CI sound quality compared to hearing-aid days

Ruminator

Ruminator

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A sound quality question for CI users:

Do things sound more "basic" or "simplified" with an implant as compared to the way they were previously experienced as a hard-of-hearing individual with a hearing-aid?

Or, do CIs truly allow for sound perception that is deep, multi-layered, and rich in quality?

Has a CI ever seemed like a "downgrade" in any respect from what a hearing-aid used to offer back in some of your better days as a hearing-aid user?

The reason I ask these questions is because a large number of implant users seem to marvel at relatively basic sounds, such as the flicking of a light switch, footsteps, assorted beeps from appliances and electronics, and water dripping or emanating from a tap. Please don't be offended - I know all sounds are amazing -- but I just don't seem to recall seeing many reports from CI users that detail the intricate and complex quality of sounds. I do realize, of course, that sound quality can sometimes be challenging to describe in words.

Before my hearing started to decline then drop abruptly last August, the sound quality of a lot of things as a profoundly HoH hearing-aid user seemed deep, multi-layered, and rich.

Perhaps this assumption is actually terribly disillusioned.

- Steve

Surgery date: Feb. 29, 2008 (wow you've go to be kidding!)
Activation date: Mar. 10, 2008
Advanced Bionics
Ruminator's Ruminatings
 
I wear a HA in my left ear and a CI in my right. As I was activated just 7 weeks ago, I can't tell you what CI'ers who've worn theirs for months experience. I can definitely tell a difference in what I'm hearing. Quality isn't so important to me at these early stages, it's all about the volume and how my sensitive brain reacts to it.
It's getting better though...
If I was given a chance to reverse my CI, I would never take it. I love my CI and am so excited to see where I am going to go with it.
 
Ruminator said:
A sound quality question for CI users:

Do things sound more "basic" or "simplified" with an implant as compared to the way they were previously experienced as a hard-of-hearing individual with a hearing-aid?

Or, do CIs truly allow for sound perception that is deep, multi-layered, and rich in quality?

Has a CI ever seemed like a "downgrade" in any respect from what a hearing-aid used to offer back in some of your better days as a hearing-aid user?

The reason I ask these questions is because a large number of implant users seem to marvel at relatively basic sounds, such as the flicking of a light switch, footsteps, assorted beeps from appliances and electronics, and water dripping or emanating from a tap. Please don't be offended - I know all sounds are amazing -- but I just don't seem to recall seeing many reports from CI users that detail the intricate and complex quality of sounds. I do realize, of course, that sound quality can sometimes be challenging to describe in words.

Before my hearing started to decline then drop abruptly last August, the sound quality of a lot of things as a profoundly HoH hearing-aid user seemed deep, multi-layered, and rich.

Perhaps this assumption is actually terribly disillusioned.
Click to expand...

Hmm...Well, hearing aids is just an amplification device.

I was recently activated, and I can tell you that there's a LOT of high frequency sounds that I heard with CI, and never before with HA. I trained my ears very well with HA, and have very good auditory memory. However, when the high frequency sounds exists, it's like, "whoa!". Many deafies who got CI, they probably never heard of a light flick, even with their HA. I have. So when I hear it from the CI, it's not a big deal. SkullChick finds the toilet flushing a horrible sound. To me, it sounds the same as I wore my HA, so it was not a big deal to me. A friend who got her CI, never heard a vacuum before her CI. It varies from person to person.

I can tell you that things will sound very weird, and perhaps crappy at first. Anyone here will tell you that the more you train yourself to sounds, music, etc, the better you will be and you *will* notice the rich, multi-layered, deep sounds. Just do not expect it to happen on first day. After three weeks of hearing stuff, music was starting to sound better for me. On first day, I hated the sounds of my favorite songs, so I waited a few days until my brain adjusts itself.

To answer your question of whether it sounds "basic"...although I've only been activated for 20 days..it's definitely a LOT better, and I do not think it's basic.
 
oh CI is so much better in clarity for speech I was surprised at how much clearer it sound compared to hearing aid with basic crude map. hearing aid dont provide enough difference in tone to recognize what people are saying without lipreading for me and today I heard my fiance calling my name in different room thats major for me because with hearing aid I wouldnt even know he was calling my name at all. theres a lot of little details that add all up and that make big difference in sound quality for me. i'm so happy i went ahead for CI, huge difference and huge improvement as well.
good luck!
 
LadySekhmet said:
Hmm...Well, hearing aids is just an amplification device.

I was recently activated, and I can tell you that there's a LOT of high frequency sounds that I heard with CI, and never before with HA. I trained my ears very well with HA, and have very good auditory memory. However, when the high frequency sounds exists, it's like, "whoa!". Many deafies who got CI, they probably never heard of a light flick, even with their HA. I have. So when I hear it from the CI, it's not a big deal. SkullChick finds the toilet flushing a horrible sound. To me, it sounds the same as I wore my HA, so it was not a big deal to me. A friend who got her CI, never heard a vacuum before her CI. It varies from person to person.

I can tell you that things will sound very weird, and perhaps crappy at first. Anyone here will tell you that the more you train yourself to sounds, music, etc, the better you will be and you *will* notice the rich, multi-layered, deep sounds. Just do not expect it to happen on first day. After three weeks of hearing stuff, music was starting to sound better for me. On first day, I hated the sounds of my favorite songs, so I waited a few days until my brain adjusts itself.

To answer your question of whether it sounds "basic"...although I've only been activated for 20 days..it's definitely a LOT better, and I do not think it's basic.
Click to expand...


Well speaking for myself, I've always been able to hear the light switch even in my HA days and I have poor auditory memory as I'm a visual thinker. I do remember that I was able to hear certain speech sounds like the constant s for the first time when I got activated. I remember when I heard music for the first time, it depressed me because it sounded like static. 2 weeks later, I missed a turn because I was so happy to be able to listen to music without that awful ringing in my ear. The toilet sounded much worse with my ha than with my CI. The sounds are a lot clearer with my CI than with my HA. I did have to relearn a lot of sounds as things sounded differently than they did with my ha.
 
I was activated 6 months ago. I would say the sound quality is rich and crisp. I am trying to think of words to describe it, the only word that comes to mind is complete. CIs give a complete sound. There is not the filtering out of sound, you get a it all - the toliet, the clicking, the a/c heater, and just the whole sound.

*s - e-mail is down, I am fixing it and will e-mail you back*
 
Hi Ruminator,

Most of the sounds that I hear with my CI, I used to be able to hear with my hearing aid before I lost my residual hearing. The exception being quiet sounds like the sound of a bird's wings flapping in take off, which I can now hear and being able to use the phone.

Anyway, even with those sounds there is a clear difference for me with the CI. The sounds are closer rather than being "louder". So, instead of hearing the microwave beeping only in the kitchen as before, I can now hear it from other rooms in the house. Same with the sound of the kettle boiling.

Speech is also richer and more distinct. It seems less hard work to understand people and there is less need for me to be looking at the other person's face. I'm not saying this would be true for everyone, but it's certainly true in my case.

I don't think you would get the same differences if you had a mild/moderate hearing loss with the hearing aids because there is less distortion when the hearing is amplified and so what you hear would sound more natural. But in terms of profound deafness, there is no competition for me, the CI winds hands down in terms of quality.
 
All of your response are very helpful - thanks.

I think one of the things that sometimes causes me to be less than fully certain I'm doing the right thing getting a CI is the fact I often do well communicating with certain people. However, I suppose I need to remind myself that this success is most likely a result of the fact I am an expert lip-reader; and in conjunction with lip-reading, I frequently employ context and guesswork. So while it seems that I "hear" well with some people some of the time, I'm actually relying on factors other than hearing. But, I am still able to hear certain people's voices well enough that the auditory information I get seems to go a long way in helping me understand most of the words.

I also need to remind myself that during the word-recognition test a couple weeks ago, I pretty much didn't understand diddly.

I used to depend on lip-reading and auditory information about 50-50. I guess nowadays it's probably more like 75-25, respectively.

I'm doing the right thing... I'm doing the right thing... I'm doing the right thing...

Surgery date: Feb. 29, 2008 (whoa!)
Activation date: Mar. 10, 2008
Advanced Bionics
Ruminator's Ruminatings
 
Ruminator said:
All of your response are very helpful - thanks.

I think one of the things that sometimes causes me to be less than fully certain I'm doing the right thing getting a CI is the fact I often do well communicating with certain people. However, I suppose I need to remind myself that this success is most likely a result of the fact I am an expert lip-reader; and in conjunction with lip-reading, I frequently employ context and guesswork. So while it seems that I "hear" well with some people some of the time, I'm actually relying on factors other than hearing. But, I am still able to hear certain people's voices well enough that the auditory information I get seems to go a long way in helping me understand most of the words.

I also need to remind myself that during the word-recognition test a couple weeks ago, I pretty much didn't understand diddly.

I used to depend on lip-reading and auditory information about 50-50. I guess nowadays it's probably more like 75-25, respectively.

I'm doing the right thing... I'm doing the right thing... I'm doing the right thing...

Surgery date: Feb. 29, 2008 (whoa!)
Activation date: Mar. 10, 2008
Advanced Bionics
Ruminator's Ruminatings
Click to expand...

I felt the same way you did before surgery. I questioned myself daily. I must have changed my mind a million times. I even called my former audie and asked about new hearing aids. Everything you are going through is normal.

No one can make this choice for you.

Just sit back and think.

What happen to me is I thought I was doing well communicating with others until I got my cis. Now I know I can communicate and before I really had problems. I don't have the stress of concentrating in "hearing" situations. I also enjoy music and the things I have missed like everyday noise.
 
Ruminator said:
All of your response are very helpful - thanks.

I think one of the things that sometimes causes me to be less than fully certain I'm doing the right thing getting a CI is the fact I often do well communicating with certain people. However, I suppose I need to remind myself that this success is most likely a result of the fact I am an expert lip-reader; and in conjunction with lip-reading, I frequently employ context and guesswork. So while it seems that I "hear" well with some people some of the time, I'm actually relying on factors other than hearing. But, I am still able to hear certain people's voices well enough that the auditory information I get seems to go a long way in helping me understand most of the words.

I also need to remind myself that during the word-recognition test a couple weeks ago, I pretty much didn't understand diddly.

I used to depend on lip-reading and auditory information about 50-50. I guess nowadays it's probably more like 75-25, respectively.

I'm doing the right thing... I'm doing the right thing... I'm doing the right thing...

Surgery date: Feb. 29, 2008 (whoa!)
Activation date: Mar. 10, 2008
Advanced Bionics
Ruminator's Ruminatings
Click to expand...

Nods before I got implanted, my audie ran a couple of tests on me and I was allowed to lipread on one of my tests and the other one was the same test but I wasn't allowed to lip read on the second test. If I recall correctly, I got like 87% correct via lipreading but zero on the same test without lipreading. I've never depended on auditory info alone. I had to depend on both lipreading and auditory together otherwise, my ablitiy to understand sentences suffered.
 
Ruminator said:
All of your response are very helpful - thanks.

I think one of the things that sometimes causes me to be less than fully certain I'm doing the right thing getting a CI is the fact I often do well communicating with certain people. However, I suppose I need to remind myself that this success is most likely a result of the fact I am an expert lip-reader; and in conjunction with lip-reading, I frequently employ context and guesswork. So while it seems that I "hear" well with some people some of the time, I'm actually relying on factors other than hearing. But, I am still able to hear certain people's voices well enough that the auditory information I get seems to go a long way in helping me understand most of the words.

I also need to remind myself that during the word-recognition test a couple weeks ago, I pretty much didn't understand diddly.

I used to depend on lip-reading and auditory information about 50-50. I guess nowadays it's probably more like 75-25, respectively.

I'm doing the right thing... I'm doing the right thing... I'm doing the right thing...

Surgery date: Feb. 29, 2008 (whoa!)
Activation date: Mar. 10, 2008
Advanced Bionics
Ruminator's Ruminatings
Click to expand...



This thread saves me asking all the same questions...so keep it up guys.

Ruminator......your switch on is same day as my surgery, 10th March. How come you only have 10 days to wait for your switchon? I have to wait 3 weeks!!!!!

Also everything you state about lipreading and auditory information is the same as what I experience....75-25, with a bit of guess work thrown in...lol


I have no doubts that I am doing the right thing and you shouldnt have either........good luck and I will be watching to see how you get on.
 
Ruminator said:
All of your response are very helpful - thanks.

I think one of the things that sometimes causes me to be less than fully certain I'm doing the right thing getting a CI is the fact I often do well communicating with certain people. However, I suppose I need to remind myself that this success is most likely a result of the fact I am an expert lip-reader; and in conjunction with lip-reading, I frequently employ context and guesswork. So while it seems that I "hear" well with some people some of the time, I'm actually relying on factors other than hearing. But, I am still able to hear certain people's voices well enough that the auditory information I get seems to go a long way in helping me understand most of the words.

I also need to remind myself that during the word-recognition test a couple weeks ago, I pretty much didn't understand diddly.

I used to depend on lip-reading and auditory information about 50-50. I guess nowadays it's probably more like 75-25, respectively.

I'm doing the right thing... I'm doing the right thing... I'm doing the right thing...

Ruminator's Ruminatings
Click to expand...

You sound a lot like me before I was implanted. You are probably not likely to completely stop using your lipreading skills with the CI, after all you cannot kill good habits of a lifetime but it's the dependency and concentration needed that will be reduced.

For me, the shift in depedency on lipreading has translated in considerably more energy each day, less effort needed for conversation and another thing I have noticed and I am not sure if it's a coincidence or not, but I seem to get sick less often with colds etc too.

I think that all the skills you mention e.g. context, body language and guesswork are valuable skills and together with the increased audition from the CI, you will have a very useful toolbox indeed.
 
Raykat said:
Ruminator......your switch on is same day as my surgery, 10th March. How come you only have 10 days to wait for your switchon? I have to wait 3 weeks!!!!!
Click to expand...

Actually, I was fully expecting to be required to wait a minimum of 4 weeks for my activation appointment. My jaw just about hit the floor when they told me it would only be 1 to 2 weeks. "Just one to two weeks?!" I remember asking, and they assured me that I hadn't misheard.

I think my surgeon, who does his work at Virginia Mason of Seattle, uses a less-intrusive procedure which doesn't require as much healing and recuperation. I'll have to ask -- you've got me curious now. I remember reading about Jeff's CI surgery on his Metal Postcard blog. He also had his activated within a week or so after surgery, but because he still had swelling and whatnot, they had to use the strongest magnet available. I'm guessing I won't have that problem, tho.

Raykat said:
I have no doubts that I am doing the right thing and you shouldnt have either........good luck and I will be watching to see how you get on.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I'll keep publicizing my CI journey, and I look forward to you doing the same.

Surgery date: Feb. 29, 2008 (a little less anxious)
Activation date: Mar. 10, 2008
Advanced Bionics
Ruminator's Ruminatings
 
I'm sorry I can't give you any information about CIs (I wear a standard hearing aid), but from your asking about it at this late date right before your surgery, it sounds (no pun intended!) like you're still undecided. There is nothing wrong with backing out (for the time being) if you have unresolved questions. Whatever you do, the best of luck to you!!
 
dman said:
I'm sorry I can't give you any information about CIs (I wear a standard hearing aid), but from your asking about it at this late date right before your surgery, it sounds (no pun intended!) like you're still undecided. There is nothing wrong with backing out (for the time being) if you have unresolved questions. Whatever you do, the best of luck to you!!
Click to expand...

Yep, I'm aware of that option. I'm pretty sure I'll be sticking to the 2/29 surgery date, however.

I've been 98% decided that I want to do this, so I guess it's that 2% that started this thread.

I understand it's not uncommon to continue to seek affirmation, even with surgery date so close, that the decision is the right one. And in my case, my schedule has been so insanely busy that surgery date has approached pretty quickly. But, I'm good with it.

- Steve

Surgery date: 2/29/08
Activation: 3/10/08
Advanced Bionics
Ruminator's Ruminatings
 
I am what people would call a natural born lip reader because I could read lips and understood very good without the assistance of hearing devices.

But there are many time when I couldn't read what they just said or needed to ask them to repeat a word that I couldn't make out because there are hunderds thousands of words that similar lip movements so I have to contruct the sentence in my head and think what this person is saying like "baby" and "make me" lipreads the same to me but if a person is telling me "make me some coffee please" then I will know he/she is saying "make me" because "baby some coffee please" does not compute a sentence in my head. That even with a hearing aid on me those words that lip read lots of time also sound similar to me because sound to me with hearing aids are all mumbles.

I been implanted 4 year ago and I am finding myself less and less needing to contruct the sentence in my head to figure what word this person meant because I could actually hear the difference in words that lip read and sound similar with my hearing aid. I am even started to notice myself actually reponse to people that are speaking behind me or not in my lip reading view but that is rare however it is happening and it does amazes me that I understood it. There are times when I knew I couldn't make out what the person said reading their lips but I understood the word they were saying because of the CI.

Now my implant is broken that 4 year ago a bad batch with poor seal gotten out to people and I may be one of the unlucky ones to have receive one of those implant. But I am doing just fine for the last 2 months being deaf (I have no hearing aids and have not worn one since implanted 4 year ago so I gave them all away) and I am getting by fine reading people lip without any hearing aids or CI and still able to commuciate with hearing people in real world but I do really miss my CI because I realize how much more easier it made my life when it came to commuciting with people. So I cannot wait to have working implant again. I am having the surgery to replace it on following Monday on the 25th.

I am not saying CI is perfect or CI will solve all your hardship you expeince in your life because your deaf but I am saying that CI does lessen those hardship for me and is a great tool to aid me commuciating with people along with my lip reading skill.

CI will not magically turn you into a hearing person with an excellent speaking skill or will allow you to be able to understood everything even that is said on TV or Radio or Phone but over time you may start to develop a new skill to aid you commiucating or understanding using a CI or you may never will develop any skills and still only get the benfit of being able to hear sound that you never heard before with only a hearing aids. I still use relay service with with VCO sometime because I am not moviated to learn to use a phone without using relay service. I am quite happy with video relay service and my ASL signing skill.

So yes in my option that CI is a hell lot better assistance hardware than a hearing aid and I don't think there will ever be a hearing aids that could outperform CI since hearing aids only ampifty the sound while CI simulate the nerves that couldn't be ampfity by the hearing aid itself because the hair cell attached to it is so badly damaged so you get more range of sounds become avaliable to you with a CI.




Good luck with your decision and surgery!


.
 
I only had to wait 5 days to be activated. Normally my CI center activates patients the day after surgery, but I asked to wait a few days to allow my incision to heal a bit and for the soreness to go down a bit. :)
 
TechBill said:
...over time you may start to develop a new skill to aid you commiucating or understanding using a CI or you may never will develop any skills and still only get the benfit of being able to hear sound that you never heard before with only a hearing aids...

So yes in my option that CI is a hell lot better assistance hardware than a hearing aid...

Good luck with your decision and surgery!
Click to expand...

Thanks.

Once I've heard the world with a CI for a while, I will definitely document my experiences. I'll probably also do a now versus then comparison.
 
Ruminator said:
Thanks.

Once I've heard the world with a CI for a while, I will definitely document my experiences. I'll probably also do a now versus then comparison.
Click to expand...

Good idea! I think all the questions you've asked have been good ones and it's shown that you have realistic expectations of the range of possible outcomes. I think lots of people considering CIs after you will find your experiences helpful.
 
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