CI implantees, advice on learning how to hear?

I haven't, but I will get onto it.. thanks for the suggestion!
 
Bon said:
Hey guys,

I had meningitis at 13 months old and have had a profound hearing loss in my right ear and a moderate-severe hearing loss in my left ear which I use an aid on. However, a few years ago I started to lose the hearing in my left ear and it's no longer much functional for me, hence the cochlear implant.

I just received my implant last week and I'm getting it switched on in a couple of weeks... I live by myself, so outside of work I won't have much interaction with people and I was after some advice on learning how to hear with it?

Is merely watching TV and listening to what people say with captions going to be enough?

I probably sound stupid asking these questions as I really have no idea what to do to develop my listening capabilities... would love to hear any advice and suggestions from other people of what's worked for them in developing their hearing with a CI.

cheers
Andrew
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Not stupid at all..
I recall reading books by people going through the same as you. "Rebuild" by Michael Chorost and "[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Wired-Sound-Journey-Into-Hearing/dp/1895579325"]Wired for Sound[/ame]" by Beverly Biderman.
I think the latter listened to children stories.... (Been a while since I read it..)

Basically, listen to an audio-book that you know by heart...
Regarding subtitles on the TV... - the speech might be different from the text. But that's how I learned a new language (English & Norwegian) I had a lot of help from TV..
In the end it's about getting familiar to the sounds of the language... The more the better.
 
Can anyone help me by telling me ............ a born deaf girl now 22 yrs can undergo with cochlear implant? wat are the pros and cons?
 
dilfull said:
Can anyone help me by telling me ............ a born deaf girl now 22 yrs can undergo with cochlear implant? wat are the pros and cons?
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no offense but LOOK IN THE FORUMS! There are answers everywhere on this forum for your topic.
 
Bon said:
I had the choice between Med-El and Cochlear. I went with the latter and the Freedom implant (with the Nucelus 5 speech processor) for a few reasons:

- the Freedom implant has been very reliable
- I still have some hearing in my left ear I'm optimistic of retaining, but I really struggle with the higher frequency sounds (always have) which I thought Cochlear would help to balance out
- the external part is much more solid and sturdy, whereas the Med-El looks fragile and weak and could possibly break much easier
- Cochlear dominate the market with 60-70% share, spending 13% of revenue on research and development, so my guess is they spend more money than others on research and development. There has just been a MASSIVE hearing hub built here in Sydney by Cochlear at Macquarie University which they intend to expand in the future by mentioning adjacent land nearby.

- Lastly, because of the meningitis my surgeon thought it would be best to go with the Cochlear since the electrodes don't go in as far.
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Actually, though not an option for you, Advanced Bionics would be ahead in research. Both Med El and AB have the more advanced internal devices currently. Cochlear's current device has not changed much since the 90's and lacks the stimulation ability for advanced strategies, hence the reason there have been no new strategies introduced since. Their next internal device will incorporate the technology you find in Med El and AB, but apparently is a few years down the road from now.

You will get the smallest BTE processor available currently, so that is something to look forward to. They work around the internal limitations by using dual mics on the external processor, giving you a range of settings for different environments.
 
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