What has a CI allowed you to do that before you couldn't

Getting back to the topic

I will talk about the experience of my daughter who has bi-lateral CI.

I can see that she and our family would have had no problem adjusting to a deaf child, signing 24/7. Coming from Holland, living in Norway, learning another language is just another challenge. Kids enjoyed learning sign as well, and picked it up in short time.

But the benefits of CI are tremendously.. But to focus on what she can now because of CI...
- Communication "around corners" throughout the house,
- Getting her attention when needed,
but more importantly:
- Being able to communicate with family abroad
- Being able to communicate with friends around us
- Being able to communicate with random people on the street

Without CI all these people would have needed to be able to use sign... now, they can freely communicate with her.

And another example...
When my father-in-law deceased, a lot of music was played in the church. The idea and feeling that she participated with this was a wonderrful feeling in all the sadness.....
 
ravensteve1961 said:
Hey hearing can make you crazy if it distorted. It can drive you nuts but normal hearing doesnt drive you nuts.Hearing aids can drive you nuts if theyre not working right.So i know from personal experance.
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I'll speak from my expericence, HA's do not give you anywhere near what a CI will. Yes, I should have gotten good gain from HA's, my hearing loss wasn't not in the profound area in any of the frequencies (close in some but not profound) the HA's were 'working' right, they just made things louder, had to turn the vol down cause all they did was hurt my ears. Now the Ci...it gives me clarity i rarely ask people to repeat themselves, I can actually understand what they say when they aren't facing me (talking directly to me).

Having said that most times I cannot understand people who are way down the hall talking to me, I still cannot understand everyone sitting behind me and follow a converstation going on behind me as well as a hearing person could. I expect over time some of those things will improve, but hey if they don't so what, I got what I wanted out of the CI.

Music, I was amazed to find out that floors at my job actually had music playing, never heard that with my HA'.s I hear the high notes and differnt woodwinds etc. much better now The piano music is cool. True some music like organs is taking time to get used to but oh well.

And most amazing I can acutally hear an ambulance/police car going by on the street 9 stories below me. Couldn't even hear it at ground level with HA'.s (unless someone pointed it out then going near the window and seeing it helped me hear it)
 
greema said:
Don't feel silly, Ange! You only recently signed on...

Two days? (oh, make that ONE day!!!! :hyper: :run: )

Wow, there seem to be a spate of people getting CIs and "turning on" -- Lucia was like about 2 weeks ago (is that right, Lucia?)
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Yeah, I had surgery Oct 11th and was turned on 3 weeks ago (Oct 16th)!
 
Wow, it's been 3 weeks already?!? Where did the time go to?

(uh, ok back to the topic)
 
Organ? (lol, don't get me started -- heee heee) (it's after dark and all the creeps're comiongout)
 
I've been switched on for 4 months but here are the differences that I've noticed so far:

1. I feel less tired than I did with hearing aids (both before and after I suffered my loss). I seem to be able to get a lot more done.

2. Being able to speak and hear on the cell phone with friends and family. (not brave enough to go further although I did successfully call the swimming pool to change my daughter's lesson times one time). That has never happened until now.

3. Being able to hear my daughter call me from the other side of the house (is that a good thing??)

4. Hearing all these warning beeps in the car - such as leaving the handbrake on, seatbelts, lights on - some of those sounds I barely heard with hearing aids but now hear very clearly. (Not that I drove a lot with my seltbelt off but I was bad with turning lights off sometimes)

I agree with Jag that some long distance sounds are harder to pick up. Also music currently sounds worse with my CI than previously with hearing aids but that may change further down the track.
Also hearing aid hearing was more consistent - it barely ever changed from day to day apart from when I lost my hearing. With CI hearing you have to get used to the fact that your hearing will change from map to map.
 
Fragmenter said:
So, is that why those organ music lovers are considered music snobs or something?
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Yea and no. Some love/like it, some are neutral, and others hate it. It is very hard to explain how an organ sounds like. It is very rich in terms of sounds and it is sometimes overwhelmingly so. It is not an easy instrument to write for and Bach (a true music genius) probably was one of the greatest organ composers of all time.

Funny, I will have to listen to some of Bach's or other good compositions to see how my CI handles it. I do know that music comes in pretty well with my CI as I have listened to lots of music.
 
sr171soars said:
Yea and no. Some love/like it, some are neutral, and others hate it. It is very hard to explain how an organ sounds like. It is very rich in terms of sounds and it is sometimes overwhelmingly so. It is not an easy instrument to write for and Bach (a true music genius) probably was one of the greatest organ composers of all time.

Funny, I will have to listen to some of Bach's or other good compositions to see how my CI handles it. I do know that music comes in pretty well with my CI as I have listened to lots of music.
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tune to a channel that is airing Classics Arts Showcase to find out :D

Classic Arts Showcase

since you are from Raleigh, NC and there's lots of channels that may carry this show:
North Carolina, Raleigh | Station: COMMUNITY ACCESS TV, Channel: 10, Covers: Raleigh, Knightdale, Zebulon, Contact: Karen Chalmers (919) 831-6263 Fax (919) 831-6877

North Carolina, Raleigh | Station: MEREDITH COLLEGE, Channel: 10, Covers: Campus Only, Contact: Melanie Fitzgerald (919) 760-2345fax (919) 760-2830
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Consider this a "Classic MTV" (as per website) eh :D
 
It's an individual preference.
I tend to like piano better when there are fewer notes. Same with an orchestra. I don't like all instruments full blast.

But have a look at this clip.. (If you cannot hear, it shows how the cochlea is stimulated. In the beginning with one tone, then expanding.. the final part of the clip shows how the cochlea/auditory nerve is stimulated when an organ is playing....

Have fun...
 
Boult - Thanks for the info. I will check it out.


Cloggy - Yes, I know what you mean. Depending on the "style" of music, it can be overwhelming. It is like getting a river full when you want a nice stream. :D
 
Cloggy said:
Believe me... that has nothing to do with CI !!
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I'm actually wondering if the organ music thing doesn't have to do with the fact that I actually liked the organ in my childhood church, which was a full pipe organ. Now most churches have new organs with no pipes and I think the sound is awful. I really need to find a church that still has full pipes, maybe that would let me know if that's the problem. :)
 
Banned


Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Here
Posts: 3,940 Thats not what the doctor told me! He told me environmental sounds are not the same as you heard them before. My doctor says TV & Radio are much differant as you heard them before and get this,..Music is much uncomfortable and will sound very strange.So dont tell me a CI can give you back your hearing as you heard them before.
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Actually, an interpreter told me this plus a few people as well. The interpreter especially told me it'd sound foreign like an alien language plus she asked me after if it sounded different. I was like no. I still don't get it. A telephone sounds like a telephone, music sounds like music, voices sounds like voices, so I really don't get this. Even Rush Limbaugh said this in an article. I was like..."where's the alien sounds I was supposed to hear?" Distortion can happen when you can't understand people or voices, but that's because the implant is not a perfect device just yet. You manage to get used to that part while you focus on what you DO have with the implant.
 
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