I got my cochlear implant in 1998 when I was about 23. Before that, I was totally deaf since I was 4 and could not hear anything at all and can't remember what it is like to hear.
If there are other adults like me who got a cochlear implant while they are adults and who have 100% hearing loss AND have no memory of hearing, I have the following question.
I can "hear" sounds and depend about 50% on the CI and 50% on speechreading to understand people. I am unable to rely on CI 100% to understand anyone. So if I cannot see the person's face, I can't understand the person. The question is, will I ever be able to understand speech with my eyes closed? Do any one of you have the ability to understand speech with eyes closed? If so, how did you achieve this? What does it take to achieve this?
I think the problem is that I have no memory of hearing and thus I don't have the brain patterns necessary to interpret the "sounds" coming through the CI. Is this theory correct?
Thanks in advance for the info.
If there are other adults like me who got a cochlear implant while they are adults and who have 100% hearing loss AND have no memory of hearing, I have the following question.
I can "hear" sounds and depend about 50% on the CI and 50% on speechreading to understand people. I am unable to rely on CI 100% to understand anyone. So if I cannot see the person's face, I can't understand the person. The question is, will I ever be able to understand speech with my eyes closed? Do any one of you have the ability to understand speech with eyes closed? If so, how did you achieve this? What does it take to achieve this?
I think the problem is that I have no memory of hearing and thus I don't have the brain patterns necessary to interpret the "sounds" coming through the CI. Is this theory correct?
Thanks in advance for the info.