Coclear implant question

BLONDI53

BLONDI53

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Ok this may sound weird or whatever,but just want yalls opinion. I have done a lot of research, reading about the implant and different results,i have read that the chances are better of hearing clearer and faster if your were born hearing and can speak,and know sounds and all,than the ones that are born deaf,didnt learn speech or sounds,does anyone know or have experience with this,or in same situation?
 
I got mine in Jan & was activated in mid Feb. I tested at 67% word recognition late March.
I'm late deafened. Wore hearing aid in this ear for 18-1/2 years. Sentence recognition in quiet was only about 4% with HA when I was evaluated for the CI. I'm now hearing better with my CI than with my other ear with it's HA.

I'm sure having worn a HA in this ear for all those years even as it worsened helped as it kept the brain stimulated on that side.
 
LoveBlue said:
I got mine in Jan & was activated in mid Feb. I tested at 67% word recognition late March.
I'm late deafened. Wore hearing aid in this ear for 18-1/2 years. Sentence recognition in quiet was only about 4% with HA when I was evaluated for the CI. I'm now hearing better with my CI than with my other ear with it's HA.

I'm sure having worn a HA in this ear for all those years even as it worsened helped as it kept the brain stimulated on that side.
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Oh that sounds promising! I have worn ha in both ears most of my life,now they just dont work well at all,im about 5% speech recognition in both ears,will get the implant in my left and continue to wear ha in right,i pray i do as well as you that would be so wonderful!
 
BLONDI53 said:
Oh that sounds promising! I have worn ha in both ears most of my life,now they just dont work well at all,im about 5% speech recognition in both ears,will get the implant in my left and continue to wear ha in right,i pray i do as well as you that would be so wonderful!
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Well, brain plasticity is a moving target but in an analogy, after my cervical spinal cord injury I did learn some control of most of my muscles. Coordination requires conscious thought, which is less effective than the ease of unconscious control others learn from a lifetime of movement, but it still works.

I know many older people get CIs and if it were not effective most of the time, this would not be the standard. Hope is a very powerful tool in changing what the brain can do. Forget about being afraid you might not do well. The best strategy I know is to be confident and hopeful without being attached to a defined outcome. Your hearing comprehension will get better- better and better. Just enjoy each stage of improvement. We cannot know how far that will go. Even after 5 or 10 years there will be subtle improvements in your ability to communicate and appreciate sounds.
 
Tetracyclone said:
Well, brain plasticity is a moving target but in an analogy, after my cervical spinal cord injury I did learn some control of most of my muscles. Coordination requires conscious thought, which is less effective than the ease of unconscious control others learn from a lifetime of movement, but it still works.

I know many older people get CIs and if it were not effective most of the time, this would not be the standard. Hope is a very powerful tool in changing what the brain can do. Forget about being afraid you might not do well. The best strategy I know is to be confident and hopeful without being attached to a defined outcome. Your hearing comprehension will get better- better and better. Just enjoy each stage of improvement. We cannot know how far that will go. Even after 5 or 10 years there will be subtle improvements in your ability to communicate and appreciate sounds.
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Oh yes,i am very hopefull for a good outcome,i guess it is so very very important to me to be able to hear again,to hear my grandchildren and understand what they are saying to me,and to hear in conversations and be able to actually take part, hopefully hear even some of the sounds that i no longer hear and havent for some time now. I guess i just want things to turn out the way i would like it too and so afraid that it wont,guess i have been let down in so many ways in my life,im always waiting for the worst to happen!
 
It does help if you have an understand of sounds and language, and if you have worn hearing aids to keep the nerves working.

I have a friend who was born deaf (premie), but because she (and her twin bro) wore hearing aids all her life and trained herself to understand what she is hearing, I have no doubt she'll do very well with an implant (which she will be getting sometime next month). Her twin bro has implants and he is far beyond happy with them, being able to hear again after hearing aids were useless for him for years and he and his wife would text back and forth just to communicate. To go from texting 24/7 to actually communicating with speech with his own family.

I was born hearing but went deaf at age 2. I didn't always keep a hearing aid in my left ear (my dead ear, 100% deaf for about 25 years before implanting) and I am understanding some speech with the CI on my left ear, more than my CI audie ever thought I would. It's a brain thing, the brain will figure stuff out.
 
cdmeggers said:
It does help if you have an understand of sounds and language, and if you have worn hearing aids to keep the nerves working.

I have a friend who was born deaf (premie), but because she (and her twin bro) wore hearing aids all her life and trained herself to understand what she is hearing, I have no doubt she'll do very well with an implant (which she will be getting sometime next month). Her twin bro has implants and he is far beyond happy with them, being able to hear again after hearing aids were useless for him for years and he and his wife would text back and forth just to communicate. To go from texting 24/7 to actually communicating with speech with his own family.

I was born hearing but went deaf at age 2. I didn't always keep a hearing aid in my left ear (my dead ear, 100% deaf for about 25 years before implanting) and I am understanding some speech with the CI on my left ear, more than my CI audie ever thought I would. It's a brain thing, the brain will figure stuff out.
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Wow,im so very happy for the twins! My hearing got much much worse in the last 10 yrs or so,so yes i did grow up hearing ok not great, but ok,so from what ur saying my chances of hearing and understanding after the implant will be pretty good!!! That sounds pretty awesome for you also with loosing hearing so young,you have given me so much hope,thank you!! Yes i know all about the texting that is pretty much how i communicate myself,i text everyone and thats it,no phone calls
 
BLONDI53 said:
Wow,im so very happy for the twins! My hearing got much much worse in the last 10 yrs or so,so yes i did grow up hearing ok not great, but ok,so from what ur saying my chances of hearing and understanding after the implant will be pretty good!!! That sounds pretty awesome for you also with loosing hearing so young,you have given me so much hope,thank you!! Yes i know all about the texting that is pretty much how i communicate myself,i text everyone and thats it,no phone calls
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Progressive loss folks do have a huge advantage with being very good users of the CI. There's no guarentees, but yes chances are good you'll get a lot of use out of it.
 
deafdyke said:
Progressive loss folks do have a huge advantage with being very good users of the CI. There's no guarentees, but yes chances are good you'll get a lot of use out of it.
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Oh i do hope so very much,you have given me hope that this will work out ok then!! Thanks!!
 
BLONDI53 said:
Ok this may sound weird or whatever,but just want yalls opinion. I have done a lot of research, reading about the implant and different results,i have read that the chances are better of hearing clearer and faster if your were born hearing and can speak,and know sounds and all,than the ones that are born deaf,didnt learn speech or sounds,does anyone know or have experience with this,or in same situation?
Click to expand...
I grew up wearing a single hearing aid from the age of 3 until the age of 48. My "other" ear was unaidable. At age 48, i got a CI in my aided ear with excellent results. At age 49, I got a CI in my "other" ear, with a different kind of result - I can hear things in that ear for the first time, although I'm not (on it's own) able to understand speech with it. I'm continuing to rehab that ear. Even if I never am able to understand speech with that ear alone, it still adds so much to my hearing (no "head shadow" effect, much better sounding music, etc) that I consider it a resounding success.
 
Hey,so your saying the ear that you couldnt wear ha in was totally deaf before ci correct? Your other ear that you wore ha in and then got the ci did good,well that sounds promising! I would absolutly love to hear and enjoy music once again,it has been so many yrs since i have been able to do that! Thanks for sharing with me!
 
BLONDI53 said:
Hey,so your saying the ear that you couldnt wear ha in was totally deaf before ci correct? Your other ear that you wore ha in and then got the ci did good,well that sounds promising! I would absolutly love to hear and enjoy music once again,it has been so many yrs since i have been able to do that! Thanks for sharing with me!
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The ear I didn't wear a HA in wasn't completely deaf, but it was considered unaidable.
 
I suffered very quick progressive hearing loss due to Meneire's disease brought on by a severe concussion suffered in an auto collision. The concussion was in 2000 and the hearing loss began about six months later. Eighteen months after I began wearing hearing aids and progressed to the strongest available over the next 10 years. I had my first CI in 2015 (would have been earlier but other health issues prevented any surgery) and went bilateral in 2016. Before my hearing loss began I had excellent hearing, I was a professional musician with perfect pitch, those abilities are gone. But I began my rehab with very good voice recognition and now have tested at 98% in the controlled environment of the booth. Add a little background noise and VR goes way down. I could understand words reasonably well immediately when I was activated. My audiologist attributed that to my previous hearing ability and said that my brain had a good "memory" of hearing. I am mostly functional in day to day situations. Understand that there is a risk of failure with any surgical procedure but if you heard before your chances of success are good. With me it was be completely deaf or get the implants, it was a no brainer for me.
 
TF1 said:
I suffered very quick progressive hearing loss due to Meneire's disease brought on by a severe concussion suffered in an auto collision. The concussion was in 2000 and the hearing loss began about six months later. Eighteen months after I began wearing hearing aids and progressed to the strongest available over the next 10 years. I had my first CI in 2015 (would have been earlier but other health issues prevented any surgery) and went bilateral in 2016. Before my hearing loss began I had excellent hearing, I was a professional musician with perfect pitch, those abilities are gone. But I began my rehab with very good voice recognition and now have tested at 98% in the controlled environment of the booth. Add a little background noise and VR goes way down. I could understand words reasonably well immediately when I was activated. My audiologist attributed that to my previous hearing ability and said that my brain had a good "memory" of hearing. I am mostly functional in day to day situations. Understand that there is a risk of failure with any surgical procedure but if you heard before your chances of success are good. With me it was be completely deaf or get the implants, it was a no brainer for me.
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That sounds wonderful! Yes its a no brainer for me also, i want to hear again! I had my surgery on the 9th,its pretty uncomfortable to say the least,i stay pretty dopey with the pain meds and sleep a lot. My ear is ringing something fearce at the moment,that is rather anoying! Im not very good with not being able to do much cause im pretty hyper,but will not risk messing anything up! Thanjs for your awesome story,im so glad things have gone so well for you,i sure hope it does for me as well!! Thanks for shareing with me!!
 
Well today I went for my 2 weeks check up,the doc said everything looked good! Its still a little tender but thats about it, i havent slept on that side yet though,i tried the orher night, it wasnt happening yet,guess i will try again soon!! No more ringing ear, no more stopped up ear,feeling almost back to normal!! My doc still wont let me go outside and get hot and sweaty,not for another week anyway,i think its the worst part for me!! Getting so excited and can hardly wait for my activation date!!!
 
BLONDI53 said:
Well today I went for my 2 weeks check up,the doc said everything looked good! Its still a little tender but thats about it, i havent slept on that side yet though,i tried the orher night, it wasnt happening yet,guess i will try again soon!! No more ringing ear, no more stopped up ear,feeling almost back to normal!! My doc still wont let me go outside and get hot and sweaty,not for another week anyway,i think its the worst part for me!! Getting so excited and can hardly wait for my activation date!!!
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:dance::dance2::h5:
 
BLONDI53 said:
Well today I went for my 2 weeks check up,the doc said everything looked good! Its still a little tender but thats about it, i havent slept on that side yet though,i tried the orher night, it wasnt happening yet,guess i will try again soon!! No more ringing ear, no more stopped up ear,feeling almost back to normal!! My doc still wont let me go outside and get hot and sweaty,not for another week anyway,i think its the worst part for me!! Getting so excited and can hardly wait for my activation date!!!
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I sort of feel excited as well. :)
I look forward to learning from you.
 
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