getting used to c.i question

Mc Gusto

Mc Gusto

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Well i have had my c.i. for nearly 3 months now and my audiologist said that they are " stabilising " it now.What wanted to know is how long did improvements in sound continue for other people with c.i.'s.My ear that has c.i. has been profoundly deaf for about 25 years so it took a while for the hearing nerve to get used to sound again .I think the sound may still be improving very slowly but it's hard to tell.
 
Mc Gusto:

Immediately at activation everything I heard sounded extremely high pitched
and metallic. Some people report voices sounding like Donald Duck or Mickey
Mouse, but that didn't happen to me. Everything I heard sounded like someone
tapping against a hollow metal tube every time they spoke. LOL!

By 3 weeks post activation I began to understand some words. Depending on
the pitch and familiarity of a person's voice, a few letter combinations
(such as "sh," "st," "ar") started to sound "normal" to me as I remember
with hearing aids (They were no longer high pitched or metallic sounding.
Instead, I could hear normal inflection, emphasis and dialect.)

There was a period of time where I could tell that voices were trying to
come through clearly, but there was a high pitched "echo voice" that
overlapped them. In other words, when someone spoke, I'd hear a "normal"
voice (with normal dialect, inflection, emphasis) along with an overlapping
"echo voice" that was high pitched and whiny. Both voices were in unison
with each other and one voice did not sound louder than the other. Over time
the "echo voice" only happened when I heard higher pitches, then low
pitches -- until it gradually disappeared.

I'm now at 4 months post activation and almost everything I hear (except for
new sounds and voices) sound "normal" to me. For example, when I hear birds
sing, I hear them "tweet" or "chirp." When I'm walking down the street, car
engines (some that could use new mufflers -- LOL!) and tires against the
road all sound just like I remember with hearing aids. My kitchen Braille
timer now lets out a pleasant "Ding!" instead of a static like sound. A
doorbell sounds like a doorbell. My mantel melody clock (it plays one of 16
different melodies at the top of each hour) which used to have only a few
frequencies I could hear with my CI now sounds beautiful! I can hear each
note being played as well as the reverberation as the clock strikes the hour
and how each strike gradually fades away.

I should mention that I've had severe-profound hearing loss for the past 10 years. (No speech discrimination in my left ear for all that time.) However, I was born with normal hearing. I was diagnosed with a mild hearing loss at age 3 which dropped to the moderately-severe range by my teens and severe-profound by my 20's.

I've been activated for 4 months and have reached the point where I can talk on the phone and listen to the TV or radio. I still have difficulty understanding new sounds and voices, but I think that experience is pretty common for most CI recipients.

I know people who've had a CI for 3 years or more and continue to learn new sounds. Some of these people include those who have been profoundly deaf for as long as you have -- or longer.

Here's wishing you continued success with your CI! :)
 
Hear again, your experience with getting used to c.i. sounds almost the same as mine.I understand exactly what you are talking about when you refer to the echo.But i am nowhere near being able to use a phone or watch tv without captions.Music is good as is environmental sounds,speech is strange in the way that people who know that i am deaf and speak to me clearly and in a manner that is easy to understand-i find it easier to communicate with them but people who are strangers and don't speak clearly, i have not gained any benefit with c.i.,none at all.Thanks for sharing your experience Hear again,one more Q-What number do you use on the sensitivity wheel ?
 
I have had the same thing as yours.. however mine is only less than a week wearing it.. just got it hooked up last monday the 16th of may.

everything doesn't sound like what i'm expecting. everything sounds metalic. but yet.. i also still can't understand the stybles of each words.

I'm also been Deaf for nearly 20 years. but had grow up with hearing aids.. but i quit using it when i was around 11. however my audiologist told me everyone varies.. and she wants me to listen and catch the enviroment sounds first. i also had nucleus Freedom. yet its nice.. but i still didn't get the full benifits of it yet. the audiologist didn't turn on everything. i still have plenty of mappings, etc..


at work the music all day long is VERY annoying.. My freedom stores 4 programs.. i still can't find the fine-tune for each issues yet.. i'm still playing with my sensirivity and volume.
 
Thanks Hear Again! Yeah, late deafened folks tend to do best with CI....followed by people who once had normal hearing...I know research has indicated that people who once had normal hearing (even if it was for only a few months as a baby) tend to do best with CIs. Then there are people who are born deaf who were pretty good hearing aid users....for them getting a CI is just turning up the volumne on things like speech perception. (there are deaf kids who do have good speech perception with aids!) If your experiances with hearing aids were limited or of no benifit, CI may not give you enourmous benifits. Not saying that CIs WON"T help....just saying that for those who didn't have too much benifit from aids, results may vary.
 
McGusto: I have my sensitivity setting on 5, but may raise or lower it slightly depending on background noise. When I was first activated I started out with a volume map (with autosensitivy) but switched to a sensitivity map after I noticed myself having more difficulty hearing in noise. Not everyone prefers to use a sensitivity map, so you may want to ask your audiologist if you can try both -- or have one of each (one program for volume; the other for sensitivity) on your 3G.

DeafScuba: Congratulations on your activation!! :) I had the same experience as you on the day of my activation where everything sounded metallic. It took me 3 weeks before I was able to start understanding speech and even then, I had difficulty with unfamiliar voices and people who did not speak slowly or enunciate.

Your audi's advice about listening to/trying to concentrate on environmental sounds is good. This is exactly what I did. I wrote down my hearing experiences in a journal so that I could see how sounds and voices changed from day to day. This was especially important to me after my second mapping when I lost all of my speech discrimination. (My audiologist increased my ACE program from 900 Hz to 1200 Hz). I spent two weeks adjusting to that program, but wasn't understanding anything I heard. When she switched me back to ACE at 900 Hz, my speech discrimination came back and that's what I've been using ever since.

I'm interested in learning more about your experiences with the Freedom. At only one week post activation, it's still too early for you to understand what you're hearing -- especially since you've been Deaf for 20 years. Each person is different, but over time you will begin to notice small differences that may eventually amount to your being able to recognize environmental sounds and/or voices.

I'm sure the background music you hear at work is very annoying! :( Constant sounds also bothered me for the first month following my activation, but as I began to hear more frequencies with each mapping, the more I could tolerate a greater variety of sounds and voices.

Deafdyke: You're exactly right about your statement regarding the benefits of CI for people like me who are late deafened vs. those who are prelingually or perilingually deaf. Although I've had severe-profound hearing loss for the past 10 years, I had minimal speech discrimination in my right ear which still permitted me to hear the nuances of speech with my Comtek FM system until 2-3 years ago. Having said that, I also think self-motivation also plays a part in how well a person (any person -- pre or postlingual) does with a CI. If they aren't willing to put in the time and effort required to learn how to hear with an implant, they will not receive *any* benefit from a CI. Your summation that people's experiences vary is appropriate since there are too many factors that contribute to how well a person hears with a CI.
 
I also think self-motivation also plays a part in how well a person (any person -- pre or postlingual) does with a CI. If they aren't willing to put in the time and effort required to learn how to hear with an implant, they will not receive *any* benefit from a CI. Your summation that people's experiences vary is appropriate since there are too many factors that contribute to how well a person hears with a CI.
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I think it plays SOME part, but again....results vary signifciently, just as with hearing aids. There are kids with severe or profound losses who do well with hearing aids....really can't genreallize.
 
RE-sensitivity vs volume,thanks for that info hear again,my audiologist always said it was sensitivity cos at start i thought it was volume control,i'll ask her about it next time. I usually set my sensitivity on 1 as any higher and it sounds bad but i think it's got a lot of potential on a higher setting in the future maybe cos i can hear some things really easy but overall it's not that clear compared to on the 1 setting.I forgot to mention in my first post that i wear hearing aid on other ear (hearing is pretty poor,diagnosed profound),and it is kind of strange having 2 different sounds at once,anybody else the same ? I can use my c.i. by itself and it's fine but i don't get all the sounds of natural hearing so i still want to use my normal hearing or what is left of it anyway !!!! :lol:
 
Mcgusto, try a body worn hearing aid if you want a lot of power. I think there might be some losses where speech and sound discrimination is improved by upgrading the size of the aid.
 
Gotta say I am IMPRESSED by the posts here!!!! Nobody's strongly against the CI (and I can remember when CIs were almost universally bashed in forums like these) but nobody's doing a site that shall not be named and praising CI to the high heavens! :)
 
McGusto: I don't blame you for wanting to continue using what little hearing you have left. If you think a hearing aid benefits you in some way, by all means, you should use it! I also wear a hearing aid in my nonimplanted ear. Although it doesn't enable me to understand speech, it does give a sense of binaural sound which is important to me as a totally blind person. I also find that my hearing aid lessons the whiny characteristic to voices through my CI and gives speech a more natural sounding quality.

Something you might find helpful is to practice listening to the TV, radio, an audiobook, etc. for an hour or so a day. Break up the time into half hour blocks. For example, practice listening with your CI only for the first 30 minutes and then your CI/HA for the second half hour. If you're still not used to wearing your CI for long periods of time, you could practice for 30 minutes instead -- 15 minutes with your CI only and 15 minutes with your CI/HA. One of the nice things about this kind of listening/practice schedule is the fact that you're devoting equal time to the CI and CI/HA.

In terms of where you have your sensitivity setting...over time your brain will become accustomed to what it hears and will want more. When this happens, you'll probably turn up sensitivity a little more and more each day as you become used to the sounds you're hearing. I may be wrong, but I wonder if your audiologist gave you a volume map? From what I understand, most CI users start off with a volume map. Sensitivity maps are a little more difficult for beginners (of which I am one!) to understand because it involves increasing or decreasing background noise. For example, if you want to hear someome talking to you in a crowded room, you can turn down (decrease) sensitivity so you can hear their voice more clearly. Trying to understand what you're hearing through your CI while also trying to remember when to increase or decrease sensitivity can be overwhelming. That's why most audiologists prefer that people start off with a volume map instead. I started off with a volume map too, but recently switched to sensitivity so that I could hear better in noisy environments.

Deafdyke: I couldn't agree with you more! :) If someone were to ask me whether I think they should get a CI, I would tell them that it is a decision only *they* can make. Just because a CI is right for me doesn't mean it's right for the next person. I'm more than happy to answer questions and share my experiences, but that's where I draw the line. When a CI candidate asks me which implant they should choose, I explain that they can't go wrong with any of the 3 implant brands because they all allow you to hear. Again, I may explain why I chose implant A, but I do not push one CI brand over another.

I must say the Deaf Community has come a long way towards acceptance of CIs and for that they are to be commended! :) I've had my CI for 4 months and am happy to say that I haven't lost any of my Deaf or deafblind friends because of it. In fact, three prelingually Deaf friends of mine are thinking about being evaluated for a CI. I think as long as you are open minded to both points of view (pro/con CI) and respect the choices of others in the Deaf Community, you have nothing to worry about. There will always be people who disagree with the choices you make, but such is life. You can't please everyone! :)
 
Thanks for that advice Hear Again,i will try that out.Deaf Dyke-you got any idea how much bodyworn speech processors cost?? I got no idea,i would prob stick with behind the ear though
 
i agree hear again... by any means.. I was in a panic and fearful of telling my deaf friends that i'm planning on getting an CI.. i only told my friends who i trust, they accept... 2 days before surgery... there's a Deafnation Expo going on in my state. so i went.. told plenty of my friends that i'm getting it in 2 days later.. they went in shock.
then after surgery i'm still shocked on how my friends treat me.. none of them ingored me or stop talking to me.. they just keep friends with me.. its kinda a weird feeling.

well.. for me as wearing a freedom.. been having it for a week now. also i can't really tell if its awesome... because i never experience the other speech processor... like the 3G. but i heard its best in long run.. so i really don't know.

just had a mapping again today... seems like the sounds are much better... and the audiologist finally turned on all 4 programs.. wisper mode, ALDO mode, and 2 others i forgot :-x its too much information that my audiologist been saying..
 
McGusto, I was talking about a body worn hearing aid....but I remember from discussions on another list, that BW speech processors are more powerful then the BTE types. But, experiment....experiment!
Like I think a BW aid would improve your speech perception if you had some speech perception on your unaided audiogram. Try it....you might be surprised. I wore ITE aids for years, and thought I could hear with them....turns out I really couldn't and that I was just speechreading. The difference in power is amazing! You really really need to experiment.
 
Wow....how old are you? Body worn hearing aids are the big hearing aids that are so big they have to be worn on the body (like on the chest) rather then behind the ear. They are more powerful then BTE aids
 
McGusto: There are two kinds of CI speech processors -- behind the ear (BTE) and body worn processor (BWP). One of the nice things about using a BWP is the fact that you can change volume and sensitivity at the same time which may help make sounds and voices clearer. You can also use a feature called ADRO which allows you to hear a greater variety of sounds. Some CI users think the sound of the BWP is fuller, stronger and/or clearer than the BTE. Perhaps you can ask your audiologist if you can try the Sprint so you can compare it to the 3G. My audiologist was going to start me off with the Sprint BWP, but because of blindness she thought it might be easier for me to use the 3G since I wouldn't have to learn the controls of the BWP while also concentrating on what I'm hearing through my CI. I may ask her at some point if I can try the Sprint just so I can compare the sound quality of the two.

Deafscuba: I'm glad sounds are slowly beginning to improve for you! :) The sound quality of what you hear really does get better with each mapping. Right now your dynamic range (the distance between the softest sound you can hear and the loudest sound you can hear) is limited. However, with more mappings, your dynamic range will continue to expand allowing you to hear more sounds.

Let me see if I can explain ADRO and Whisper...

The Whisper setting makes soft sounds easier to hear. I use Whisper when watching TV or listening to the radio. I also like using Whisper when I'm outdoors listening to the birds sing. Whisper can also be helpful when you're in a meeting (where there is little background noise) and having trouble hearing a soft voice.

If I understand ADRO correctly, it is a setting that allows you to hear more/less of the background noise around you. When ADRO is increased, you hear more background noise. When it is decreased, you hear less. Since I've never used ADRO before (this feature isn't available on the 3G), I can't tell you how it sounds. Perhaps another CI user on the board can share their experiences -- and correct me if I am wrong about what ADRO is.

I hope this information helps! :)
 
Deaf Dyke i'm 32 and have been deaf since age of 8 .Body worn hearing aid sounds like a bit of baggage to me .You would have thought in my assesment for c.i. they would have told me about a body worn hearing aid
Yeah Hear Again i will ask about trying a body worn speech processor some time in the future.Once again i got no idea how much these things cost anybody know roughly how much ?? My bte speech processor is worth $10,000 Australian dollars
 
Body worn hearing aid sounds like a bit of baggage to me .You would have thought in my assesment for c.i. they would have told me about a body worn hearing aid
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Oh so you went deaf around the time I was born? I know from that Volta publication,(not Volta Voices but the other one) that body worn aids were still somewhat popular around then. My school library has back issues of that Volta publication and I've read some of it. Vampy, didn't you wear one in the late 70's? It's just a suggestion, and it may not even help. I think actually the reason why they didn't mention a BW aid is b/c they aren't too popular.
 
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