Okay - It is turned on...

D

DefLord

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Alright today was the day I got my CI turned on... And it was nothing like what I thought it would be.

A Little background here - I have grown up with progressive hearing loss and have always wore a hearing aid on my left ear. So as I got older my hearing as progressed worse and worse..

So on November 11th I went under the knife and got the implant. After being rescheduled twice I finally got my CI activated today. Before i went to get my CI - I kinda really tried to absorb what everything sounded like with my hearing aid. I'm driving down to the hospital and my radio is set at volume 35. So, well soon I sat down and she showe dme the device (I got the Cochlear brand) So she put it in my ear and then ran some channel test and then she started doing some test. The first time I hear sounds on it I jumped out of my chair because it was something unexpect and loud. It had alot of static. So, then I was more prepared the next few times she adjusted it. At first everything sounded real staticity. I mean I couldnt hear anything but static. Then she had to make more adjustments then when she talk it sounded like beeps (or like a star wars laser shooting). So but the voices are still not 100% clear - no so as I was walking out then I was like (WOW, I have heavy feet - cuz I could hear my own footsteps) *no wonder why peeps always know when i am coming* haha. So, then I get in the truck and turn on the engine - again I jumped (forgetting I had my radio blasting at 35 - so I cranked it down to lower now it is at a comfortable 8). But it seems right now everything sounds like a ping until you hear it over and over then it clears up. So, the more I am wearing it the clearer things are sounding. I'm picking up and hearing things I never heard before. It is nice.. but I can say one thing, it is a BIG difference than hearing aid. And I do see alot of potential with this CI. I'm excited about the possibilities we will see. So I have to go back tomorrow (Friday) for another reprogram then again on the 15th. So, hope it all works out!
 
That's good and hope everything works out great for you as you move along hearing better with your CI....keep us up to date.... ;)
 
That's great, I hope everything works out for you too.....
 
Thanks, Deflord, for allowing us to live through your CI experience vicariously. I hope everything goes real well for you. I assume you got the CI implanted in your right (worse) ear? Has that ear ever heard sounds before? And will you continue to use your HA in your left (better) ear in conjunction with the CI?
 
Thanks for sharing your experience with your surgery with us. I hope everything will go well with you as you adjust with your new CI.
 
Yeah, from what I've read people with progressive losses do REALLY well with CIs, so you have an advantage there.
 
Congrats and glad to hear you are finally hooked up.

Yep, I know that feeling about it is nothing like any expectations one had. :mrgreen:

Just stick with it and it will work out pretty well. I will warn you that everything is just so loud and it will take you a little while to get adjusted to it. Remember, this is "normal" for the regular hearing folks. They are used to it.

Keep us posted.
 
Eyeth said:
Thanks, Deflord, for allowing us to live through your CI experience vicariously. I hope everything goes real well for you. I assume you got the CI implanted in your right (worse) ear? Has that ear ever heard sounds before? And will you continue to use your HA in your left (better) ear in conjunction with the CI?
Click to expand...

Thanks.. yes, I got my ci implanted on my right ear (My worse ear) - I have never wore a hearing aid in that ear. Wehn I went for my audiological evaluation - I had 22% of speech recognition in that ear. (My left ear was about 50%). So, as for the hearing aid, to be honest, I notice it messes up the preception for me. I mean everythign seems to stay as a beep beep beep instead of really clarifying what is being said. So I take it off, then I start hearing words. I don't know if it is because my brain depends on my left ear and just uses it and ignores the right ear, but all i can say is my right ear is going thru a massive overload. ROFL! Yesterday driving in from teh hospital (I turned on the music) I couldnt hear the vocals, this morning Im driving in to work - I could hear the vocals with the beat for a change. So progress is being made. So I go back later this afternoon for reprogramming, then again on the 15th. So - I have yet not been able to do the phone yet, but I think with all due time it will come thru... It so far has been an overwhelming experience. I am hearing things I have never heard before.. I was walkign in teh hallway and I was actually hearing vocal conversations. (Comprehending? no.. but hearing it - yes)

So will keep you guys posted!

Probably within the next few weeks I will be creating a site specificially for CI (with its own forums and etc) So keep your eyes peeled.
 
Aww that's awesome DefLord! That's so exciting! I know what you're going through. While I myself don't have a CI, i remember going through the same shocks and reactions to sounds when i got my hearing aids a few years ago. You realize how loud everything is and it can be quite the overload. With time it will just become natural and normal sounding. I am so happy for you!!!!
 
so CI's are only put in one ear and noth both?

congrates o nthings going well mabee tahy will turn down the valume for you a bit , help with the over load.
good luck
 
Kateweb said:
so CI's are only put in one ear and noth both?

congrates o nthings going well mabee tahy will turn down the valume for you a bit , help with the over load.
good luck
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Kateweb,

From my understanding, CI's are only used on the worst of the two ears, not both. For at least $75K per ear, it would be cheaper to go with only one side. I could be wrong, so I'd suggest to look up cochlear implants on the Internet. A few places to start are asha.org and also hearinghealth.com. The National Institute of Health has information as well. Hope that helps.
 
Yes they only do CI on the worse ear... Which was foruntate for me.. So, but today is Day 3 for me with my CI - Im hearing voices more and more now.. And less beeps. The noises are still there, Im picking up sounds from everywhere as of now. I am not going to say this has been a great as of yet, then again I have my expectations and maybe I am expecting it too early. But I'm gonna give it time and see how it goes. I know my sound range has improve - no question about that. That is definitely confirmed. So, we'll see - now sound are starting to sound more normal (as they did with my hearing aid) But not 100%. Also keep in mind, this was also implanted in a ear where I have NEVER wore a hearing aid on. So, we'll see.

Will keep you posted as time goes by!
 
Same here...one is enough. Never heard in my worst ear and probably don't want to deal with that anytime soon :D

On another note...as DD stated Bilaterals are not common at all. They are picking steam in some quarters like those who are blind or have visual impairments. I can quite understand that!
 
Yeah, I don't think that bilateral implants will ever be the norm.....lots of people have some usable hearing in their unimplanted ear that can be helped by hearing aids.
 
Congrats DefLord

WTG, Sounds to me like you are making great progress for just a couple of days activated. I was activated in July, and I still have problems with music, but speech is great. I can also relate to the Overload, it is allot to take in the beginning, but in my experience you should adapt quite quickly and things really settle down once your Audi is able to expand your Dynamic range. In the beginning the range is so small there is allot of static and strange sounding voices etc, but normally by the 4th mapping around the one month mark you start to get a decent range and thing start sounding much better. Something you might want to talk to your Audi about is the speed of your programs, with Nucleus Implants my Audi tells me the majority of her patients seem to like the slower speeds once they begin to adapt, they find them a bit clearer I know I do. The funny thing is she told me those with AB implants are just the opposite they prefer the faster rate - just shows there are big differences between brands. I am not trying to start anything with that comment, I think both AB & Nuke are great, I just found it interesting that patients of one brand like high rate of processing speed and the users of another brand seem to be opposite. That is just my Audi's comment, but I kind of agree for me I find a slower rate much better now that I have adapted to the CI.

For those who wondered about Bilaterial implants, there is allot more of that happening now, especially for deaf blind, but also in sighted HOH people too, I think it was mostly experimental until recently, but now it is getting much more common. Personally I doubt I would bother even though I have a 115db loss in my "good" ear and an aid is useless, I have hard enought time keeping track of all the parts and pieces for one CI - geez with 2 I would go nuts...lol

Best of LuckDefLord, glad things are progressing for you :)
 
Gigabyte said:
...
For those who wondered about Bilaterial implants, there is allot more of that happening now, especially for deaf blind, but also in sighted HOH people too, I think it was mostly experimental until recently, but now it is getting much more common.
...
Click to expand...

I agree but I still don't think you will see them being that common among the sighted CI wearers. Reasoning is simple...they are costly and health insurance companies are going to put the brakes on soon enough when more do them and they do the math. There was even an article where the pros really could not really quantify the benefits of a second CI compared to the first CI. That to me was the first salvo in any broad discussion about doing bilaterals. For those who are visually impaired (those who have real and serious visual issues), there probably will be a consensus to allow them as the benefits for them are much more obvious and measurable.
 
Well I had my 3rd mapping done today... And here is what has occured.

When I first originally had my test - out of my right ear I was only able ot hear 22% of the sentences. When I had my first mapping - my range was at about 20, then at my second mapping it went up to 42 and now it is up to 53.

Now - we did a light screening (not an official total audio) but just to get an idea of where I stand.

First she gave me a paper each row had 3 words on it. On that whole page I got 100% recognition.
Second paper was sentences with a choice of 2 words (had to chose the one she spoke out) I got 100% on that. *understand all this was done with mouth covered and she was sitting about 5 feet away from me.
Third paper was sentences (three per number) - got 100% on that.
Then the last one was she would say sentences (I had no paper to look at or review - nothing) I managed to pull in 60% of recognition. Which is pretty good. Still alot of work to do.

I still can't hear out of phones yet, I still am having difficulty with noisy backgrounds - but I know all this will come with time. So now I go back in a month. So will keep you posted!
 
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