted ear is forever lost.
 
Malfoyish said:
Actually, Mookie, I'm not sure what your question is - but hopefully this will help. I contracted meningitis in 2004 - I was 24 years old. The believed reason that I became sick was because of a positioner used with my 2002 cochlear implant. (The positioner is a spacer that will hold the electrodes in place.)

Since my case and some others, they have ceased use of a positioner. Now, those receiving a CI will most likely be at less risk of getting meningitis from the CI itself. Just a stroke of bad luck. :)

I'll take a stab at your question since I'm not sure if it's even the right one, but...if a baby who has a CI were to contract meningitis, it would be possible for this baby, if he or she recovers from the illness, to hear again with the aid of the CI. I THINK this is what you're asking - correct me if I am mistaken.

If the CI is removed for whatever reason, though, the residual hearing in the once-implanted ear is forever lost.
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The baby with first version of CI may obtain the meningitis or another highly fever. Would his/her hearing to be restored again with second version of CI? Methinks that it is not wise to install the CIs on any newborn babies. Let them grow and wait. Maybe some babies are too senstive to their hearing or mental.
 
Mookie said:
The baby with first version of CI may obtain the meningitis or another highly fever. Would his/her hearing to be restored again with second version of CI? Methinks that it is not wise to install the CIs on any newborn babies. Let them grow and wait. Maybe some babies are too senstive to their hearing or mental.
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I'm inclined to agree...I think it should be a choice made by the child, later in life when the child is educated enough to make such a decision. :)
 
YES

I'm hard of hearing and my loss reached 86 DBL in my left ear and 95 DBL in
my right ear.. I'm still trying to get a digital aid.. If I cannot benefit the digitals much then I would want a CI .. Why do I reject to hear better ? I'm half-deaf now and I like deaf world more than that of hearies in some ways but I have to live with hearies.. so I need 'assisting' devices .. If I one day became total deaf then I would be proud of it but would want to get better devices for interacting with hearies .. These devices are like bridges between me and hearies.. ( I know hearies don't pay much attention to deaf world but anyway,I prefer exchanging with them )
 
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