CI Moments

Ruminator said:
As a life-long HA user now seriously contemplating CI, I currently yearn for information from other CI users that compares sounds before, with HA, and sounds now, with CI. Such information has been challenging to unearth. As a matter of fact, this might make a good new topic in order to begin a new thread so that anyone who can describe HA-to-CI sound comparisons can do so.
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I used to be a HA user myself and the clarity is much greater with my CI.
 
Ruminator said:
As a life-long HA user now seriously contemplating CI, I currently yearn for information from other CI users that compares sounds before, with HA, and sounds now, with CI. Such information has been challenging to unearth. As a matter of fact, this might make a good new topic in order to begin a new thread so that anyone who can describe HA-to-CI sound comparisons can do so.
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I wore ha for 27 years and only CI since August. I would never go back to a HA again. The sound is clear, crisp, and not painful. Its an all around sound. I could hear with my hearing aids, but I missed parts. With my CIs, I'm picking up the high tones that I was missing with my HA. I also understand speech better and hear myself speak so I can adjust my pitch and clarity.

CI is a personal choice and research all you can. Check out the three companies because each one has pros and cons. I picked mine based on the rechargable batteries and music program. Good luck and any questions, just ask us.
 
That sounds wonderful! In this case, I really get the gift you gave him. I hope that I can so the same for my son. By CI's or ASL alone. It gives me hope. ~ Jennifer
 
Ruminator said:
As a life-long HA user now seriously contemplating CI, I currently yearn for information from other CI users that compares sounds before, with HA, and sounds now, with CI. Such information has been challenging to unearth. As a matter of fact, this might make a good new topic in order to begin a new thread so that anyone who can describe HA-to-CI sound comparisons can do so.
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As someone who was also a lifetime hearing aid wearer, the CI for me wins hands down. However, I waited until I had a sudden decrease in hearing before I went the CI route. I was concerned about the risk of losing my residual hearing before that. How well are you currently hearing with the hearing aid?
 
R2D2 said:
As someone who was also a lifetime hearing aid wearer, the CI for me wins hands down. However, I waited until I had a sudden decrease in hearing before I went the CI route. I was concerned about the risk of losing my residual hearing before that. How well are you currently hearing with the hearing aid?
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I did experience that sudden decrease -- it happened August 23, 2007. When I was tested in September, word recognition scored 4%, so obviously, it would seem that I would have a LOT to gain from a CI. However, my hearing seems to have rebounded slightly since that hearing test, and the quality of sounds is not quite so atrocious now, so I've been a little less desperate.

That does not mean I'm still putting off the CI decision. On the contrary, I've come to the conclusion very recently that I'm definitely getting it. I've already checked with the local Virginia Mason to see if this can happen around February 28 or 29, and am currently awaiting a response.

The excitement begins...
 
Yes, I understand why you would want to proceed even though your hearing has recovered a little. If you have suffered a sudden loss, there is a reasonable chance that you will suffer another one at some point in the future, since powerful hearing aids put pressure on the already existing damaged hair nerves. Make sure you protect your ears from loud noises and continuous listening effort in the meantime to minimize this pressure.

Good luck with your CI journey next year! If you once got good results with hearing aids then the chances are you that you will do well with the CI, since the skills you learned are transferable.
 
Ruminator said:
I did experience that sudden decrease -- it happened August 23, 2007. When I was tested in September, word recognition scored 4%, so obviously, it would seem that I would have a LOT to gain from a CI. However, my hearing seems to have rebounded slightly since that hearing test, and the quality of sounds is not quite so atrocious now, so I've been a little less desperate.

That does not mean I'm still putting off the CI decision. On the contrary, I've come to the conclusion very recently that I'm definitely getting it. I've already checked with the local Virginia Mason to see if this can happen around February 28 or 29, and am currently awaiting a response.

The excitement begins...
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I've worn hearing aids all my life as well, and when I practically went deaf in a matter of house in Feb 22, 2007, my hearing came back in fluctuations but never recovered to its prior state. I have 28% comprehension with my HA but I got my CI in left ear which I have not worn a HA in for 15 years blown away my HA side with 44% comprehension. The CI is amazing compared the muffle and dullness of the hearing aid. I'm considering getting the other ear done next year!
 
Sorry for the late reply, been busy with preparing for Christmas, then going thru the two days of being busy Christmas eve & Christmas Day. We had such a nice Christmas, especially me, with it being my first Christmas as a CI'er. :)

Like some of the others, I had been a lifelong HA user in both ears until all that trouble I had with tinnitus & veritgo prevented me from wearing my right hearing aid, and is the reason why I am now a CI'er. For me, even having just 1 CI for now, it beats both of my HA's for sure! I hear so much better. I hear details in music like I've not been able to do, I can pick up more of the convos & songs without having to ask someone to repeat it or read the lyrics. There's just so many more things I can hear with the CI that I couldn't do as well with HA's. The only thing now is trying to be able to use the phone again, I used to be a phone user until I stopped when I was 18, and that was because of pagers, computers, etc so I slacked on the phone. Heh. My problem is that I'm still confused & not really sure on how to be able to try learning how to use the phone again with my CI. As of now, we brought a cord to go with my direct connect, but my husband, who is hearing, couldn't hear me at all, said something about needing a cord with a microphone to go with the direct connect to use whenever I'm on the phone with people? Argh. I'm sooooo confused. I guess this is something I'll have to discuss with my AUdi when I see her on Jan 3rd. :)

Anyways, good luck on deciding wheter CI is something you want to get or not. Personally, for me, it was one of the bestest decision I've ever made fo rmyself. =)
 
I had a CI moment today. Today I was in the kitchen with my parents and I was able to understand most of the news if not all the news when I watched the news about Bhutto. Accents are still hard for me to understand. My mother thought I meant they talked too fast. I said no, I meant accent as in how people speak English. For some reason my parents are always correcting my English even when I'm using the words correctly. Voiceovers are also harder for me to follow even with my CI. Even with my success today, I plan to get a HDTV with a decoder for captions one day.

Oh yeah. My parents are the last people I'd consult about turning on captions. They don't understand why even though both tvs are on the same cable, captions will show up on only one tv. I told them you have to turn on both decoders for captions to show up on both tvs. That's why there were no captions on the TV I was watching. I don't know if the HDTV has a built in decoder or not but I'm going to find out on my own. It's my understanding you have to buy some special eq for captions on HDTV. I'm not consulting my parents on this one. LOL.
 
I am just so glad to get through the holiday season. I have been running crazy the whole month of December. We celebrate Hannukah and Christmas, so that means I am wrapping gifts for a month. It seemed I had CI moments daily. I had the joy of listening and enjoying Christmas music and singing on the top of my lungs. It was so much easier at the mall or walmarts listening to the cashier and when asking questions. I never realized how much the cashiers talk so much before.

The most interesting moment was at our Winter Celebration dinner at School. Our school secretary's son was in a terrible car accident is in rehab for spinal injuries. We created a video to send to the family. I was able to pick up most of the music and comments. Of course it made a world of differences because I did not have to experience it second hand. I laughed and cried at the appropriate moments. During the dinner, I enjoyed conversations with people, I gave up talking to years ago. I was able to have dinner conversation and not just sit there.

And of course hearing my Jen, yell when she got her High School Musical Chad doll brought tears to my eyes(the doll was sold out and my best friend found the last one at target.com). Her comment - My barbies are going to be so excited! (My baby only 9 and interested in boys)
 
vallee said:
I am just so glad to get through the holiday season. I have been running crazy the whole month of December. We celebrate Hannukah and Christmas, so that means I am wrapping gifts for a month. It seemed I had CI moments daily. I had the joy of listening and enjoying Christmas music and singing on the top of my lungs. It was so much easier at the mall or walmarts listening to the cashier and when asking questions. I never realized how much the cashiers talk so much before.

The most interesting moment was at our Winter Celebration dinner at School. Our school secretary's son was in a terrible car accident is in rehab for spinal injuries. We created a video to send to the family. I was able to pick up most of the music and comments. Of course it made a world of differences because I did not have to experience it second hand. I laughed and cried at the appropriate moments. During the dinner, I enjoyed conversations with people, I gave up talking to years ago. I was able to have dinner conversation and not just sit there.

And of course hearing my Jen, yell when she got her High School Musical Chad doll brought tears to my eyes(the doll was sold out and my best friend found the last one at target.com). Her comment - My barbies are going to be so excited! (My baby only 9 and interested in boys)
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That's really awesome!
 
Heya, I'm curious about the CI, Ive been wearing my HA since I was a kid. I was wondering about how improved the CI. Can you able to hear the S, SH, F, CH, sounds as well? I can't hear that sound with my HA. Can you understand the people talking on a radio? People talking behide from you?
 
edtide25 said:
Heya, I'm curious about the CI, Ive been wearing my HA since I was a kid. I was wondering about how improved the CI. Can you able to hear the S, SH, F, CH, sounds as well? I can't hear that sound with my HA. Can you understand the people talking on a radio? People talking behide from you?
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When I got activated I could hear all of the above sounds though it took me a while to learn the F sound and I had a difficult time at first with telling apart L and M sounds.

I'm able to understand speakers on the radio anywhere to 50% to 90%. Not all speakers are easy to understand.

Today I found out I still have difficulty understanding very rapid speakers when some clerk spoke rapidly to me about her stress on the job and other stuff and I just nodded in the right places. It wouldn't surprise me if some hearing have trouble understanding her.
 
Interesting.. thanks for the info. I might sign up for the appointment for the audiologist for CI sound testing and see how it goes.
 
Heard something I did not know made a sound today - the sound when the camera takes a picture. My sis said it sounds like a click sound. So I have been taking pics all day today just to hear that sound.
 
deafmama78 said:
The only thing now is trying to be able to use the phone again, I used to be a phone user until I stopped when I was 18, and that was because of pagers, computers, etc so I slacked on the phone. Heh. My problem is that I'm still confused & not really sure on how to be able to try learning how to use the phone again with my CI.
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Hi Deafmama,

If I remember correctly, you have the Freedom, right? For the landline phone, I have a hearing aid compatible phone, then turn my CI to telecoil the mode program and off I go.

I also have a cellphone on the 3G network (not sure if you have 3rd generation cellphones in US?) and find that the sound quality is even better than the landline. I also got a bluetooth neckloop, on which I can adjust the volume, which means I can use my cellphone handfree and receive speech to both ears since I am bilateral.
 
deafskeptic said:
I had a CI moment today. Today I was in the kitchen with my parents and I was able to understand most of the news if not all the news when I watched the news about Bhutto. Accents are still hard for me to understand.
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Great that you could follow so much of the news! By accents are you referring to Pakistani accents? That accent is very hard to follow even for hearing people.
 
vallee said:
I am just so glad to get through the holiday season. I have been running crazy the whole month of December.
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I'm glad that you've had a great month full of enjoyable CI moments. I swear that next year I'm going to be good and get all my gifts in July rather than leave it to the last moment as usual!
 
R2D2 said:
Great that you could follow so much of the news! By accents are you referring to Pakistani accents? That accent is very hard to follow even for hearing people.
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Yes.

Some accents are easier to understand than others. I can understand people with Mexican, Southern (I'm one myself.), British and Belgian (I knew someone with a Belgian accent years ago) accents. Indian accents are the worst for me.

Oh yeah. The news used to be the hardest for me to follow on TV without captions. I never thought I'd be able to understand the news with no captions.
 
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