Hi! I was activated 3 days ago. When my audie first activated me I heard a bunch of loud beeping sounds, it was crazy! The voices sounded deep and kinda like vibration. I am now at day 3 and sounds are becoming a lil clearer, but my own voice sound deep. I can hear speech sounds like "ch" "S" but some of the words sound faint. Music sounds awful right now compared to how it sounded with my hearing aid. I could hear it with my hearing aid and follow along the words by reading the lyrics. With CI it doesn't sound right, I know its too early but when did sounds become more clearer? I don't go fo my second mapping until 2 weeks. Any advice?
Activated 3 days ago...
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LadySekhmet
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Hello!
Sounds like my first couple days of activation...Music was awful. My big guess is that your audie gave you a crude map, just to kind of "wake up" your nerves in the cochlear. That's normal.
For me, the deep sounds (low frequency) were too faint, while the high frequency sounds were pretty loud.
It took about a week or so for things to sound pretty much normal, and you will realize what are the sounds you were missing when you wore your HAs. For me, i could NOT hear the CH, SH, etc with HAs, with the CI I could. So everything you couldn't hear before with the HA is what you're hearing now. Does that make sense?
It takes quite a few mappings to realize what you want to hear, what you don't want to hear, etc. I can almost promise you that your next map in two weeks, you will see a huge difference. Over time, you will start to have the idea of what sounds you feel like you're missing, then your audi can adjust accordingly. I wish you best of luck!!!
PS - It took about a month to two months to finally understand music a lot better...it's the hardest to deal with.
Sounds like my first couple days of activation...Music was awful. My big guess is that your audie gave you a crude map, just to kind of "wake up" your nerves in the cochlear. That's normal.
For me, the deep sounds (low frequency) were too faint, while the high frequency sounds were pretty loud.
It took about a week or so for things to sound pretty much normal, and you will realize what are the sounds you were missing when you wore your HAs. For me, i could NOT hear the CH, SH, etc with HAs, with the CI I could. So everything you couldn't hear before with the HA is what you're hearing now. Does that make sense?
It takes quite a few mappings to realize what you want to hear, what you don't want to hear, etc. I can almost promise you that your next map in two weeks, you will see a huge difference. Over time, you will start to have the idea of what sounds you feel like you're missing, then your audi can adjust accordingly. I wish you best of luck!!!
PS - It took about a month to two months to finally understand music a lot better...it's the hardest to deal with.
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R2D2
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Hi there,
The only advice I can give at this stage is to give it time. Everything you have described is completely normal for the first few days weeks post CI activation. Did anyone prepare you for the fact that it would sound terrible to begin with?
When I had my first activation, it sounded absolutely terrible. It just sounded a lot of static, which then became beeps then funny sounding voices and then natural voices. However, I was able to keep it in perspective because I had been told that it would be like that to begin with. Probably the CI didn't overtake my best HA days until about 12 weeks. It can take longer or shorter depending on your own individual situation. Your first map is always very basic and crude and it's a matter of just getting used to louder sounds in the first few days/weeks and then you work on quality, since quality is achieved by increasing your comfort and threshold levels on the map. This is a process that takes several months. It's an encouraging sign that you are hearing speech on day 3 even if it's unclear.
As for music - forget about it for a few months. That tends to be the last thing to fall into place.
If it's really driving you crazy then perhaps ask your audie for a second map a bit sooner? Some people get remapped as early as the next day, others a few weeks.
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LadySekhmet
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My audi says, "This is going to sound like crap!", then she turn my processor on.
john57
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It is early and takes time, my audioligst gave me four loudness maps and once I used to the first map I switched in the second map and so on. The helps my ear to get used to the sounds a bit faster and then later on tweak the maps for best clarity.
R
rockdrummer
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I thought if you were hearing ok with your aids you would not be a candidate for a CI. How did you pull that one off? Either way, all the best!!
Hear Again
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Congratulations on your activation! 
As the others have said, give it time. The sound quality of what you hear *will* improve -- I can promise you that. On the day of my activation everything sounded extremely high pitched and it took me 2 weeks before I could start to understand some speech. Music took several months longer. Some advice...if the quality of what you hear becomes weak, it's time for a new map. Be sure to contact your audi to let him/her know -- don't wait until your next appointment in 2 weeks.
As the others have said, give it time. The sound quality of what you hear *will* improve -- I can promise you that. On the day of my activation everything sounded extremely high pitched and it took me 2 weeks before I could start to understand some speech. Music took several months longer. Some advice...if the quality of what you hear becomes weak, it's time for a new map. Be sure to contact your audi to let him/her know -- don't wait until your next appointment in 2 weeks.
R2D2
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I don't know about Mellenart as I don't know her history, but when I compare CI sounds against hearing aids I usually refer to the time before my hearing suddenly decreased, i.e. the peak performance that I remember getting from my HAs.
So when I got my CI, my first goal was to reach on par with what I remembered best with my HAs and anything beyond that was going to be a bonus.
Thanks everyone!
The input you all gave were very helpful. It is getting better each day. My audie didn't turn on the high frequency sounds yet, as she thought it may be too much for me to begin with since I have 3 small children ages 5, 3 and a 8 month old baby...they can be loud. I hear a tweaking sound off and on and not sure where its coming from or if its my hair moving on the mic. Do any of you CI user have a noise from the hair folicles on the processor mic?
The input you all gave were very helpful. It is getting better each day. My audie didn't turn on the high frequency sounds yet, as she thought it may be too much for me to begin with since I have 3 small children ages 5, 3 and a 8 month old baby...they can be loud. I hear a tweaking sound off and on and not sure where its coming from or if its my hair moving on the mic. Do any of you CI user have a noise from the hair folicles on the processor mic?