CI Rehab and expectations

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LadkaCI

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Hello all,

I recently got my CI and still getting used to "using" it properly. I have a few questions, first some background on myself.

I have been profoundly deaf from the age of 4 yrs and have used writing (I can't speech read well), voicing, and Sign Language to communicate. I speak well and can understand speech with some difficulty and facial/body language clues.

Now my questions:
1. I can't seem to hear Bass sounds properly. I used to be able to hear loud bass music and now I can hear the voices and background piano-like music but not the bass beats itself. Does having a CI mean bass can't be heard?

2. I get audio Rehab twice a week and use hearingjourney.com for auditory training. Is there any other sources with transcript and/or word tracking that I can use to practice my auditory listening skills?

3. I am not quite sure what to expect with my implant at this stage. I hear paper noises pretty loudly and if I reduce the sensitivity I seem to be unable to hear other sounds as well. I am not sure if hearing people hear it the same way and I have to get used to it or if it can be managed by fine-tuning the mapping itself.

4. I guess I am confused as to what stage I should be in, what I should hear, and how I should progress and so forth. A lot of "shoulds" there but thats where I am now.

Hope someone can give some targeted feedback.

Thanks!
 
Now my questions:
1. I can't seem to hear Bass sounds properly. I used to be able to hear loud bass music and now I can hear the voices and background piano-like music but not the bass beats itself. Does having a CI mean bass can't be heard?

Depending on how recent you got the CI. You have been deaf for a long time like me (I was actually born profoundly deaf and got the CI a few months ago at the age of 26). If you got the CI within several months ago, you probably are still getting overstimulated by the high frequencies which overpowers the low frequencies. You may have never heard the high frequencies before, so you're more sensitive to those sounds. This definitely does NOT mean CI can't give you bass sounds. If you got the CI more than several months ago, you may need an adjustment to your MAP.

2. I get audio Rehab twice a week and use hearingjourney.com for auditory training. Is there any other sources with transcript and/or word tracking that I can use to practice my auditory listening skills?

If you live with someone or have a friend/family member who you see daily, see if you can ask him/her to say words or common sentences (closed set) on a daily basis. When you do well, increase the closed set of words/sentences.

3. I am not quite sure what to expect with my implant at this stage. I hear paper noises pretty loudly and if I reduce the sensitivity I seem to be unable to hear other sounds as well. I am not sure if hearing people hear it the same way and I have to get used to it or if it can be managed by fine-tuning the mapping itself.

Like I said before, it depends on how long you've had the CI. The first stage is getting used to the sounds. The first few months, paper noises were SO loud to me, but eventually I got used to them (they are still pretty loud though, but not as bad as before.)

4. I guess I am confused as to what stage I should be in, what I should hear, and how I should progress and so forth. A lot of "shoulds" there but thats where I am now.

There are definitely no standards in terms of progression. Generally, the longer you've been deaf, the longer the progression. It could take years. Don't worry about the goal of "I must understand speech.", just focus on smaller goals that are easier to attain. For example, I got a CD with animal soundtracks and my goal was to recognize the sound of each animal. Took me a few weeks but now I know which sound is which. I also had a goal of discriminating "s" and "sh" sounds, and now I easily can tell which is which. All of those goals adds up to the ultimate goal of speech discrimination.
 
First concentrate on enjoying new environmental sounds, many of which you never heard before. Train your brain to get used too all those new sounds. Speech reception will then improve too.

As for bass sounds, this depends on how deep your CI electrode(s) were implanted in your cochlea. Ive read that CIs sometimes don't aid a person below 125Hz to 250Hz. Some people with significent low frequency residual hearing were given shorter electrodes in order to hopefully preserve that portion of their hearing. If you got lucky and preserved most or all of your residual hearing in the CI ear, you have the option to alternate between CI and HAs depending on what you want to hear. You might still be able to hear low frequencies in the contralateral(non-implanted ear) as well. Hope this helps.
 
I have bilateral CIs and although I'm able to hear 250 Hz at 10 dB, I can't hear bass.
 
LadkaCI said:
I can't seem to hear Bass sounds properly. I used to be able to hear loud bass music and now I can hear the voices and background piano-like music but not the bass beats itself. Does having a CI mean bass can't be heard?
Click to expand...
Some lower frequencies cannot be heard with a CI. So far as I can remember, my own map starts at around 137 Hz, and some lower sounds, such as the humming of the fridge, are not heard. However, these sounds can be amplified very well with a hearing aid.

If you have enough usable hearing in your non-implanted ear, you can try wearing CI and HA together. This works exceptionally well for me, providing excellent speech clarity (from CI) and "acoustic" quality of sound (from HA).
 
LadkaCI said:
Now my questions:
1. I can't seem to hear Bass sounds properly. I used to be able to hear loud bass music and now I can hear the voices and background piano-like music but not the bass beats itself. Does having a CI mean bass can't be heard?

Your brain and ears are hearing all the high frequencies that you never heard before, so it sounds overpowering the bass sounds. It does take time, and then eventually you'll start to hear the bass sounds equalized to the high frequencies. Most deaf people LOVE bass sounds...because they can HEAR it and FEEL it. If they never heard high frequencies, it will be overpowering. For me, it took about 3 to 4 months to finally start be able to hear the much lower sounds when my brain/ears got used to the highs.

2. I get audio Rehab twice a week and use hearingjourney.com for auditory training. Is there any other sources with transcript and/or word tracking that I can use to practice my auditory listening skills? There's a lot available for you on the web. It depends on what you need to improve on. I found listening to my music, audiotapes, watching YouTube helps me quite a bit. Try watching your favorite DVD, but closing your eyes a little. See if you can pick up words here and there without looking at the CC. Two months post-activation is a little "young", but you'll be surprised at how well you can do.

3. I am not quite sure what to expect with my implant at this stage. I hear paper noises pretty loudly and if I reduce the sensitivity I seem to be unable to hear other sounds as well. I am not sure if hearing people hear it the same way and I have to get used to it or if it can be managed by fine-tuning the mapping itself.

Hearing people do hear it the same way, but since they grew up hearing, they have learned to filter it out or drone it out. We haven't. It does take time to ignore that. If you feel that it's *still* overpowering, you may need to get a new MAP to decrease the high frequencies. That should help reduce those type of noises that most of us find annoying. I know I do. It doesn't take one or two maps to be happy...it takes a lot. For both of my CI, I had a total of 42 different maps (mind you, I have 4 programs, so one program equals to one map) within a year.

4. I guess I am confused as to what stage I should be in, what I should hear, and how I should progress and so forth. A lot of "shoulds" there but thats where I am now.

you're at the learning stage right now. Your audiologist should have discussed on how CI works and how long it takes and the process.

Hope someone can give some targeted feedback.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Do NOT switch your CI to HA and back and forth. It will impede your ability to listen. (This is from DeafDude1's post). For some people, bimodal (ci in one ear and ha in the other), works well, but one ear may overpower the other. I know when I tried my HA in my non-implanted ear after I had my left ear implanted, it sounded SO distorted and waaaay too bassy. This was the reason why I wanted the second one done. I can't "hear" with just one ear. I need to have both.

Take your time, there will be some days you'll be frustrated, others you will be just so impressed and surprised on what you're hearing.

I wish you luck!
 
deafdude1 said:
First concentrate on enjoying new environmental sounds, many of which you never heard before. Train your brain to get used too all those new sounds. Speech reception will then improve too.

As for bass sounds, this depends on how deep your CI electrode(s) were implanted in your cochlea. Ive read that CIs sometimes don't aid a person below 125Hz to 250Hz. Some people with significent low frequency residual hearing were given shorter electrodes in order to hopefully preserve that portion of their hearing. If you got lucky and preserved most or all of your residual hearing in the CI ear, you have the option to alternate between CI and HAs depending on what you want to hear. You might still be able to hear low frequencies in the contralateral(non-implanted ear) as well. Hope this helps.
Click to expand...

While it is true on how deep the CI electrodes are placed, but i think sometimes it's physically too difficult to really reach the apex of the cochlea. This is why my surgeon takes her time to insert the electrodes. It took her 4 to 5 hours to do one ear. At the same time, my residual hearing is exactly the same pre-implant. Some surgeons just do it so fast that it can destroy the very fragile hairs, and residual hearing. Hence why those surgeons can complete the surgery in 2 to 3 hours. I can hear 125 hz just fine...at the 10db line. The bass sounded better once I got the high frequencies lowered.

As for "alternating between CI and HAs"....that's a :nono: Do anyone really want to keep switching between CI and HA? No. That's what the mapping is for. Like Hear Again said somewhere, that the majority of the speech is in the higher frequencies. Male voices can reach the lows. Listen to "Chocolate Rain" on YouTube...this guy's voice is VERY deep...
 
If I was concerned about getting the deepest bass from a implant I would look at the Med-El implant since it has the longest array available. Here is the web page that that explains this better.

Complete Cochlear Coverage

But since in my case the Med-El is not available for insurance coverage under my plan. However since my cochlea is small and the cochlear implant array was able to reach the deeper bass areas in my case. I adjust the hearing aid on the other ear to match better with the implant. I cut some of the highs and some of the lows and a bit lower volume not to overpower the implant.
 
Just hang there, it will get better. Lady, Hear again and Daredevel had given good advices.

I am also "young" at hearing, I have been profoundly deaf since birth and implanted at 30. nearly 8 months on.... i still need tweaking... and is still learning sounds.

Audiobooks is another rehab you could practice listen to.. Get unabridaged... Start with kids books.... OK...

Happy listening.. Welcome to world of sounds
 
Thanks all for the help and reassurance!

I recently to a new city and all my friends use American Sign Language. So, the only way to practice at present is through tv or audiobooks.

The ESL site seems very tough but I am able to follow along with the transcript, so lets see in a few days..

Thanks again!
 
LadkaCI,

Check out Abbie's blog: CHRONICLES OF A BIONIC WOMAN. on the right side look for "listening practice". She has a long list of auditory resources.

My activation date was 01/08/09, just a few days before yours.

Last week I was finally able to hear the TV and could match up the voices to the captions. I also wondered where I "should" be at this stage because things are moving very slow compared to the late-deafened adults who finish their one year's volume increases in a matter of days and are talking on the phone within eight weeks.

I do my auditory therapy every night for an hour with the Clix programs downloaded from the Listening Room link you gave in your post.
 
Almyra said:
I do my auditory therapy every night for an hour with the Clix programs downloaded from the Listening Room link you gave in your post.
Click to expand...

I wanted to ask you how this was going. Do you see yourself progressing through all the 10-20-etc. lbs levels? I am working with Clix too but I must admit that I do it more like 20 minutes once or twice a week. Maybe your progression will boast my motivation? :)
 
i need to help for rehabition I need surgeon on Canada Surgeon on cochlear implant. I let know help you make sure know deep discuss for cochlear implant. I need to approve on cochlear implant...
 
I find it critical to record my scores on a blank calendar to track my progress. When I think I do poorly one night, scoring 72, I see on the calendar that I am holding steady. Level 1 I zipped through fairly quickly, three days, but Level 2 took me five days to break away from 50%. I got mad and left it for two days. When I returned, I scored 70% for the next few days and then I made steady gains to the 90%. That took 3 weeks.
I am seeing the same progress with Level 3.

I don't have friends patient enough to do therapy and my co-workers are busy. If my parents were closer, I would use them more than twice a month. They love helping with therapy - it is certainly a big pay-off for them after all those times working my speech and writing skills.

My point is - the Clix and audiobooks are my only resources and they are necessary for me to make gains. It seems right now that I need mappings to help me advance to the next level. I suspect it is more a matter of timing as my brain is slow catching on to hearing sounds.

Word of warning regarding the Clix program (I prefer the kids to the adults version, BTW)...some of the sounds start with a introductory nonsensical sound. It is quite madding when you are learning sounds - how are you supposed to rule that out? I have reported this problem to the website and I am learning to hear the "ehhhhh" digital sound at the start to ignore it and listen to the word itself.
 
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