HOH people who recieved an CI, pls look here!

[nightcrickets]

hmm... I am hoh with 92 Dbl loss in both ears... more than your loss and I don't qualify for a CI in my country ... I got digitals six months ago and I am getting better results from my digitals than my old analog but speech still sucks for me if I cannot see the speaker and cannot lipread I don't know if a CI will be right choice for me since I can hear many environmental sounds with my hearing aids but I can't get 'crispy' speech .. I can hear sounds of the hot tea on the fire in the kitchen if I pay attention to it but cannot understand one whose face I can't see while he/she is in the same room with me..

I am confused and got frustrated a lot currently.. hearing world makes me tired.

you sound like me. Maybe they didn't think you were serious about it. Another qualification is how well you will handle it. They will not give it to those who are unsure if they really want it or not. Or those who expect too much because they could end up feeling disappointed because it is not what they picture it (they expect their hearing to be perfect).

Another reason is how your ear is structured. And if you have any health problems that could put you in a risk.

But most likely, I think they wanted to see how you would do with digital hearing aids. I had both analog and digital, and they didn't really work out well for me. I don't know how your country works so I can't tell what is consider a candidate in your country, they may not want to pay extra for those who can do just fine with hearing aids rather they understand or not.

 

[Raykat]

Can anyone tell me if they are able to dispense with lipreading altogether after having CI?

I am on the waiting list in NZ but may never get the op as only 26 get done a year here (public funded, medi insurance wont pay for it here)

I was born profoundly deaf, not sure what level I am, I lipread, no SL, went to mainstream schools, and spent years in speach therapy so most pp are surprised to find I am deaf. The only reason I have for wanting CI is to get away from having to lipread and be able to join in conversations.

 

[ismi]

Can anyone tell me if they are able to dispense with lipreading altogether after having CI?

I am on the waiting list in NZ but may never get the op as only 26 get done a year here (public funded, medi insurance wont pay for it here)

I was born profoundly deaf, not sure what level I am, I lipread, no SL, went to mainstream schools, and spent years in speach therapy so most pp are surprised to find I am deaf. The only reason I have for wanting CI is to get away from having to lipread and be able to join in conversations.

Other posters here have mentioned losing the ability to lip read as they don't use it anymore - like you'd lose any language if you don't use it. I don't think it happens to everybody - not everyone gets the same results - but it's a possibility.

 

[Boult]

What exactly is "mapping", anyway?

another word for "programming"

for example;

we map electrode to certain area in cochlea


If you know what stereo system is then you should know what equalizer is.

so think of mapping software as equalizer for CI

AB (Advanced Bionics) use this software called SoundWave used to map the processor. BionicEar.com - Harmony Cochlear Implant by Advanced Bionics

on activation day, mapping is done on that day and on..
If you have seen videos of them getting activated, the audiologist was using the computer with mapping software used to activate and map.

 

[highlands]

you sound like me. Maybe they didn't think you were serious about it. Another qualification is how well you will handle it. They will not give it to those who are unsure if they really want it or not. Or those who expect too much because they could end up feeling disappointed because it is not what they picture it (they expect their hearing to be perfect).

Another reason is how your ear is structured. And if you have any health problems that could put you in a risk.

But most likely, I think they wanted to see how you would do with digital hearing aids. I had both analog and digital, and they didn't really work out well for me. I don't know how your country works so I can't tell what is consider a candidate in your country, they may not want to pay extra for those who can do just fine with hearing aids rather they understand or not.

I haven't gone to any hospital for CI .. I just searched for it and found out that the criteria is 95 dbl loss in both ears.. so I didn't go for it for now.

What confuses me is that a CI may not work or may not offer good benefit to me.. perhaps I could get from a CI the same benefit of my current has.. one more thing is that new medical researches.. I hope they will discover a real cure in the near future .. ( meaning 10 to 15 years ) .. what if I cannot get a cure just because I have an implant in my ear when I want it , in the future ..

 

[highlands]

....they may not want to pay extra for those who can do just fine with hearing aids rather they understand or not.

probably, the insurance behaves reluctant for such 'expensive' medical aids.. I even had difficulty in getting my digitals.

 

[jag]

hearing people getting CIs? Or u meant to say hard of hearing people getting CIs? The reason I asked cuz I have seen some AD members posting about how they dont qualify for CIs since they arent profoundly deaf. I can be wrong ...just was curious. No biggie.

Anyways..good luck in getting your CIs!!

I was severely hearing impaired. I have a CI. The criteria is set by the gov. and insurance companies. While those using gov. insurance programs will not get an exemption if you have any other insurance it's very possible to get approved.

The CI is the best thing I ever did for me. I'm very thankful that I had drs. who listened to me and were willing to try for pre approval using my tests and reasons. I am no longer frustrated when trying to converse. Finally I can hear.


Everyone progresses only as fast as their brain can assimilate the new stimuli I progressed very rapidly which is not the 'norm' according to my drs. After about 10 months music is not longer making alot of extra noise when it's played, tho I'm not really sure if that's because my brain has adapted or because of the programming trials that I've been participating in.

 

[nightcrickets]

Other posters here have mentioned losing the ability to lip read as they don't use it anymore - like you'd lose any language if you don't use it. I don't think it happens to everybody - not everyone gets the same results - but it's a possibility.

When I did a research paper on cued speech for my school, I found out that hearing people can read lips alot better than deaf people. But deaf people use it more often so that's what make them good at it. A hearing person would be quick to read lips fluently if they ever decided to practice it. If you are hearing, you don't lose your ability to read lips. If you are deaf and don't use lipreading, you could lose your ability to read lips. I think Doctors know that you have to work extra hard to read lips so I don't think they will hold it against you. They probably would if you were HOH and can hear some sounds.

Miss Deaf America is profoundly deaf but she can read lips really good and she was a candidate for CI.
She became scared for her child's safety because after her experience with her was screaming for help. That's why she chose CI.

 

[Nemo]

I'm interested in CI but I'm going to to wait until the technology gets better and smaller

 

[ismi]

When I did a research paper on cued speech for my school, I found out that hearing people can read lips alot better than deaf people. But deaf people use it more often so that's what make them good at it. A hearing person would be quick to read lips fluently if they ever decided to practice it. If you are hearing, you don't lose your ability to read lips. If you are deaf and don't use lipreading, you could lose your ability to read lips. I think Doctors know that you have to work extra hard to read lips so I don't think they will hold it against you. They probably would if you were HOH and can hear some sounds.

A couple things here - one, the advantage that hearing people have over deaf in terms of lip reading is *just* in learning - that is, because spoken English is their native language, it's easier for them to learn another way of accessing he language. However, because we (deaf and hard of hearing people) often learn to lip read when we're very young, we learn easily; learning to lip read as an adult is very difficult. A lot of late deafened people, despite having every opportunity to practice, have a very hard time learning to read lips. It's not impossible, but it's a lot harder. When I took a class in cued speech, it was the cues that I had to work at; but my hearing classmates all struggled to get the lip reading.

The other thing is that people tend to lose the ability to read lips because they don't use it anymore. Nothing inherently to do with "becoming hearing" (which you don't - you're still deaf with a CI), just that listening becomes easier than lip reading, so you fall out of practice.

The last thing is that lip reading doesn't count against you in the eval process. The testing doesn't allow for lip reading at all. In fact, my surgeon thought my lip reading was a point in favor of implanting. Specifically, that the extent to which I depend on lip reading suggests that getting a cochlear would make it easier (and less tiring) for me to communicate with hearing people.

 

[shel90]

A couple things here - one, the advantage that hearing people have over deaf in terms of lip reading is *just* in learning - that is, because spoken English is their native language, it's easier for them to learn another way of accessing he language. However, because we (deaf and hard of hearing people) often learn to lip read when we're very young, we learn easily; learning to lip read as an adult is very difficult. A lot of late deafened people, despite having every opportunity to practice, have a very hard time learning to read lips. It's not impossible, but it's a lot harder. When I took a class in cued speech, it was the cues that I had to work at; but my hearing classmates all struggled to get the lip reading.

The other thing is that people tend to lose the ability to read lips because they don't use it anymore. Nothing inherently to do with "becoming hearing" (which you don't - you're still deaf with a CI), just that listening becomes easier than lip reading, so you fall out of practice.

The last thing is that lip reading doesn't count against you in the eval process. The testing doesn't allow for lip reading at all. In fact, my surgeon thought my lip reading was a point in favor of implanting. Specifically, that the extent to which I depend on lip reading suggests that getting a cochlear would make it easier (and less tiring) for me to communicate with hearing people.

I agree with u on many points except for the part about lipreading being easy to learn for deaf/hoh if we start young. The reason for disagreeing is my brother and I r both profoundly deaf bilaterally and we were put in an oral-only prgram since we got diagnosed with our deafness while we were infants. I was able to master this skill, my brother wasn't able to so he struggled a lot in his first 5 years trying to pick on the skills of liupreading and speaking in addition to picking of concepts. As a result, his language development was significantly delayed so after struggling in his kindergarten class in the public school that I attended, he was referred to the deaf school. After that, his language development just blossomed with ASL. Thank goodness for that or he wouldn't be where he is today, a college graduate going to his master's.

Lipreading is not easy. For me, it is still not easy cuz many of the words are mouthed in the same way but sound different so as a result, I mistunderstood people so often. Thank goodness I finally learned ASL 7 years ago and now life is easier for me cuz I don't have to lipread all day as I did before. Also ASL doesn't strain my eyes much as lipreading did. I used to get headaches so often at the end of the day when I was "oral" and since becoming involved in the deaf community and using ASL as my primary language, I rarely get headaches.

 

[highlands]

...

Lipreading is not easy. For me, it is still not easy cuz many of the words are mouthed in the same way but sound different so as a result, I mistunderstood people so often.
....

Same here, I strongly agree with you. I am hoh with hearing aids and use oral 'approach'... Lip reading makes me tired and frustrated even if I have to use it to 'fill in' the gaps and I can only understand a moderate percentage of words with lip reading.

 

[ismi]

I agree with u on many points except for the part about lipreading being easy to learn for deaf/hoh if we start young.

Sorry, I wasn't clear. You're absolutely right. I was thinking more along the lines of capturing that plastic window of language acquisition. It doesn't always happen, but sometimes it does. The distinction that I was trying to make here is that a hearing person's 'advantage' in lip reading is that they have the spoken language as a reference (not that they're hearing it when lip reading, necessarily, but as a mental reference). The advantage that we have is that many of us do hit that window where language acquisition is easier, because we have a reason to do so. Hearing people don't until they consciously think about it, which is generally when they're adults. You can teach an old dog new tricks; it's just harder.

And yeah, lip reading is tiring, but I'm speaking of the relative differences between hearing and dhh lip readers; they don't have any advantages over us in that regard.

 

[shel90]

Sorry, I wasn't clear. You're absolutely right. I was thinking more along the lines of capturing that plastic window of language acquisition. It doesn't always happen, but sometimes it does. The distinction that I was trying to make here is that a hearing person's 'advantage' in lip reading is that they have the spoken language as a reference (not that they're hearing it when lip reading, necessarily, but as a mental reference). The advantage that we have is that many of us do hit that window where language acquisition is easier, because we have a reason to do so. Hearing people don't until they consciously think about it, which is generally when they're adults. You can teach an old dog new tricks; it's just harder.

And yeah, lip reading is tiring, but I'm speaking of the relative differences between hearing and dhh lip readers; they don't have any advantages over us in that regard.

Ohhhh ok that makes sense! Thanks for clarifying that.

 

[deafskeptic]

I don't know if a CI will be right choice for me since I can hear many environmental sounds with my hearing aids but I can't get 'crispy' speech ..
I am confused and got frustrated a lot currently.. hearing world makes me tired.

I've always been able to hear a lot of enviromental sounds but audiologists are more interested in if we can understand speech. I hope that your country will relax it's citeria soon so you can become a candidate.

 

[sr171soars]

Hailstorm,

Like you and some others, I have always been HOH. About ten years or so prior to my CI (two years ago), my hearing starting to really go south. I was dithering over what to do and maybe try those digital HAs. I went to the center at UNC to do a battery of hearing tests to see if they (digitals) were the route to go. They stated that I was "legally deaf" at the time and given my rate of loss they didn't think I last even five more years. The center mentioned CIs and said they have really come a long way with them. I had never thought about it up to that point. One thing led to another and I finally decided to go ahead and get one. I still wanted to hear and I "belonged" in the hearing world.

Cochlear was having a clinical "trial" at the time and needed people to try the Freedom. I checked out the three companies and there products (Med-El, Advanced Bionics, and Cochlear) and decided to do the "trial" for several reasons. One was all the goodies I would get for participating (I have gotten enough batteries to last at least four years at the rate I'm going plus other stuff ). Of course, the more important reasons were things like the quality of the Freedom, the curving electrode, reliability and so on.

Was I nervous prior to my surgery? Yea, I was a little bit. My main concern was the facial nerve and possible paralysis plus whether it would be successful as there are no guarantees in life. So, I had the surgery in March of '05 and it lasted maybe three hours if that. At the time, I was 47 when I got my CI. I had more trouble waking up and getting going than anything else. Once I got home and some rest, I was in great shape with very little pain. I didn't work for about five days and waited 2 1/2 weeks for the hookup. The wait was the longest in my life as I never been without hearing since I was 3 years old.

The hookup was an adventure in of itself. I couldn't believe how loud the world could be. It about drove me crazy but I knew I would eventually adjust to it. I was one of those quick studies where I understood speech right away and I could identify many sounds. I was speaking/listening to my wife on the phone three days after the hookup. Heck the day of the hookup, I could understand her while she was on the cell phone (talking to our parents) while I was driving and not looking at her at all while I was driving the car from the center to a restaurant to celebrate. No, it wasn't perfect as I had to do some adjustments like learn to understand my young daughter and her higher pitched voice. That took about 2 1/2 days. Speech was the easier part as I had to adjust more to the environment sounds. It was the higher pitched sounds in general that I had to learn as I hadn't heard them for a long, long time if ever. The biggest killer were vehicles. I had no idea how loud they could be and it felt like my brain was being squished listening to them.

It was the best thing I had ever done and it has given my life back in the hearing world. Nary a regret...I can do so many things and the scariest part is that my lipreading skills have really diminished as I can focus on listening skills. I'm so thankful for getting a second chance at hearing again.

 

[Hondu]

Are you hard of hearing? Are you an adult? Did you
receive an CI as an adult? You hear most of your
life, and then slowly lose your hearing to the point
where you can't join in on group conversations, talk
with others like you do everyday, lip
read more, can't hear on the phone or cell phone
very well, and your hearing is just going downhill to
the point where you are mostly likely to become an
candidate for an CI? Please tell me your story...I
am exactly that person too. [/B]

I was born hearing and it lasted until I was 26. Worked out for me because I was able to complete college and start my professional career without the hardship of not being able to hear. But low and behold without prior announcement, my hearing started a progressive loss and it was my secretary at the time who suggested I get it checked. She told me I had started saying "huh, and what did you say" too many times. During that short period of time, I recalled that it was more difficult to understand women on the phone than men.

Anyway, I went to an audiologist who told me I did have a hearing loss. I could still do pretty well at the time only needing one aid but they both caught up with each other as time went on.

Since my job involved a lot of telephone communication, along with interviewing applicants, conferences, etc., the progressive loss took it toll and I could not continue my work. Luckily, I was fully vested and had disability insurance. By the way, I would recommend the latter for everybody who can get it through an employer or who can afford an individual policy. Doesn't matter that you may be young and in good health because one does not know what will happen in the future.

Back on topic, as the years went by, my hearing got to the point where I could not hear my kids calling my name and I had a hard time understanding them. Without hearing aids, I heard nothing. My kids used to asked me if I hear thunder as they had their fingers plugging their ears. Nada.
I could sleep in a hotel room with a train passing just outside and it would not bother me but certainly would have hearing guests complaining to the FRONT DESK.

I am now 52 and put off a cochlear implant for several years hoping the technology would improve and the surgeons would refine their skills. I was also fearful of facial nerve damage. But most of all, I have always had an aversion to any type of surgery. I don't like the sight of blood and never like hospitals.

The approval process for the CI was extremely quick and I am now listening with it for 2 whole weeks.

 

[deafdyke]

Shel, there are people out there who have progressive losses,(off top of my head about 20% of hoh kids will become deaf) or who may have recruitment..........or have poor speech perception.....i remember a girl who used to post here, who had a moderate loss, but no speech perception whatsoever!
Raykat, you got on the publicly funded list, and you just want to get away from speechreading? Do you just have a low "pure sound" speech threshold? You might want to see if a body worn aid could increase your speech perception.............
even most hearing people read lips. Its impossible to get rid of it totally.

 

[jasin]

Are you hard of hearing? Are you an adult? Did you
receive an CI as an adult? You hear most of your
life, and then slowly lose your hearing to the point
where you can't join in on group conversations, talk
with others like you do everyday, lip
read more, can't hear on the phone or cell phone
very well, and your hearing is just going downhill to
the point where you are mostly likely to become an
candidate for an CI? Please tell me your story...I
am exactly that person too.

I was born hoh, my mother had me when she
was only 6 months pregnant and I weighed only
2 1/2 pounds, so I was a preemie and thats what
they think is why my hearing did not progress.


I've grown up my whole life wearing to hearing aids,
no problem, lost hearing in my left ear, couldn't even
wear the aid anymore and now, since Jan, my right
ear hearing has gone downhill big time...it's so
frusterating! I'm so used to being able to hear..
Now, I am waiting to go to see a dr in Vancouver,
BC to see if I am a candidate for an implant.
Just wanting to hear your stories/experiences, please.
Thanks for reading!

Neecy, you can share yours here too...

I don't want one, no thanks!!!!! I will feel like an alien!!!!!!!!

 

[LuciaDisturbed]

I don't want one, no thanks!!!!! I will feel like an alien!!!!!!!!

I have a CI and I don't feel like an alien at all. Actually I feel the same as I always did before I got my CI. So, no need to react like that. :roll: