for CI users ... a question :)

[SpiceHD]

i asked lucia recently abt if she likes the quietness while her CI was on...cuz i know i HATE it when i used CI and theres no noises to hear. however i dont mind so much when i take CI off. She agreed with me she also hates it when she wear CI and theres nothing but quiet. this made me wonder... is this common among CI users too as well? and perhaps hearing aids users too?

 

[deafdyke]

Hearing aid user here...........I like the silence when I have my hearing aids off, but when there's amplified silence, it just sounds weird.

 

[ismi]

I'm an HA user (for the moment, anyway, hehe). The 'silence' with my aids on and off is different - even if I can't consciously hear anything, there's just a background 'feeling' of noise when I have the aids on (this is different from what I'd normally call background noise - I'm not talking about fans or AC noises or anything like that). Sometimes it makes me feel more isolated when I have my aids off or out because I don't have that 'feeling'; other times, it's very relaxing to get rid of *all* of it. Neither way "bothers" me, per se, but I prefer them at different times.

My deafness is progressive, btw - I wonder if that might make a difference.

 

[R2D2]

i asked lucia recently abt if she likes the quietness while her CI was on...cuz i know i HATE it when i used CI and theres no noises to hear. however i dont mind so much when i take CI off. She agreed with me she also hates it when she wear CI and theres nothing but quiet. this made me wonder... is this common among CI users too as well? and perhaps hearing aids users too?

I can't say that I find the same thing! Interesting! What bothers you specifically about the quiet when your CI is on?

 

[SpiceHD]

the fact that the quietness wasnt the silentness. its hard to explain. with no CI all i heard was pure silent... no sounds at all. but when i wore CI i can hear almost like static in background. at first i thought it was something that made noises and it took me longest time to figure out that its actually was the quiet that i actually "heard". strange and this is best i can explain.

 

[R2D2]

the fact that the quietness wasnt the silentness. its hard to explain. with no CI all i heard was pure silent... no sounds at all. but when i wore CI i can hear almost like static in background. at first i thought it was something that made noises and it took me longest time to figure out that its actually was the quiet that i actually "heard". strange and this is best i can explain.

Oh right okay. Yes when I was first activated I did have static in the backgroun for maybe two months but it has now disappeared and I can't actually pinpoint when it happened! You may find that this will occur for you too as you continue to increase your dynamic range with every map.

 

[SpiceHD]

i had that since i was 9 yrs old but now that im much more mature and knows what to do and has better understanding... maybe maps this time will be better.

 

[Boult]

the fact that the quietness wasnt the silentness. its hard to explain. with no CI all i heard was pure silent... no sounds at all. but when i wore CI i can hear almost like static in background. at first i thought it was something that made noises and it took me longest time to figure out that its actually was the quiet that i actually "heard". strange and this is best i can explain.

FYI: Hearing people hear this kind of quietness too...

for example previous model by AB does not have this such feature till HiResolution came out.. a person using HiRes will hear constant "hum" when everything is quiet. the purpose of this is to keep cochlea active. because hearing person constantly hear quiet noise because hearing person's cochlea is constantly firing or something like that... I'll post something what I posted on my forum back in 2002.

Swiped from bhNEWS (Better Hearing NEWS) if you don't know where that is... it is at: bhNEWS : News for the HOH and Deaf

========

Hi Gang! bhNEWS member Kim Browen sent this story to bh NEWS.

Even if some remember the originl post on bhNEWS, copy of the same is
worthy. BTW: Kim is a long-time member of bhNEWS, and of Advanced
Bionics, the maker of the Clarion CI implant.

Thanks Kim!

The article, now:


Static: The New Hearing Aid By Patrick Di Justo

Story location: Wired News: Static: The New Hearing Aid

02:00 AM Jun. 24, 2002 PT

NEW YORK -- For the deaf to hear more clearly, it may be necessary to turn up the static.

This strategy is counterintuitive, according to Dr. Jay Rubinstein, associate professor of otology at the University of Iowa.

Speaking at the conference of the American Society for Artificial Internal Organs, Rubinstein described a way to insert non- informational random noise into the audio signal of cochlear implants. The implants are electronic devices inserted into the inner ear of deaf people to stimulate the auditory nerve.

This noise, instead of degrading the signal, actually increases the perceived dynamic range, allowing the deaf to hear softer sounds.

In a typical cochlear implant, an external microphone, looking much like a standard hearing aid, picks up sound waves and converts them into patterns the brain can understand.

It then broadcasts these patterns through the skull via short-range RF to the implant, which triggers the auditory nerve to produce the sensation of hearing.

Currently, cochlear implant users can understand spoken words in a quiet setting, but find it difficult to follow conversations in noisy environments. Close to 70,000 people, some less than 1 year old, have been fitted for the devices worldwide.

The original conversion algorithms for cochlear implants, developed in the 1970s, assumed that the auditory nerve always fired the same way in response to the same sound. Early implants stimulated the neurons to produce standardized, and therefore synchronized, responses to external sounds.

Since they were conveying the same information at the same time, at least half the neuron's signals were redundant, creating a perceived sound with a narrow frequency bandwidth, a narrow dynamic range and a lack of timbre.

In a hearing person, the auditory neurons are not synchronized with each other.

"Even in a quiet room," he explains, "the auditory nerve (of a hearing person) is still firing at random, which explains why a quiet room is never totally quiet." This low-level noise, created by the ear itself, keeps the auditory neurons out of sync, and prevents the nerve signals from interfering with each other.

Beginning in 1984 with a handful of Fortran and Matlab DSP programs and occasional access to a Cray supercomputer, Rubinstein went to work making the neural impulses produced by a cochlear implant more like those produced by a working ear.

Working now with a cluster of five Macintosh G4s ("Which together are faster than the Cray," he laughs), still programming in Fortran, he has found the right way to adequately mimic the stochastic firing of a normal auditory nerve.

Last year Rubinstein reprogrammed the speech conversion processor in an Advanced Bionics Clarion cochlear implant to add the correct random factor to each audio signal.

This increased noise makes the neural pattern more natural, and results in a lower sound threshold, allowing patients to detect subtler sounds. Human testing of the new software began in June 2001 with 30 patients.

Rubinstein hopes to improve the system to the point where deaf patients can hear and enjoy music. "Currently," he says, "people with cochlear implants can't tell the difference between a guitar and a piano playing the same note."

Rubinstein hopes to have FDA approval for his new system in the next three to six months.

(DSP technology is one of many factors that I went with AB)

 

[SpiceHD]

ah very interesting! thanks boult i never knew abt that!

 

[LuciaDisturbed]

FYI: Hearing people hear this kind of quietness too...

for example previous model by AB does not have this such feature till HiResolution came out.. a person using HiRes will hear constant "hum" when everything is quiet. the purpose of this is to keep cochlea active. because hearing person constantly hear quiet noise because hearing person's cochlea is constantly firing or something like that... I'll post something what I posted on my forum back in 2002.



(DSP technology is one of many factors that I went with AB)

Very interesting! I didn't know that! Thanks, Boult!

 

[FeistyChick]

i asked lucia recently abt if she likes the quietness while her CI was on...cuz i know i HATE it when i used CI and theres no noises to hear. however i dont mind so much when i take CI off. She agreed with me she also hates it when she wear CI and theres nothing but quiet. this made me wonder... is this common among CI users too as well? and perhaps hearing aids users too?

i am not sure what you mean... but lately i have been hearing sounds that are "faint"... like for instance.. i used to be able to hear clapping, rubbing hands, etc... but i couldn't anymore even though there were loud noises around me... i was so frustrated that i asked to see the audi today to be reprogrammed (i wasn't reprogrammed on monday when i went in for an appt)... she turned off the "filter" .. the audi explained that it is because my hearing level is changing and my brain is "learning" ... the brain is like a "baby" learning as he/she grows... that's the concept with hearing/listening... (sigh)

another thing that DRIIIIIVEEEEESSSSSSSSS me crazy.... is whenever i turn off the CI.... i still hear sounds... as if they are "echoing" in my head/brain... sheesh... and i am like did i hear this or that??? the audi said it is because the brain remembers the sounds... sometimes i feel like i am losing it and it is all in my head!

DO ANY OF THESE EVER HAPPEN TO ANY OF YOU CI USERS???

 

[SpiceHD]

another thing that DRIIIIIVEEEEESSSSSSSSS me crazy.... is whenever i turn off the CI.... i still hear sounds... as if they are "echoing" in my head/brain... sheesh... and i am like did i hear this or that??? the audi said it is because the brain remembers the sounds... sometimes i feel like i am losing it and it is all in my head!

DO ANY OF THESE EVER HAPPEN TO ANY OF YOU CI USERS???

YES! happens to me all the time when i was very active user with CI and i notice it now since i got CI yesterday... its weird... for example when i saw a guy scream and i was not using CI that time... i "heard" his scream but no other noises or anything. also when i saw a dog bark... same thing i "heard" its bark but i knew i did not hear it at all. How do i know is by the way i "heard" it. if i wore CI when i heard a dog bark... it was much more sharper and i could tell it was from my CI. however when i "heard" the bark without CI it was more like remembering it without me being aware of it.

often during sleeping i would wake up thinking i heard something but its just sounds my brain remembers often triggered by some type of dream. so yes i know exactly what u mean!

however it happened very rarely now cuz i did not wear CI for 3 to 4 yrs (cant tell u exactly the length i have been without it) but in beginning it did happen.. i heard sounds in my head and i did not have CI on. i know i will have that again after a month or so from now cuz i will now wear CI everyday as much as i can. (first week will be difficult for me because i will get headaches and stuff like that so i will have a lot of breaks) anyway...

i assure u.. its normal. in time ull learn to "tune" it out

 

[FeistyChick]

YES! happens to me all the time when i was very active user with CI and i notice it now since i got CI yesterday... its weird... for example when i saw a guy scream and i was not using CI that time... i "heard" his scream but no other noises or anything. also when i saw a dog bark... same thing i "heard" its bark but i knew i did not hear it at all. How do i know is by the way i "heard" it. if i wore CI when i heard a dog bark... it was much more sharper and i could tell it was from my CI. however when i "heard" the bark without CI it was more like remembering it without me being aware of it. >>> JUST EXACTLY WHAT I AM EXPERIENCING!!! i thought it was in MY HEAD... whew!!!

often during sleeping i would wake up thinking i heard something but its just sounds my brain remembers often triggered by some type of dream. so yes i know exactly what u mean! >>> it hasn't happened to me yet??? maybe you are "sleepwalking" JUST KIDDING!!!

however it happened very rarely now cuz i did not wear CI for 3 to 4 yrs (cant tell u exactly the length i have been without it) but in beginning it did happen.. i heard sounds in my head and i did not have CI on. i know i will have that again after a month or so from now cuz i will now wear CI everyday as much as i can. (first week will be difficult for me because i will get headaches and stuff like that so i will have a lot of breaks) anyway...

i assure u.. its normal. in time ull learn to "tune" it out

THANK YOU!!! WHEW!!!

i thought "it" was me!!!
i FEEL so much better now, thanks to YOU!!!

 

[SpiceHD]

THANK YOU!!! WHEW!!!

i thought "it" was me!!!
i FEEL so much better now, thanks to YOU!!!

*chuckles* no worries... it IS normal but i do see where ur coming from. those stuff can easily make u think u were insane but nah its not.

as for sleeping.. i think its just cuz i got insomia now so often im super sensistive to things including "hearing" sounds.

 

[sr171soars]

i asked lucia recently abt if she likes the quietness while her CI was on...cuz i know i HATE it when i used CI and theres no noises to hear. however i dont mind so much when i take CI off. She agreed with me she also hates it when she wear CI and theres nothing but quiet. this made me wonder... is this common among CI users too as well? and perhaps hearing aids users too?

Er...nope, it doesn't bother me a bit.

 

[sr171soars]

....

another thing that DRIIIIIVEEEEESSSSSSSSS me crazy.... is whenever i turn off the CI.... i still hear sounds... as if they are "echoing" in my head/brain... sheesh... and i am like did i hear this or that??? the audi said it is because the brain remembers the sounds... sometimes i feel like i am losing it and it is all in my head!

DO ANY OF THESE EVER HAPPEN TO ANY OF YOU CI USERS???

No, we normal folks don't have problems like that Sorry I couldn't resist.

When I power down, I will hear what I call "feedback" of my cochlea not getting any input (for a minute or two) and then dead silence (no tinnitus either).

 

[FeistyChick]

*chuckles* no worries... it IS normal but i do see where ur coming from. those stuff can easily make u think u were insane but nah its not.

as for sleeping.. i think its just cuz i got insomia now so often im super sensistive to things including "hearing" sounds.

yea...
THANK GAWD i don't have to be institutionalized for insanity!!!

 

[FeistyChick]

No, we normal folks don't have problems like that Sorry I couldn't resist.

When I power down, I will hear what I call "feedback" of my cochlea not getting any input (for a minute or two) and then dead silence (no tinnitus either).

TRYING TO RUB IT IN??? :P
i guess that explains what i am experiencing... but for a long period of time though... i thought i was going insane ... and i also wondered if it was a sign that i was becoming "HEARING!"???

 

[AussieGal]

Hearing aids user here .. if there is silence i cant stand it coz i hate the quiet and i get this strange echoooing noise whether it is me or my mind going insane !!!
I rather hear sounds coz if i dont it drives me bonkers !!!
My partner says deaf have great advantage i said how's so .. coz they dont have to hear the damn dog barking at night or neighbours yelling (when drunk) ROFL but for me i rather hear the dog barking and yelling at night time that's sucks !!!
I feel sorry for hearing sometimes but deaf do have some ways to get out of it

 

[FeistyChick]

Hearing aids user here .. if there is silence i cant stand it coz i hate the quiet and i get this strange echoooing noise whether it is me or my mind going insane !!!
I rather hear sounds coz if i dont it drives me bonkers !!!My partner says deaf have great advantage i said how's so .. coz they dont have to hear the damn dog barking at night or neighbours yelling (when drunk) ROFL but for me i rather hear the dog barking and yelling at night time that's sucks !!!
I feel sorry for hearing sometimes but deaf do have some ways to get out of it >>> it is true!!! i told my mummy, nunya..."i can turn of my processor at any time if the noises get to me... you are stuck with the noises!!!" she gives me the

i can relate!!!