That's a great observation. Also - there are so many different "levels" of hearing even for hearing people! For example, my hearing boyfriend has *SEVERE* tinnitus, which makes hearing in loud environments extremely difficult. My mom also has some trouble in busy places like malls or parties.
While I say I can hear with my CI, that's relative- I can't hear 100%. Sometimes I still have to rely on lipreading to understand some people (lisps, accents etc can make it difficult to understand some speech.) Perhaps a better way of expressing this would be that "hearing comprehension" on a scale of 1 to 10 where 1 used to be what I could hear pre-CI, a 7 or 8 is what I can hear optimally now. Again, there are some situations where I still rely on lipreading or occasionally miss what's said. Last night I had to take my Mom to the hospital, and its VERY noisy in the emergency room. I had difficulty understanding what the nurses were saying because so many people talking and the PA system going on all the time.
