rushabh

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.

Deafness

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VamPyroX

That's one con about getting CIs. When a person has never heard anything in his/her entire life, hearing sounds at an older age becomes extremely difficult to comprehend when it's never been experienced. However, when one hears sounds at birth, it is all absorbed in the brain and it eventually becomes part of the spoken language when that person speaks. I was born hearing and became deaf around the age of 1. Because of that, I was able to hear what everything REALLY sounds like... that's why I'm able to speak orally for myself. With hearing aids, I'm still able to hear well... which is why I don't feel the need for CIs. I'm satisfied with what I have.

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rushabh

Glad your hearing aid works for you. But I would like to hear from people with CIs who have 100% hearing loss meaning that they cannot hear AT ALL, even behind a jet engine at zillions decibles and even with ANY hearing aid. Thanks.

gnarlydorkette

Hmph, I do know a guy who is 23 years old right now and he did recieve a CI at age hmmph shoot, i may be wrong but around age of 15. He is a Deafie, (graduated from CSDR, and everything so he is like the perfect example of captial Deaf) but for some reason he got a CI and carried it for decade- oh dear me, it could be 12 yrs old when he got it... anyway, but my point is this- now he is not EVEN using CI. I recollected that he said that it never really helps him understanding the hearing people more because he relies on his lipreading skills MORE than his partial hearing skills. Like i said, he did work with CI for 10 years and I think he had been deaf since toddler since he was putting in a deaf program in preschool and thru that to highschool so [shrug] i dont know if he would feel comfortable to come online and talk about this because I know him as this secluded person when it comes to CI issues. :-X hope this help? I know he is TOTALLY deaf but [shrug] again, I don't know him THAT well but .. i can ask his girlfriend about his CI for you [winks winks] i am more close to the gal than him even tho i know him longer than her... ahh THAT IS ANOTHER STORY! heetee. so lemme know if you do want me to try to prode around him

ideafspy

I have a friend who been deaf for whole life until late 30's. He got cochlear implant in December 2002 or Janurany 2003. Not sure, I met him at Dallas where the deaf coffee attractive for deaf event. Umm, he been talking about that he start learn reading lip until he got used with different sounds. He start to understand a little time by time without reading lip. However, the important is you need to give up your fun time or anything to willing and learn the new sounds. It require to attend speech therepy or anything that you are willing to practice. The hearing aids are different than the cochlear implant able to.. due depend on your cochlear hair cells are reaponding but for cochlear implant attach the cochlear for more feature advance than the hearing aids. It might be headache for once a while due never heard the sounds that bugs you! The theory you just says are depend on our brain processing of patterns. Its just need practice like you are 1 years old again. So.. just be patient and learn more if you are "willing".

For myself, I have hearing aids near for my life until I shudder hear the fade sounds than before. I couldn't hear the phone rang, or my family was calling my name. I used to able understand on the phone but not anymore. So the cochlear implant is my hope; however, the cochlear implant able help me. I might heard the new sounds than what the hearing aids. For example, I will able to hear crickle (grass hopper) makes noise during the night.

Sorry for off the point about myself

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deafdyke

Not nessarly......even over at Hearing Exchange they admit that sucess varies tremendously with CI. There are some superstars with CIs, who can hear quite a bit with them without lipreading, but it's a fact that results are all across the board. (and I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the superstars were simply the result of very expensive private therapy. Not everyone can afford expensive private therapy) It sounds like you've done pretty well with CI, from having absolutly zero perception of sounds, to hearing 50%. That's not that bad! Even a lot of hearing people read lips!
*tries to think* That is kind of odd that you haven't done wicked well with CI, as from what I understand the best results have been seen with people who have lost their hearing. (especially those who lost their hearing post/perilingally) Maybe your results were b/c you were totally deaf....who knows? Just keep in mind that results vary tremendously!

Boult

you may want to check this CI journal at http://www.jasoncurry.com/ he was profound deaf and never heard a sound in his life. hearing aid didn't help him. he has gone thru "mickey mouse ear" routine (headphone at school) didn't help him.. so he don't know what it sounds like exactly. check it out.

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rushabh

Thanks for pointing me to Jason Curry's website. Here is an interesting quote from his October 12 journal:

This is a different situation for me who has never heard a single sound before compared to someone who has heard before. The people who were born profoundly deaf need to understand that we will not be able to understand what people are saying right away because the sound memory bank in our brains are empty to begin with. You will understand all the environmental sounds right away but it is the speech recognition that is the most complicated. We have to start from scratch like a baby being born. We have to have a lot of patience before we can reach that level. Reaching that level of speech recognition will take us a long time.

OK, it seems that Mr. Curry agrees with my theory that it may have something to do with developing brain patterns associated with speech sounds. It seems that it will take a LOT Of practice but it MAY be possible to understand people through hearing only, without any speechreading.

What I would like to know is if there are any people with the same profound deafness as mine and Mr. Curry's that have reached the goal of understanding speech through 100% listening via the Cochlear Implant?

To be frank, I don't think I have the time for the intensive speech therapy required to understand speech through CI hearing only (assuming this is possible) since I already spend so much time with work. But I might change my mind if someone can show me that all the effort will yield the desired results, notwithstanding ideafsy's credible statement that it is a crapshoot and that the results may vary quite widely. Thanks for the information.

VamPyroX

The reason why it's harder and difficult for older people to understand sounds is because their brains have stop forming or developing in some way. When growing up at a very young age, the brain is constantly developing and forming into that future brain. When it matures, it slows down and nearly stops. Yes, it still develops after constant learning... but overall, the task is difficult.

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deafdyke

As I said before, it's a crapshoot. I think there might be some totaly deaf(hearing aids don't help) folks who have gotten really good results, with CI, but it's hard to say why one person does really well, and another person does OK but not as good as the next person. The implanted population is so diverse, (eg etoilogy, causes, age of onset etc) and is also relatively small so it's really hard to do research on why someone is more sucessful then someone else. I remember a while back someone posted a study at *********, about CIs. The study was out of a major medical center, but only had about 80 cases (if I remember right)

CatoCooper13

I reckon the other factor in doing well with a C.I. -- it's the age individuals got the implant. For example, my husband's son who is 16 now. He's deaf and has had a C.I. for 14 years...since he was 2.5 years old. He's doing very well with comphrending spoken words and sentences while he's not looking at the speaking person. He'd get about like...80 to 90%, I reckon. He still has trouble understanding words coming from the TV and his reading skills aren't up to par -- has often asked me what was said in the subtitles/captions if he didn't catch the spoken part.

As for me...I'm 32 and I've had a C.I. since April 2000. Before I attained the C.I. - I was able to understand like..maybe 30% of spoken words without looking(with use of hearing aids), but increased when lipreading was used, up to about 70%. Once I had the C.I. - my listening skills was tested and I practised with my audiologist in developing my listening skills along with usage of a C.I.
Without looking and using C.I. - my listening comphrency levels rose from 30% to 45-50% and with lipreading -- it rose to 65-70%. So, it does help me in a way and makes conversations a bit easier for me and for others as well.

I just believe that age is also a factor for success of using a C.I. -- I know it's still a controversy about having kids under 2 years old to be implanted with a C.I. It really depends on the family and so forth.

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rushabh

I don't know why this is a controversy but if I was 2 years old with a TOTAL hearing loss (totally 100%, not 70% or 60% or whatever), a CI would definitely have been a life-changing event. . . . after all, I had nothing left to lose (pun intended).

deafdyke

I think maybe another important factor might be cause of hearing loss....Like some people who became deaf due to mengintinas might do better then some people who became deaf due to birth trama or being administered ototoxic drugs or whatever.
It would be interesting to see if there are any differences in how well a person does with a CI due to cause of hearing loss.
The controversy is b/c a lot of Deaf people automatically associate hearing technology with going the Oral-only route. I know many Deaf are a little more comfortable with CIs if a bilingal route is followed.
I know many are OK with totally deaf or kids who don't really get too much help from hearing aids being implanted.

deafdyke

Vampy, Kinda O/T but I'm glad to see that there's someone else here who shares my theory that the majority of prelingal oral deaf sucesses have to do with infant memory. In the cases where the child went deaf past their first birthday or even sooner, the brain has had time to learn how to process sound like a hearing person. Kids like that have an advantage over even kids like me who are only HOH (but have been HOH since birth or in my case since conception) b/c their brain knows how to process sound like a hearing person's brain...sorry if I'm not making any sense or rambeling on....I'm very tired.

stuntchic

WOW, Boult....thanks so much for directing me to that site - amazing story, and a truly inspiring guy.

Interesting points about the C.I.s though isnt it - he has the same reaction to the sound as I do, it can be very noisy and tiring, I just so understand that feeling.

But, it is amazing how he can hear all those sounds...

I tried to email him, but the email address bounces, I guess its old. He hasnt updated his journal entries since something like Oct 2000.

Oh well - I woulda loved to have heard how he is going now. Well, we do know he is a motivational speaker on the Public Speaking Circuit anyway.

Good luck to him!

Tousi

Assuming everything else is in place, I get the distinct impression that trying different mapping strategies, newer software, etc along with beaucoup practice is key to success.....just my penny's worth here.

Kalista

I would love to hear of his side of story. I wish, he could give a presentation to the audience to let know the Parents of the Deaf children that cochlear implant does not work for him.

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stuntchic

I notice from some of your other threads, sabrina, that you are fairly anti-cochlear.

I can understand your dislike of them, since they are an effort to push the Deaf person towards a hearing world. However, like the guy from the website, Jason Curry, i think he is pushing the boundaries for Deaf People - he is an example of how a deaf person can have all the best attributes of deafness - the signing skills, the lip reading, the understanding of other deaf people - but he also straddles the hearing world, therefore bringing a greater understanding to those that have the use of their ears....

I would love one day for Sign language to be a universal language that people learn as requirement at all schools, not just deaf schools, and for us Deaf People to be able to find a place in the hearing world. C.I's are good if you have no more hearing to loose. You can only do better if you try it.

i dont know if that makes sense, I just think that for some people it is a good thing, and of course, for others perhaps not.

Anyway, have a read of this - there are heaps more links on this site re cochlear implants, all very interesting.

Sidebar - Cochlear Implants and Deaf Culture

When George Garcia received his cochlear implant (see main story in link below), he was immediately ostracized by his deaf friends, who seemed to regard his decision to have the implant surgery as a kind of personal repudiation. Their reaction was not unique. There is strong opposition to cochlear implants in the deaf community, a fact that many people in the hearing world find surprising.

Many members of the deaf community are content with their unique culture and do not regard deafness as a disorder to be cured. Within the deaf community, particular scorn is reserved for the practice of placing cochlear implants in young children.


http://www.beyonddiscovery.org/conte...page.asp?I=261

SpiceHD

well i have CI too myself but was pretty young when i recieved it.. 9 years old.. but still i do not remember what sounds are like and etc... however.. i do believe we can learn how to understand and be able to understand without needing to use eyes.. because i know someone who has been using this audio thing and it took her only two years before she was able to talk on the phone with little plm and she was deaf for all of her life... but you gotta really practice and training daily. ya know?

and it wont be possible unless u truly want to learn..

deafdyke

Actually, very few people can hear 100% speech through listening alone. Even very sucessful users of the CI hear at mild loss levels. I know that a lot of the hype may make it seem like everyone's a good CI user, but a lot of the really really amazing results are from people who benifited somewhat from amplification. Even with the new CIs a lot of kids are still having to be put into TC classes or have to learn Sign.

Boult

stunchic,

yeah I conversed with him few time via email last year or two (can't remember) I have asked him about his website.. he told me he's been very busy with his activity so no time to update his. same thing for my weblog regarding my ci hasn't been updated since lately...

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lilredridinhood

I h a t eeeeee my CI! I'm in kinda the same boat-turned deaf when I was 4, prooofoundly deaf, can't hear 1 shit, anyway I got the CI, yes it helped a little bit but if I'm not facing the person I cldnt hear them, I cldnt make out the difference between a males voice or a females, a childs or an adults, so I just stopped using it altogether. I rely mostly on lipreading anyway so psh

TiaraPrincess

Hi lilredridinghood. I was wondering how long did you wear it before you gave up? Yeah, there are some people that have this problem and need to give it 6 months to 1 year to get used to this. Also, they have found that therapy can help tremendously. Usually once a week therapy and homework at home at least 30 minutes to 1 hour with someone can add to the success.

I don't have this problem with female or male voice, but I want to say that if you want the best out of your CI you have to commit to at least 30 minutes to one hour daily or 3 times per week in some kind of auditory therapy. Going to therapy alone will help to a point, but it will reach a plateau if you don't do your homework at home because aural therapy is really a guide so that you can do them at home with someone who will be willing to dedicate at least 3 times per week or daily 30 to 1 hour of aural exercises that they give you. I believe many people have the time to do this but they are too lazy. It's the same to any goal you want to make, such as losing weight, meditating daily, etc. It's the same concept, but you have to commit and it's not like you need to take up 5 hours of your time at all. How many of us would rather watch tv than do this? Or watches too much tv and you could give that up or sacrifice this time for aural practice? There's something we can give up without it being hurtful to yourself. I think that many of the CI people who don't do this don't see the actual result it will give them eventually. Some do not even know that they are making progress. They want to know that it will happen (get better) 100 percent for sure before they commit. So many of us want to lose weight, give up watching tv all the time, talk to friends after midnight, spend more time with your children, take time out to talk with your teenage kids, etc., etc. It's the same concept of committment reach a goal. Anyway this is a message to anyone who want to seek understanding why it's tough and some cannot make progress based on just having the CI on up to 8 hours daily and doing your business. Your hearing part of the brain have to be exercise until it understands what it is hearing. It's similar to training to be a better basketball player, improve at math with several of the same problems, etc. If you want to speak a foreign language and have conversations, you can't learn that in just going to class, you have to use it outside of home and talk to people talking the native language to become fluent. Same concept.

Here's a resource place to start for teeagers and adults if you want.

http://www.auditoryverbaltraining.com/websites.htm

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