Originally Posted by faire_jour

Can I ask you a few questions about your hearing past? I don't want to be negative, but I also think that you should have appropriate expectations for your CI.

Sure, You can ask me.

Were you born profoundly deaf, or was your loss progressive or late onset?
Have you worn hearing aids for a long time?
Do you get much gain from the aids?
Are you able to use spoken language? Do you lipread well and use speech yourself?
Have you used spoken language in the past?

[COLOR="Magenta"]Yes, I was born deaf with 90 percent. I got first hearing aids when I was 2. I went to pre school for hearing impaired when I was 3. I took a speech therapy class. I am honest with you. When i get home from school. I pulled my ha off. My mom tried to put me on HA. I wasn't listen to her. She think my hearing aids are not help to hear enough. She wanted me to get CI when I was 6. My dad better not implant me without decide. He told my mom just wait until i get older and make a decide. I went to mainstream elementary school. I took a speech therapy class. I like the sweetie teacher. But other teacher were abuse on me. She grabbed my cheek for not use speak. I was hurt. I told to my mom about teacher abused on me. My mom wouldn't believe me. I was disappointed. I can read lipreading a little bit. I can speak a little. I made a wrong decide for go to deaf school without wear HA. I noticed the kids don't wear HA and some HA. I thought I didn't need to wear HA at deaf school. I took a speech class at deaf school. I wasn't happy with teacher treated me crap. I stopped speak and lipreading for a years. Now, I am learning to lipreading and speak now. I know I should be wear HA and speak language. I made mistake myself.

The reasons I ask those questions is because, the adults who do very well with CI's are the ones who have had hearing in the past or who have been very "oral". They are typically good hearing aid users, who lipread and speak. Aduts who have never used speech or listening with hearing aids don't generally like their CI's. They receive only noise and usually end up taking them off. While that is not always the case, it is often true. But there are exceptions, people who never used hearing aids, but work super hard and learn to use their CI's for enviromental sounds, and as an aid with lipreading. But, honestly, those people never are able to use a telephone and generally don't care for music.

Again, I don't mean to say it is impossible, and each person is different, but these are the realities of adult implantation.