Qualified for a CI

Bear one suggestion I can make is maybe you need to lower the hrtz your implant is set at. I prefer a lower hrtz and was actually able to choose it, my 2nd mapping she put 3 different open programs in to try for 3 weeks, then I went in and had my perferred program put in 3 slots with adro, autosensitivity and beam. The 4th was used for the next higher htrz to see if I wanted it. I could use it but it's much more echoy and takes alot longer for my brain to start processing. I've also read on alother list of a person who was complaining about progress and finally got to try a lower hrtz and that really helped alot. So you might want to put something on slower then what you have and leave the higher speed programs on to just to see if it makes a difference. Good Luck. :)
 
Bear said:
..............
I guess this journey with a CI wasnt all I expected it to be. There are both good and bad things about this journey. But there is one thing I can say, and that is I cannot wait to see what my update will be exactly a year from turn on date!

Gonna have to try to remember this thread on September 21, 2007 lol. It would be awesome to reread this whole thread then and then to post my experiences and thoughts a year later.
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Believe me, it's worth it.
We ourself don't realise the improvements we (or in our case - our daughter) makes.
I put on a tape of Lotte from 1-1/2 year ago and my wife and me could not believe the difference. At that time she had the Ci for 7 months and she was doing well, but compared to now... it's just amazing.
It's good to have your own tests.. like we have her sing a little song now and then, and catch it on videotape, and compare it with the last time we did it.... and the first time.
This gives a good idea of the progres.

JAG... reducing the hrtz... that worked well with someone else on the site - didn't it...
 
Jag, you are talking (cochlear) nucleus language and Bear is using AB's Auria HiRes so it don't have 4 slots but 3 programs and the program she is using, I believe is HiResolution (not CIS or ACE or SPEAK for that matter) so it is not about hertz. it is about comforts and thresholds and audiograms. AB's Auria does have IDR so she may want to decrease or increase. increasing IDR (example: sound bubble) picks up more sounds from further distance. so higher IDR is ideal for quiet enviroment and lower IDR is great for noisy environment like restaurant or busy downtown with noisy traffics.

Bear, I suggest you to join ci : Do you feel like your walking the twighlight zone between the deaf and hearing worlds? The ci maillist is for everyone interest and ask "kmbrowen" about the private group for Clarion (AB) users ( ClarionCI : Advanced Bionics Implant users ) to be invited to.

They are good support groups for ci users the "ci" group is for all ci user while the Clarion group is for Clarion/AB users only. You will get help faster if you ask for some information. we do have some members from AB posting in there from time to time.

Bear,
I met a guy who got implanted in Phx with AB's and when I heard from him again, he complained and whined about not able to understand speech right away. He lost hearing in motorcycle accident years ago. I told him, "you can't expect to understand speech overnight. It takes a while, but you should not be implanted if you expected to understand speech overnight. He had the expectation too high. Since he has one already, I told him to go see his audiology to tweak his programming to make it better and talk to them about taking some form of therapy. So far, I do not know what happen to him. I could have asked someone at UofA when I had my speech evaluation few weeks ago to find out how's he doing but I forgot.

For me, I didn't expect to understand speech right away or overnight. I know this. but I am greatly glad that it LESSEN my straining to understand the person speaking to me since I can lipread. I am glad I didn't have to resort to paper/pen method. Of course, there are times I do repeats or ask the speaker to repeats. But I DO hear their voice and can follow lipreading with their voice. without their voice, I am lost. even if they speak under breath. I ask them to speak up clearly not because I can't hear, just that it needs to be clear.

It took me few months to acclimate the sounds around me and voices. So far, I am glad. no regrets.

speaking of speech therapy, I will be doing two times a week starting soon. I have yet to hear bout the start date. I was told that I need to improve my nasal and intonation sounds and among other things I need to improve on.
 
Boult said:
Jag, you are talking (cochlear) nucleus language and Bear is using AB's Auria HiRes so it don't have 4 slots but 3 programs and the program she is using, I believe is HiResolution (not CIS or ACE or SPEAK for that matter) so it is not about hertz. it is about comforts and thresholds and audiograms. AB's Auria does have IDR so she may want to decrease or increase. increasing IDR (example: sound bubble) picks up more sounds from further distance. so higher IDR is ideal for quiet enviroment and lower IDR is great for noisy environment like restaurant or busy downtown with noisy traffics.

Bear, I suggest you to join ci : Do you feel like your walking the twighlight zone between the deaf and hearing worlds? The ci maillist is for everyone interest and ask "kmbrowen" about the private group for Clarion (AB) users ( ClarionCI : Advanced Bionics Implant users ) to be invited to.

They are good support groups for ci users the "ci" group is for all ci user while the Clarion group is for Clarion/AB users only. You will get help faster if you ask for some information. we do have some members from AB posting in there from time to time.

Bear,
I met a guy who got implanted in Phx with AB's and when I heard from him again, he complained and whined about not able to understand speech right away. He lost hearing in motorcycle accident years ago. I told him, "you can't expect to understand speech overnight. It takes a while, but you should not be implanted if you expected to understand speech overnight. He had the expectation too high. Since he has one already, I told him to go see his audiology to tweak his programming to make it better and talk to them about taking some form of therapy. So far, I do not know what happen to him. I could have asked someone at UofA when I had my speech evaluation few weeks ago to find out how's he doing but I forgot.

For me, I didn't expect to understand speech right away or overnight. I know this. but I am greatly glad that it LESSEN my straining to understand the person speaking to me since I can lipread. I am glad I didn't have to resort to paper/pen method. Of course, there are times I do repeats or ask the speaker to repeats. But I DO hear their voice and can follow lipreading with their voice. without their voice, I am lost. even if they speak under breath. I ask them to speak up clearly not because I can't hear, just that it needs to be clear.

It took me few months to acclimate the sounds around me and voices. So far, I am glad. no regrets.

speaking of speech therapy, I will be doing two times a week starting soon. I have yet to hear bout the start date. I was told that I need to improve my nasal and intonation sounds and among other things I need to improve on.
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Boult,

Thanks for the tips, it really helps to know where to go to get some support with the AB brand. Seems everyone favors the nucleus here lol. We need more AB users here.

I knew not to expect speech right away. But I sorta expected the static to start at least fading a bit when it comes to voices by now. Trust me I have been asking the audi what can be done about that and he is like nothing but time. I even asked him if there wasnt a program or frequency or whatnot to try to help the static fade a bit. All I get from him is time.
 
Bear said:
Boult,

Thanks for the tips, it really helps to know where to go to get some support with the AB brand. Seems everyone favors the nucleus here lol. We need more AB users here.

I knew not to expect speech right away. But I sorta expected the static to start at least fading a bit when it comes to voices by now. Trust me I have been asking the audi what can be done about that and he is like nothing but time. I even asked him if there wasnt a program or frequency or whatnot to try to help the static fade a bit. All I get from him is time.
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Oh yeah, ok what kind of simulation are you on now? sequential or paired?

There is two strategy HiRes-S and HiRes-P I like HiRes-P and HiRes-S is sequential (firing one a time at high speed) which produce sound softer than HiRes-P which is Paired (pair of electrodes fired at a time) sounds fuller.

in my experience, I started with HiRes-S, it sounded "beeping" it does not sound like I hear the beeping with HA because with HA it is acoustically beeping in true waveform. so with HiRes-S I was hearing the beeping like if when beep starts, it goes up then back down FAST no wave.
when with HA it fade in then fade out in true wave like you would hear the actual beep. so with HiRes-P I actually hear the beep clearly so I know I heard it when tested in soundproof room. I responds more to HiRes-P than S.

It depends on some users. anyway this article may help you understand what is HiRes sound processing: http://www.bionicear.com/professionals/library.asp titled "HiResolution™ Sound Processing" it is in PDF.

and article about HiRes-S and P fitting methodology: at the same link above but scroll down more to see this title: "New Methodology for Fitting Cochlear Implants"

So anyway.. try to ask your Audie about having one slot with HiRes-P and one with HiRes-S and the third one using NRI (a neural test without needing your feedback) see this article "Neural Response Imaging: Measuring Auditory-Nerve Responses from the Cochlear with the HiResolution Bionic Ear System"

To be honest with you, I do not remember about the statics when first turned on even does not hear mickey mouse voices, you know? I didn't say "hey I am hearing mickey mouse voice" nope. So everyone's activation experiences are different.

I do remember that when I came home and tried the song by survivor "Eye of the Tiger" I was looking for the "Eye of the Tiger" to register in my head. I couldn't hear that one but I heard the music and other voice. I figured that the high freq. setting was low. so on next mapping I asked to adjust that so I could hear the overall voices in the song. It got better. (I guess it was good that with my HA, I only heard that line but I couldn't follow other part of the song. eh I talked that in a thread on my forum ages ago about Ci and Music at: http://tinyurl.com/jlbwc (enjoy!) and the url to my blog is in my profile. (if you go there, start with May and go from there.)
There's music video of that song and lyric for it on my space: http://www.myspace.com/boult65 Enjoy!
 
While my speech recognition was far better than I expected, I still had to "practice" at it - and I found that one of the best things, believe it or not, was to watch children's programming tv shows. The speech is slower so children can understand it, but it makes it easier for those just starting to recognize speech as well.
 
neecy said:
While my speech recognition was far better than I expected, I still had to "practice" at it - and I found that one of the best things, believe it or not, was to watch children's programming tv shows. The speech is slower so children can understand it, but it makes it easier for those just starting to recognize speech as well.
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As long as they talk "real".
I keep Lotte away from LaLa, Po, etc. When the funny voices come in... channel is switched..
 
Cloggy said:
As long as they talk "real".
I keep Lotte away from LaLa, Po, etc. When the funny voices come in... channel is switched..
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Oh exactly! One of the best shows I've found is Blues Clues. Sesame Street is always good too.
 
Bear said:
Boult,

Thanks for the tips, it really helps to know where to go to get some support with the AB brand. Seems everyone favors the nucleus here lol. We need more AB users here.

I knew not to expect speech right away. But I sorta expected the static to start at least fading a bit when it comes to voices by now. Trust me I have been asking the audi what can be done about that and he is like nothing but time. I even asked him if there wasnt a program or frequency or whatnot to try to help the static fade a bit. All I get from him is time.
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Hi Bear,

I know it's a bit old now but I had some static sounds in the background to begin with in the first few weeks and eventually they just faded out. I think it was around week 6 when I could recognise the improvement to the extent that it no longer bothered me. For me it was just all part of getting used to wearing a CI and right now I don't have a staticity background any more. It sounds like from your report of tinnitus that your brain is wondering what the heck is going on and it can take time for these adjustments to take place.

I know you've heard it all before but patience is really the key. It is understandable to have up and down feelings about your progress and it's normal too. I wouldn't even really expect to feel happy with what you hear until 3 months - anything before is just a bonus.

Has there been any improvement since you last wrote?
 
Hey all back and updating sorry it took so long!

Went for a mapping yesterday and the hearing test did so much better than the first one. But we still have lots of room for improvement based on the tests alone.

I asked yesterday how my hearing was doing and was told I am hearing at 30 decibals. Which is a good thing and something I never achieved with a hearing aid.

Also the mapping greatly improved alot of things that I was having trouble with and am now hearing a lot of things alot more clearly and the static sound is now starting to fade whew.

The voices are still giving me some trouble on hearing them clearly but am noticing it is clearing up little by little. Was sitting in the chair yesterday in the living room talking on the VP and was hearing my daughter laughing from the kitchen.

I am still waiting on more improvements as time passes. All in all I am satisfied with what I am achieving with the Ci so far. Yes, it could be better as in having my hearing fully restored. No, it isnt like normal hearing at all. But, it is better than hearing nothing at all *which I have gone through twice in my life*

There are several things I want to keep working on over time and one of those being to where I get to the point where I can hear people without having to lipread them. I want better sound recognition. Any suggestions on how to help me achieve that? I know I need to practice to get that. But it is one of my goals. My other goal is to be able to listen to any music and be able to get the words and pick up more of the instrumental sounds. Right now the music all sounds the same. So far there is only one CD I can listen to that I can pick up the words off of and that is only because I know the songs well. Eventually, I would like to be able to hear new music and pick that up so will be practicing that too.

Thanks everyone for the helpful links and postings.

I do wanna say to the new implantees and people thinking about being implanted that it's a hard and frustrating journey. Cause you want so much right away even when you know it doesnt work like that. But it is a journey worth taking.

You have to take a risk somewhere in your life otherwise life would be dull without a risk. I will never regret being implanted even if I HAD been a failure story. Because, if I had never taken that chance, I wouldnt have had a chance to know sounds again.

I cant say that I support a CI in everyone as it is an individual choice and I cant say that I support implanting children. But I can say a CI has done wonders for ME!

Now it is on to learning new things for me! And as I get them this post will be the first thing to get updated about them. I am really looking forward to coming back to this post a year from now and seeing how far I have come.
 
Greema,

Thanks and yes I would say I am very pleased at my results so far. I can only hope that they get better.

Asking ANYBODY with an answer is there anything I can do to help me hear voices better, so that eventually I may not need to lip-read? Would audio-books be good for that?

I would like to be able to hear without needing to lip-read.
 
Bear said:
Greema,

Thanks and yes I would say I am very pleased at my results so far. I can only hope that they get better.

Asking ANYBODY with an answer is there anything I can do to help me hear voices better, so that eventually I may not need to lip-read? Would audio-books be good for that?

I would like to be able to hear without needing to lip-read.
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Yes, they would be good. Also, the news and radio talk shows are good too.
 
Bear said:
Greema,

Thanks and yes I would say I am very pleased at my results so far. I can only hope that they get better.

Asking ANYBODY with an answer is there anything I can do to help me hear voices better, so that eventually I may not need to lip-read? Would audio-books be good for that?

I would like to be able to hear without needing to lip-read.
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You can certainly practice with audio books and also with using the telephone when you are ready. Also if you are driving with a hearing person I suggest having a conversation keeping your eyes on the road - that's good practice :)

However having said that I would caution against expecting to be able to get by without lipreading as opposed to hoping for it. We are still deaf and our hearing with a CI is not normal hearing so using lipreading if it helps you is not a bad thing to do. It gives you more information in putting together the whole picture.

Having said all of this it's probable that your dependency on lipreading will gradually lessen without you even noticing it at first. I have certainly noticed that when I take my CI off I am not as proficient as I used to be.
And I have just started to use the cell phone which to me was just about impossible before. Some people however will always still rely on lipreading but still feel that their CI has been a great success.
 
thanks for the tips guys. I have been practicing speech with the captions turned off on the tv. I am noticing a gradual improvement in recognizing what is being said. I tend to tape whatever it is I am watching so I can go back the second time and watch it with captions to see how much of it I truly understood. I still have a long ways to go, but slowly, I am getting there. Thank goodness, I didnt expect results overnight LOL.

I will say the Ci journey has been very adventurous. It's fun finding out what else you can hear everyday.
 
Bear said:
thanks for the tips guys. I have been practicing speech with the captions turned off on the tv. I am noticing a gradual improvement in recognizing what is being said. I tend to tape whatever it is I am watching so I can go back the second time and watch it with captions to see how much of it I truly understood. I still have a long ways to go, but slowly, I am getting there. Thank goodness, I didnt expect results overnight LOL.

I will say the Ci journey has been very adventurous. It's fun finding out what else you can hear everyday.
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Really pleased to hear that :) Thanks for checking in and keeping us updated.
 
R2D2 said:
...Also if you are driving with a hearing person I suggest having a conversation keeping your eyes on the road - that's good practice :)
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Yes, that is true and it is an excellent suggestion. I carpool with a co-worker twice a week and I get to practice that alot. Since my CI is on my right, when I'm the driver it isn't really hard at all. It is when I'm the passenger that it can be challenging at times (the way noise bounces around off the glass and the vehicle noises).

R2D2 said:
However having said that I would caution against expecting to be able to get by without lipreading as opposed to hoping for it. We are still deaf and our hearing with a CI is not normal hearing so using lipreading if it helps you is not a bad thing to do. It gives you more information in putting together the whole picture.

Having said all of this it's probable that your dependency on lipreading will gradually lessen without you even noticing it at first. I have certainly noticed that when I take my CI off I am not as proficient as I used to be.
And I have just started to use the cell phone which to me was just about impossible before. Some people however will always still rely on lipreading but still feel that their CI has been a great success.
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A good piece of advice in general for most CIers. I seldom rely on lipreading myself as I've gotten comfortable focusing on just listening. I have to admit there are times I need to do some lipreading but not very often. Because of that, my lipreadings skills have seriously gone south.
 
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