Question for 100% deaf adult users of cochlear implant

stuntchic said:
WOW, Boult....thanks so much for directing me to that site - amazing story, and a truly inspiring guy.

Interesting points about the C.I.s though isnt it - he has the same reaction to the sound as I do, it can be very noisy and tiring, I just so understand that feeling.

But, it is amazing how he can hear all those sounds...

I tried to email him, but the email address bounces, I guess its old. He hasnt updated his journal entries since something like Oct 2000.

Oh well - I woulda loved to have heard how he is going now. Well, we do know he is a motivational speaker on the Public Speaking Circuit anyway.

Good luck to him!
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stunchic,

yeah I conversed with him few time via email last year or two (can't remember) I have asked him about his website.. he told me he's been very busy with his activity so no time to update his. same thing for my weblog regarding my ci hasn't been updated since lately... :D
 
I h a t eeeeee my CI! I'm in kinda the same boat-turned deaf when I was 4, prooofoundly deaf, can't hear 1 shit, anyway I got the CI, yes it helped a little bit but if I'm not facing the person I cldnt hear them, I cldnt make out the difference between a males voice or a females, a childs or an adults, so I just stopped using it altogether. I rely mostly on lipreading anyway so psh
 
Hi lilredridinghood. I was wondering how long did you wear it before you gave up? Yeah, there are some people that have this problem and need to give it 6 months to 1 year to get used to this. Also, they have found that therapy can help tremendously. Usually once a week therapy and homework at home at least 30 minutes to 1 hour with someone can add to the success.

I don't have this problem with female or male voice, but I want to say that if you want the best out of your CI you have to commit to at least 30 minutes to one hour daily or 3 times per week in some kind of auditory therapy. Going to therapy alone will help to a point, but it will reach a plateau if you don't do your homework at home because aural therapy is really a guide so that you can do them at home with someone who will be willing to dedicate at least 3 times per week or daily 30 to 1 hour of aural exercises that they give you. I believe many people have the time to do this but they are too lazy. It's the same to any goal you want to make, such as losing weight, meditating daily, etc. It's the same concept, but you have to commit and it's not like you need to take up 5 hours of your time at all. How many of us would rather watch tv than do this? Or watches too much tv and you could give that up or sacrifice this time for aural practice? There's something we can give up without it being hurtful to yourself. I think that many of the CI people who don't do this don't see the actual result it will give them eventually. Some do not even know that they are making progress. They want to know that it will happen (get better) 100 percent for sure before they commit. So many of us want to lose weight, give up watching tv all the time, talk to friends after midnight, spend more time with your children, take time out to talk with your teenage kids, etc., etc. It's the same concept of committment reach a goal. Anyway this is a message to anyone who want to seek understanding why it's tough and some cannot make progress based on just having the CI on up to 8 hours daily and doing your business. Your hearing part of the brain have to be exercise until it understands what it is hearing. It's similar to training to be a better basketball player, improve at math with several of the same problems, etc. If you want to speak a foreign language and have conversations, you can't learn that in just going to class, you have to use it outside of home and talk to people talking the native language to become fluent. Same concept.

Here's a resource place to start for teeagers and adults if you want.

http://www.auditoryverbaltraining.com/websites.htm

Read baby books from the library for free.
 
I think the problem is that I have no memory of hearing and thus I don't have the brain patterns necessary to interpret the "sounds" coming through the CI. Is this theory correct?

Yes it is correct. After 4 months of living with my CI, I am finding out that it is really hard to retrain my brain to interpret sounds. I am constantly asking hearing people to help tell me what the source of that sound is, etc.

It really really works great when I am watching TV or lipreading people because I was trained to lipread anyway so whenever I lipread, I do well. But if I am walking down the street and hear a sound, my brain does not click immediately. I end up asking myself "what was that?" so I have a hard time registering it.

Last week, I heard a rustling sound. I looked down at my shoes and noticed that I was walking in dry leaves. I asked my girls if that was the source of that sound. They said yes.

Would I get a CI all over again if I could - I doubt it as it really works better for infants or kids but at least I have this wonderful tool . It will just take me YEARS to benefit a lot from this CI.
 
TP, on the other hand the benifit from CI even WITH lots and lots of training can vary tremendously, just like with hearing aids!!!! There are people with CI who are functionally hoh, but there are also many deaf with hearing aids who are functionally hoh with aids as well! I know that nowadays a lot of people have seen increased speech perception with CI, as opposed to with hearing aids. However, many of the new cases are people who had some perception of speech with hearing aids. For them getting a CI is just "turning up the volumne" I would not tell a person that the reason something's not working for them is b/c they haven't had specialized therapy.
 
deafdyke. Hmmm, I have done a lot of research and I have a CI myself. I do know that you can't say that a CI is not working for you without going through a good amount of therapy. I do know that every audiologist and research mention that you have been born with a CI or been deaf since infancy or been deaf for a LONG time--I DO know that aural or speech therapy is GREATLY recommended. The CI is altogether artificial form of hearing. Without training the ear, you can't expect it to do all the work. I am not sure what you're trying to say, but I wasn't implying that therapy is going to make it work 100 percent or whatever impression you got. I am simply saying what I know from talking all around different people, audiologists, CI users, etc, etc, etc. I DO know that it is recommended whether or not the work seems grueling, boring, or whatever the hell. I DO know that if you HOPE to get the very best (whatever the level you reach) that you can out of it is to go through therapy and do your homework at home. That's not a lie. If the goal of a person is to reach the point of hearing without lipreading to a great degree is to go through all the therapy. You don't know until you do all the work if you are one of these people. If people got the CI and expected it to work to hear without lipreading or be able to distinguish just by walking around with it, then that's not the best preparation a CI person got. The lowest expectation given to long-term deafened people is hearing more environmental sounds or increased lip-reading understanding. The rest is revealed with all the work you go through or you are one of the lucky peple. I know because I have talked to tons of people and seen the pattern. Every audiologist will tell you that aural rehab is very much recommended as a doctor will tell you to go through treatments for Lyme disease, but it's up to you to find out and make the best of what you got whatever your goal was to get the CI if you truly want it.
 
Very nice sentiments and observations, TiaraPrincess!
 
TiaraPrincess said:
Hi lilredridinghood. I was wondering how long did you wear it before you gave up? Yeah, there are some people that have this problem and need to give it 6 months to 1 year to get used to this. Also, they have found that therapy can help tremendously. Usually once a week therapy and homework at home at least 30 minutes to 1 hour with someone can add to the success.

I don't have this problem with female or male voice, but I want to say that if you want the best out of your CI you have to commit to at least 30 minutes to one hour daily or 3 times per week in some kind of auditory therapy. Going to therapy alone will help to a point, but it will reach a plateau if you don't do your homework at home because aural therapy is really a guide so that you can do them at home with someone who will be willing to dedicate at least 3 times per week or daily 30 to 1 hour of aural exercises that they give you. I believe many people have the time to do this but they are too lazy. It's the same to any goal you want to make, such as losing weight, meditating daily, etc. It's the same concept, but you have to commit and it's not like you need to take up 5 hours of your time at all. How many of us would rather watch tv than do this? Or watches too much tv and you could give that up or sacrifice this time for aural practice? There's something we can give up without it being hurtful to yourself. I think that many of the CI people who don't do this don't see the actual result it will give them eventually. Some do not even know that they are making progress. They want to know that it will happen (get better) 100 percent for sure before they commit. So many of us want to lose weight, give up watching tv all the time, talk to friends after midnight, spend more time with your children, take time out to talk with your teenage kids, etc., etc. It's the same concept of committment reach a goal. Anyway this is a message to anyone who want to seek understanding why it's tough and some cannot make progress based on just having the CI on up to 8 hours daily and doing your business. Your hearing part of the brain have to be exercise until it understands what it is hearing. It's similar to training to be a better basketball player, improve at math with several of the same problems, etc. If you want to speak a foreign language and have conversations, you can't learn that in just going to class, you have to use it outside of home and talk to people talking the native language to become fluent. Same concept.

Here's a resource place to start for teeagers and adults if you want.

http://www.auditoryverbaltraining.com/websites.htm

Read baby books from the library for free.
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I wore it from the age 7 to about.. 15, which's more than plenty time. I did go to therapy about 2 times a month for a year or so, and kept practicing at home, but hmm, it just wasn't for me. :) I would wear it from the time i woke up to the time i went to bed, so it's not like i didn't put the time into it. CI's aren't for everyone.
 
I wore it from the age 7 to about.. 15, which's more than plenty time. I did go to therapy about 2 times a month for a year or so, and kept practicing at home, but hmm, it just wasn't for me. I would wear it from the time i woke up to the time i went to bed, so it's not like i didn't put the time into it. CI's aren't for everyone.
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Did you get regular mappings too? Wow, you became deaf at 4 and got it at 7 wearing it to 15. I know someone who did not get regular mappings and she was complaining about her teacher's voice making her eyes shake. She got it at 6 and was born deaf I think. Was an on and off wearer + her classmates sometimes made fun of her--now that's not very kind. I do know that the deaf school she went to does not have a good program for students with CI. Many did not wear it, and that was the most negative stories I heard from--deaf schools. One of them wore it from age 2. He went to a special school to learn to use his CI. He loves it. Yep, stories vary.

I am usually intersted in people's background to see that they put the effort before saying it did not work for them or how it lead them to such good hearing. I do find many people who make excuses not to get therapy. They don't seem comfortable talking about it, but in a big way it sums up their efforts in hearing. With CI, aural and speech therapy comes attached. When I would talk to people, I don't like to hear "I like it" or "I don't like it." It doesn't tell me a lot. It makes me sense that something's missing. I like to hear more of a history including therapies because I know that's a big factor.
 
TiaraPrincess,
I am not sure what you're trying to say, but I wasn't implying that therapy is going to make it work 100 percent or whatever impression you got. I am simply saying what I know from talking all around different people, audiologists, CI users, etc, etc, etc. I DO know that it is recommended whether or not the work seems grueling, boring, or whatever the hell
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What I'm trying to say I guess, is that a CI is a wildcard for which anything is possible but nothing is promised. I know that therapy is reccomended. I mean physical therapy is reccomended for people injuired in accidents and is de rigior for people who never had the skill in the first place. I'm not one of those "anti-therapy" folks. I think therapy can be fun and give useful skills, but there are people who just don't respond to therapy very well. What I'm hypothesizing is that perhaps the increase in "sucessful" implantees is not due to the technology, but b/c they have now opened up canidancy to people who would not have qualified in past years (in other words, really good hearing aid users) B/c of that the pool of people who don't get too much out of it, really does shrink drasticly!
 
Yeah, well I agree that the CI users should sign a contract to make therapy part of their routine if they have a good chance of hearing better. There are 2 women born deaf or since childhood, oral and they practiced daily and can hear without lipreading. One of them in quiet situations and books. She only checks the parts that she didn't get. The other can hear in her classes by herself. Amazing stuff, but the credit is the therapy they went through. I know one of them got better without therapy and began to hear without lipreading. Mind boggling, but it's sort of a wildcard whether or not you're gonna be the lucky ones that don't have to take therapy.
 
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