Ultimate benefit of CI

B

butter79

New Member
Joined
Jul 16, 2008
Messages
5
Reaction score
0
HI, I m 28 yrs,i lost my hearing 7 yrs ago and got CI abt 18 months ago. I can hear almost all the sounds,even the birds chirping,and can even distinguish between sparrow and crow through sound (since i have heard them before).
But, my problem is i cant understand the words during conversation,i can hear them but can't understand them. This really is frustrating. I can't even hear words in noisy enviroment.Can other users please share the benefits they get from CI so i can know if i m ok or m lagging?
 
first of all, were you able to understand speech with hearing aids before getting a ci? if not, that may account for your inability to understand speech. of course, it could also be attributed to a poor map.

one thing i'd like to emphasize is the importance of not comparing yourself to other ci users. each of us is different. while one person may be able to understand speech immediately with their ci, another may hear environmental sounds only (not that this is a bad thing...i'm just pointing out the differences).

i'm able to understand speech with my ci's quite well in a one-on-one environment, but have difficulty hearing in background noise.

i also have trouble hearing on a landline phone vs. a cell phone and cannot understand speech well on either type of phone if i'm listening with my left ci.

in addition to speech, i'm also able to hear all kinds of environmental sounds including birds singing, crickets chirping and a knock at the door.
 
have you tried speech therapy? That could help...or even getting the read along books to help your brain re-learn the speech sounds could help immensely! and then if not maybe you do need to get a new map!
 
if you decide to follow along with audio books and their print counterparts, make sure you DON'T use children's books that play music in the background. also, be sure to select book titles that are unabridged.
 
I can't even hear words in noisy enviroment
Click to expand...
I think that's an inaccurate benchmark for how well a person hears with HA or CI. Even unilateral dhh folks have great difficulty in noisy situtions.
 
Hear Again said:
so do hearies with "normal" hearing.
Click to expand...

Exactly, just watch hearing people in a crowded bar or restaurant, they lean close and speak into the other persons ear. Not because they are telling secrets, but because they have trouble hearing in that environment too..
 
I am not a CI user myself, but I had my first CI audiology appointment 2 weeks ago. After 3 hours of testing and discussion, my audiologist emphasized how much more I would gain in environmental sounds, but NOT in speech and group settings. It seems to vary for everyone. It seems as if you should talk to your audiologist about what you're experiencing with your speech discrimination with your CIs and what you can do to further improve that.
 
Butter79,

I too have had great success with the CI and adapting to it since I could hear prior to receiving it.

What I notice is that when I run my slower programs normally for battery conservation when I am out and forget my extra battery, it sounds like everyone is talking through a fan kind of like Darth Vader in Star Wars.

You may want to talk with your audi who programs the CI to see what speed you are currently running if you don't know.

I notice on speeds of 900 and 1200 I experience this. I have never had a program any slower. I've been running 1800 for as long as I can remember. I have used programs at 2400 and 3500. The main reason for the 3500 was get my brain use to the signals but the battery life was really short.

My $0.02, see if your audi agrees with trying a speed 1 or 2 steps above where you currently are just to see what it is like and if there is any change. I can say that my experience with the slower speeds, I can still hear the sounds, I just have a hard time understanding.

Not sure if you make notes between mapping visits but I did and that really helped me remember the things that worked well with the last program and the sounds I had a hard time destinguishing.

Let us know how it turns out.
Steve
 
SteveESP52 said:
I notice on speeds of 900 and 1200 I experience this. I have never had a program any slower. I've been running 1800 for as long as I can remember. I have used programs at 2400 and 3500. The main reason for the 3500 was get my brain use to the signals but the battery life was really short.
Click to expand...

steve,

i didn't know the freedom's speed could go as high as 3500 Hz. i thought the highest speed was 2400 Hz. i learned something new today. :)
 
Thanx everybody for the advises,i have learnt a lot thru ur messages. I have been complaning to my audi abt my problem,he has been saying that i need more practice in understanding.I have a mapping session arranged with my audi Thursday,i'll raise few points that u guys have mentioned with him. I m sure it will help and let u guys know what happens.
 
I don't use CI but I can't understand words because you don't hear some letters that have high frequency or you don't make the defference between them such as "S", "F" ...
I thought CI helps in that cases but ha so far do not help in high frequency hearing loss.
The words that contain one or more high frequency letters you will not understand it.
 
Is that really true (about not hearing high frequency letters?) When I was at my initial CI audiology appointment last month and we reviewed my audiogram, the audiologist pointed to the 30 db range across the board that I should expect to hear after being implanted with a CI, and that 30 db range would put me at a higher volume (is this the correct word?) than speech, so theoretically I should be able to hear speech and certain letters. Would it all depend on the mapping and ensuring high and low frequencies are where they're supposed to be at?
 
I am across the board at 25 -30 db. I can hear the sounds, but there are times I don't understand them. That is why I do auditory therapy to teach my brain to understand what I am hearing.

Mapping is for comfort in sound. You still have to do therapy to understand it.
 
Back
Top