CI users. Can you use the phone?

How well can you use the phone with your CI?

  • Very well. I use the phone all the time.

    Votes: 5 33.3%

  • I can use the phone but I can't hear to much.

    Votes: 2 13.3%

  • I can barely use the phone. Only if they speak loud and clearly.

    Votes: 6 40.0%

  • I can't hear on the phone at all with my CI.

    Votes: 2 13.3%
  • Total voters
    15
R

RonJaxon

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I'm right now in the process of getting a CI and this is just something I'm curious about.

I know each case is different so even if some of you can or can't use the phone with your CI it won't mean I'll be able to or not. But I'm just curious as to how often people who where deaf or profoundly HOH. Then got a CI are able to use the phone now.

So. Can you use the phone with your CI? If so, please share your experience with using the phone with a CI.

I'm mainly interested in those who couldn't use the phone very well or at all before the CI. But anyone who has a CI I'd be intersted in what you have to say as well.
 
Although i had attempted to so and spoke to my immediate family I could understand few simple questions with help of my mum while i was at their home back in feb (6 month post activaction). As I was born profoundly deaf and have never heard anything on the phone all my life (30 years). My Speech and lang therapist said it would take 10,000's of hours of practice for the brain to learn the words without visual. I am having therapy at the moment learning the words etc and is doing well i think otherwise they would have said wait a bit longer instead they are booking me in for weekly sessions. Also it's the confidence issue aswell.

Who knows... i may be cranking up phone bills soon!!!
I am not in hurry but is really keen to see if i am able to call my parents who lives in other country.
 
RonJaxon said:
I'm mainly interested in those who couldn't use the phone very well or at all before the CI. But anyone who has a CI I'd be intersted in what you have to say as well.
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I could never use the phone at any time in my life. Sometimes I don't even hear any sounds emitting from the phone. They really should make phones louder than 30db which amounts to a whisper. Ive read that only 1 in 3 CI can hear enough to use a phone. Oh well nowdays most phone calls are from solicators. I don't miss never using a phone, it's annoying half the time. I can always text message my parents on the cell phone. Hope this helps.
 
Thanks for the replies.

Here's what I'm thinking. Between 15 and 20 years ago I started to loose my ability to hear on the phone. All my life before that I could with an occasional need to have things repeated. But during that 5 year span I used an amplifier I strapped onto my phone and as time went by I kept having to turn it louder and louder until eventually I couldn't hear no matter how loud I set the volume.

The point is I use to be able to hear well enough to hear on the phone. So there might be a good chance I'll be able to with my CI. I know that's not a guarantee but on that aspect of my brain remembering what speech sounds like I'm sure will be helpful.

One thing I plan to do and I'd imagine it will be helpful. I'll still use webcaptel. That way I can read what I miss. I'm hoping that I'll at least be able to hear "A sound" when they talk to me. Just knowing when they are or aren't speaking will be helpful. I have a hard time right now with webcaptel because I end up talking at the same time they are talking.

I also think this will be helpful in my therapy in relearning to hear. Of course I'm only guessing right now. I'll find out in a few months but that's part of my plan.

I'll tell you one thing though. I know I won't have perfect hearing and it's hard to tell how well I'll be able to hear. But my limitations won't be from my lack of trying to hear as well as I'm able to. As a professional entertainer the ability to hear a little better will be a great help.

Ron
 
You have no residual hearing so any sounds you get from CI is an improvement. There's no way to predict CI results but it's common to hear 25db to 40db aided and with lots of training, score 75% speech comphrension. You will want to work with your audiologist and help her correctly program/map your CI. May I ask why you didn't get CI several years ago if you had no residual hearing?
 
About 10-12 years ago I asked an audiologist I went to about it. At the time I was sent to get a hearing test when I applied for SSI benefits. So that was the purpose of my visit to the Audi.

I asked the audi then about the implant and he basically said it won't help my kind of hearing loss. He said that even if I get it it won't allow me to hear speech. Just hear the sound I hear a little louder.

So I figured there's no point based on what this audi said.

I made inquiries about the implant again about 7 years ago and got basically the same response.

But a few months ago I went the the doctor because I had the flu. During that visit I asked about what advances have been made about the implant. My doctor looked into it for me and set me up with an appointment.

So that's why I'm in the process of getting one now.

Ron
 
I thought even back in year 2000, CIs were good enough to give many people the ability to score above 0% on speech. Also anyone with 110db+ loss was a candidate, did you have 110db loss back then? You mentioned you stopped wearing HAs 12 years ago because you had lost all your residual hearing?

Yes CI technology has come a long way, especially in 2005 and after. Still, I am not interested in CI since I still get some benefit with my HAs and everything is loud enough with my gains maxed out. I don't want to lose my residual hearing for many good reasons. CI isn't a cure, just a tool like HAs are. CI is great for those with no residual hearing like you. Hope you hear alot when you get CI.
 
RonJaxon said:
I asked the audi then about the implant and he basically said it won't help my kind of hearing loss. He said that even if I get it it won't allow me to hear speech. Just hear the sound I hear a little louder.

So I figured there's no point based on what this audi said.

I made inquiries about the implant again about 7 years ago and got basically the same response.

But a few months ago I went the the doctor because I had the flu. During that visit I asked about what advances have been made about the implant. My doctor looked into it for me and set me up with an appointment.

So that's why I'm in the process of getting one now.

Ron
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It was same for me. Yr 2000 and yr 2005 same response.... thought nothing of it until i moved to new area and need new aids, ENT said to me have you heard of CI.. I went yeah and he said he thinks with my good spoken language i would do well with CI. So he refered me to CI centre. 7 months later i got it then 1 year later I don't have any doubts... I am sure it'll do well for you Ron.
 
Well I'v never tried and I don't think i will!!
 
I use the phone all the time no sweat. Being in IT, I have to man the helpdesk all day twice a month. So, I get all kinds of calls and seldom have any trouble. This includes people with heavy accents and that can be challenging sometimes. I will admit there is always some rare caller that taxes my ability to the max sometimes (accent or otherwise).

I quite realize that I'm in a minority having a CI and can handle heavy phone usage. Not sure exactly why that is the case. I have always had at least a severe hearing loss all my life. I suspect that I'm wired to handle speech well. Recently, I have been interested in getting back into the German language again. I had done some college studies for a semester or two. I could read it decently but spoken German was more problematical. I was pleased to note when I listened to a MP3 of a news radio program and got a good bit out of it.

I attended a Cochlear seminar back in January and out of about 40-50 actual CI attendees, there were maybe 3 regular users (including myself) of phones. That somewhat surprised me as I thought they be more...say 10-15 out of 50.
 
I use the phone on my implant, only if i don't feel like texting. I would usualy call my parents to see where they are in case they are picking me up from band rehearsal or waiting for me in the school's parking lot and that i can't find them and that i am tired and i don't want to text. I use the T-coil for the phone on my implant. its alot easier if you do that. But the catch is that when you use the T-coil on the implant to use the phone, it tends to have static while you're trying to listen to the phone. Sometimes the static noise is coming from the phone. And if you turn it down just a tad, it might work better that way to advoid the static. Sometimes the static would come from the room you're in or from other electronics interfering with the phone. IF you cointinue hear static in the implant on the T-Coil, i would recommend talking to your audiologist to see what he/her suggest for you to try or to fix.

But using the T-coil is alot eaiser.
 
My implant was activated August 7th and while I haven't attempted the phone yet, I have been listening to talk radio and listening to audiobooks. I'm hearing about 70-80% of what is said BUT still having a problem committing what I hear to memory.

Ron once you're implanted I suggest listening to the audiobooks and reading along so that you'll push your memory to remember how words sound. Seems to work very well for me as well as some other CI-er's on another site.
 
Same here
I am also in the IT field, having to work on the Help desk all day speaking with technical support people with heavy English accent in various counties. That is quite a challenge working in that field on 12 hour shifts.
Three out of 50 that can use the phone regularly? I would think it would be more.

sr171soars said:
I use the phone all the time no sweat. Being in IT, I have to man the helpdesk all day twice a month. So, I get all kinds of calls and seldom have any trouble. This includes people with heavy accents and that can be challenging sometimes. I will admit there is always some rare caller that taxes my ability to the max sometimes (accent or otherwise).

I quite realize that I'm in a minority having a CI and can handle heavy phone usage. Not sure exactly why that is the case. I have always had at least a severe hearing loss all my life. I suspect that I'm wired to handle speech well. Recently, I have been interested in getting back into the German language again. I had done some college studies for a semester or two. I could read it decently but spoken German was more problematical. I was pleased to note when I listened to a MP3 of a news radio program and got a good bit out of it.

I attended a Cochlear seminar back in January and out of about 40-50 actual CI attendees, there were maybe 3 regular users (including myself) of phones. That somewhat surprised me as I thought they be more...say 10-15 out of 50.
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john57 said:
Same here
I am also in the IT field, having to work on the Help desk all day speaking with technical support people with heavy English accent in various counties. That is quite a challenge working in that field on 12 hour shifts.
Three out of 50 that can use the phone regularly? I would think it would be more.
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I would like to think so. I suspect maybe more could be light to moderate users. We both can understand the challenges of being heavy users of phones.

While it may not be a big deal to us, but understanding speech without cues is a whole different category in respect to hearing. It really comes down to the brain's development and concurrent speech development when young. I know that was true for myself. How about yourself?
 
never tried it but i only did tested out the voicemail I understand the numbers to press for something but otherwise, nope havent tried it, i can hear the speaker on the phone like 6-10 feet away because everyone seem to like their cell phone volume turned up really loud sheesh and one time last week someone cell phone rang and it scared crap out of me because it was so loud and it was on other side of house of where i was i dont get it, maybe you hearies can tell me why?
 
Let me see if I understand what some seem to be saying.

Some of you can hear on the phone but won't or won't try it?

If so I can't even fathom the logic behind the decision to not even try. And if you can use it why not use it?

In a way I find that a tad bit insulting. For I lost my ability to do that almost 20 years ago and I would love to be able to just pick up the phone and order a pizza, book my own shows or just say hello to friends and family. For someone to be able to but just won't is kind of ridiculous to me.

I'm not trying to be negative. I just can't understand this.

Or am I misunderstanding something? :)
 
For me, 30 years of profound deafness with NO Auditory memory. This is practially all my life.
Picking phone up without thinking is out of question hence i have no house phone due to too many cold calls.
I am just one year user and is under progress in learning how to listen spoken language with out Lipreading, The Audi said it would Take many years for someone in my postition to achieve to speak on the phone. There is also fear of embarassing myself if I couldn't understand a person on the phone so therefore I need to build up confidence by trying to speak to my immediate family (mum or dad thats all). The more I try the more confidence i would build. I am trying my hardest, it may not happen because I had been without auditory memory all my life.

I think you'll do well if you work hard and make the best out of your CI.
 
Thanks overthepond. I can certainly understand that. I'd imagine it'll be quite a while before I can hear, more importantly understand, someone on the phone. But when I can I'll definitely use it.

I'm sure the fact that when I was a teen I was like many teens and on the phone all the time. LOL
 
RonJaxon said:
Let me see if I understand what some seem to be saying.

Some of you can hear on the phone but won't or won't try it?

If so I can't even fathom the logic behind the decision to not even try. And if you can use it why not use it?

In a way I find that a tad bit insulting. For I lost my ability to do that almost 20 years ago and I would love to be able to just pick up the phone and order a pizza, book my own shows or just say hello to friends and family. For someone to be able to but just won't is kind of ridiculous to me.

I'm not trying to be negative. I just can't understand this.

Or am I misunderstanding something? :)
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well, its not that we refuse to try, we just havent really thought seriously about that we never used phone so we dont see any significant need to try phone i guess. but for me I dont have anyone to try (neutral clear voice, my fiancee have voice i cant understand almost at all) and i dont feel comfortable speaking since i stopped speech therapy at age 8 (parents wanted me to be ASL user, not bi-bi anymore never told me why) so i dont remember how to pronounce some of letter like D,n, z, and some word dont sound like way it spells so i dont know like psycho you dont say fisicho you say sico for example so its like trying to talk in spanish when you only took lesson from age 3 to 8 and try to remember and speak at age 21 almost 22 to mexican people blah so uncomfortable.
 
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