Who has a CI the longest?

Naisho also asked who didn't benefit from it, and from I could tell more people benefited from CI than not. Of course, all anecdotal in here.
 
kokonut said:
Naisho also asked who didn't benefit from it, and from I could tell more people benefited from CI than not. Of course, all anecdotal in here.
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There are people on alldeaf that has CI failing on them, explants and such. They're not talking about it. ;)
 
9 years

I've had my CI for almost 9 years. My job is all about communications - listening, negotiating, many meetings. I've been able to continue working because of my CI. I'm lucky to live in this day and age.
Don
 
DonH said:
I've had my CI for almost 9 years. My job is all about communications - listening, negotiating, many meetings. I've been able to continue working because of my CI. I'm lucky to live in this day and age.
Don
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Congrats!
 
It depends on if they actually use it.

I know a lot of people who got CI because it was covered by their insurance company.

After getting it, they were annoyed by the sounds or having to wear the device. So, they stopped wearing it.
 
I wonder, if they cover the costs of getting the CI, if the insurance also would cover the costs of the follow up therapy that is needed to try to make sure the patient is able to fully benefit from the CI (speech therapy, language therapy, auditory comprehension training, auditory training, etc.)...

To me, a lot of time the CI "failed" because proper follow-up was not done. The equipment isn't going to work automatically on its own...we have to train the brain on how to use it.
 
deafbajagal said:
I wonder, if they cover the costs of getting the CI, if the insurance also would cover the costs of the follow up therapy that is needed to try to make sure the patient is able to fully benefit from the CI (speech therapy, language therapy, auditory comprehension training, auditory training, etc.)...

To me, a lot of time the CI "failed" because proper follow-up was not done. The equipment isn't going to work automatically on its own...we have to train the brain on how to use it.
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If that was true, they wouldn't keep looking younger and younger age to implant a child.

That's a lot of exhausting work to worry about all that... like it was for speech therapy during Hearing aids generation.
 
deafgal001 said:
If that was true, they wouldn't keep looking younger and younger age to implant a child.

That's a lot of exhausting work to worry about all that... like it was for speech therapy during Hearing aids generation.
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Two completely different era and type of technology. A cochlear implant allows you to access to a wider range of sound, sensitivity and frequency such being able to hear the 't', 's', 'ch' and 'sh' for example. Use of the hearing was mostly predicated on how much hearing loss you have and which frequency is lacking that will either make easier, harder or impossible to derive any benefit from it. I wouldn't even bother comparing the two different eras and technologies. There is no comparison at all.
 
kokonut said:
Two completely different era and type of technology. A cochlear implant allows you to access to a wider range of sound, sensitivity and frequency such being able to hear the 't', 's', 'ch' and 'sh' for example. Use of the hearing was mostly predicated on how much hearing loss you have and which frequency is lacking that will either make easier, harder or impossible to derive any benefit from it. I wouldn't even bother comparing the two different eras and technologies. There is no comparison at all.
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I wasn't referring to speech. I was referring to the amount of work to make it work. I mean some kids have to spend hours to get the mapping right (well I did, plus long boring 4 hours drive to get there and back) plus therapies on top of that.
 
It all entails repetitiveness. The "amount of work" is relative to each person doing the work (the beneficiary), and the people involved to help make it work.
 
kokonut said:
two completely different era and type of technology. A cochlear implant allows you to access to a wider range of sound, sensitivity and frequency such being able to hear the 't', 's', 'ch' and 'sh' for example. Use of the hearing was mostly predicated on how much hearing loss you have and which frequency is lacking that will either make easier, harder or impossible to derive any benefit from it. I wouldn't even bother comparing the two different eras and technologies. There is no comparison at all.
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+1
 
kokonut said:
It all entails repetitiveness. The "amount of work" is relative to each person doing the work (the beneficiary), and the people involved to help make it work.
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Right. You can't just get cochlear implants and then say you're "cured" or like a hearing person (speak/hear).

A person with cochlear implants may hear, but can he/she understand what he/she is hearing?

There's a difference between look and observe. You can look at a building, but to observe the building will allow you to be able to say how many windows there are, what color the bricks are, how many stories there are, etc.

You start hearing... good. But you gotta work on being able to recognize what you're hearing. From there, you also work on your speech skills because that comes from knowing what you're saying too.
 
VamPyroX said:
Right. You can't just get cochlear implants and then say you're "cured" or like a hearing person (speak/hear).

A person with cochlear implants may hear, but can he/she understand what he/she is hearing?

There's a difference between look and observe. You can look at a building, but to observe the building will allow you to be able to say how many windows there are, what color the bricks are, how many stories there are, etc.

You start hearing... good. But you gotta work on being able to recognize what you're hearing. From there, you also work on your speech skills because that comes from knowing what you're saying too.
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True, just as walking into a room of people using ASL doesn't provide you with an instantaneous understanding of and ability to use ASL, access to sound doesn't provide you with knowledge of the English language.
 
GrendelQ said:
True, just as walking into a room of people using ASL doesn't provide you with an instantaneous understanding of and ability to use ASL, access to sound doesn't provide you with knowledge of the English language.
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That's where a lot of CI users go wrong when they get cochlear implants.

They think they're going to change overnight. After they get their CIs, they realize they made a mistake... and stop wearing it.

I do know some people who got CIs and immediately switched from socializing with deaf people and started socializing with hearing people because they considered themselves "hearing" even though their only skill is lipreading and they can't even comprehend what they're hearing nor can they even speak like hearing people.

One guy got CIs and immediately stopped signing. He joined a hearing fraternity. He would enunciate everything he said to deaf people without signing in order to make himself look better than the other deafies. He would try to tell cruel deaf jokes to hearing students while in front of deaf students to emphasize that he's moved on from deaf life to hearing life. Even after 5 years in college, he still hasn't made any improvements in his speaking skills and is now worse than where he started. :roll:
 
VamPyroX said:
That's where a lot of CI users go wrong when they get cochlear implants.

They think they're going to change overnight. After they get their CIs, they realize they made a mistake... and stop wearing it.

I do know some people who got CIs and immediately switched from socializing with deaf people and started socializing with hearing people because they considered themselves "hearing" even though their only skill is lipreading and they can't even comprehend what they're hearing nor can they even speak like hearing people.

One guy got CIs and immediately stopped signing. He joined a hearing fraternity. He would enunciate everything he said to deaf people without signing in order to make himself look better than the other deafies. He would try to tell cruel deaf jokes to hearing students while in front of deaf students to emphasize that he's moved on from deaf life to hearing life. Even after 5 years in college, he still hasn't made any improvements in his speaking skills and is now worse than where he started. :roll:
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Everyone one of those CI recipients (or their parents) knew there were no guarantees on how the implantation will turn out. They understood this from their audiologists, surgeons, and doctors. No one was told that getting a CI they will find themselves suddenly able to hear and understand the spoken language right away. the CI recipients (and/or parents) knew it would entail work and adjustment to sound over time. That's dependent on a few things such as using a hearing aid while growing up or were once a hearing person but became deaf later on in life. Another factor is what age did the implantation take place, the earlier the implantation the greater chance of success (provided they get supportive therapy along the way). One of these factors help ensure the successful use of CI. This is so true in getting a CI at a critical period during their brain development to take advantage of the auditory cortex to make sense of any auditory input. Any delay, say a hearing child who completely loses his hearing at age 3 and doesn't get CI until age 5 or 6, will likely not see a successful use of their CI and may discard it later on in life. In one case, there were two children in Australia who received the world's first multi-channel CI. Both were hearing until age 3 when they lost all hearing due to meningitis. One didn't get a CI until age 5 and the other one didn't get the implant until age 10. Both ended up not using the CI fulltime because the delay (2 years and 7 years) caused them to lose all auditory skills, phonological knowledge, and receptive and expressive language skills. The implantation occurred beyond the optimum critical period of their brain development and auditory cortex. They eventually rejected fulltime use of CI during adolescence. This was during the middle 1980s when it happened (the implantation).

Those who received their CI and later on don't use it took a few years to several years or more before making the decision to stop wearing it for whatever reasons. The percentage of partial or non-use of cochlear implant ranges between 1 to 10% of the total CI population depending on the age.

(The Oxford Handbook of Deaf Studies, Language, and Education. Volume 2. 2010).
 
VamPyroX said:
That's where a lot of CI users go wrong when they get cochlear implants.

They think they're going to change overnight. After they get their CIs, they realize they made a mistake... and stop wearing it.

I do know some people who got CIs and immediately switched from socializing with deaf people and started socializing with hearing people because they considered themselves "hearing" even though their only skill is lipreading and they can't even comprehend what they're hearing nor can they even speak like hearing people.

One guy got CIs and immediately stopped signing. He joined a hearing fraternity. He would enunciate everything he said to deaf people without signing in order to make himself look better than the other deafies. He would try to tell cruel deaf jokes to hearing students while in front of deaf students to emphasize that he's moved on from deaf life to hearing life. Even after 5 years in college, he still hasn't made any improvements in his speaking skills and is now worse than where he started. :roll:
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Lol, I know people like that. Last weekend I had a small gathering of deaf folk at my house, and they were ASL users. When a couple of married CI users pulled into the driveway, they all got up and left. It turned out that of the couple, the husband no longer uses his CI, but had a holier-than-thou attitude previously, and the others hadn't forgotten nor forgiven. The wife was in tears over the abandonment but I could only shrug.
 
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