if you wore cochlear implant, will you become hearing?

GrendelQ said:
I wouldn't equate glasses with a CI. Glasses are similar to a hearing aid in that they amplify or refine the function of the organ (or system), an eye or an ear . A CI is entirely different technology, and except that some people hang them on an ear for stability and the wires are threaded through the cochlea to reach the auditory nerve, it doesn't use the mechanism of a person's ear at all. Glasses can't provide access to sight to a person who is blind. A CI can provide access to sound to a person who is profoundly deaf.

Let's say a blind person had a video camera that sent images to a computer, they were encoded and sent to the person's brain through a wireless device, bypassing the eyes altogether, and those images were recognized by the person. The person remains blind (unable to see using his or her eyes). But has a very cool tool that enables a facsimile of sight. Set down that video camera, and no images reach the brain. That's more like a CI.
Click to expand...

Very nice post!
 
GrendelQ said:
I wouldn't equate glasses with a CI. Glasses are similar to a hearing aid in that they amplify or refine the function of the organ (or system), an eye or an ear . A CI is entirely different technology, and except that some people hang them on an ear for stability and the wires are threaded through the cochlea to reach the auditory nerve, it doesn't use the mechanism of a person's ear at all. Glasses can't provide access to sight to a person who is blind. A CI can provide access to sound to a person who is profoundly deaf.

Let's say a blind person had a video camera that sent images to a computer, they were encoded and sent to the person's brain through a wireless device, bypassing the eyes altogether, and those images were recognized by the person. The person remains blind (unable to see using his or her eyes). But has a very cool tool that enables a facsimile of sight. Set down that video camera, and no images reach the brain. That's more like a CI.
Click to expand...

Nice post. Thanks for the insight. :)
 
Grendel, actually many low vision (severely visually impaired) people do benifit from glasses. and can benifit from using their residual vision. But it's not nessarily "seeing" the way sighted people or even people who can REALLY benifit from glasses think of seeing.
Also, most people with CI are functionally hoh. They aren't hearing the way a hearing person thinks of as hearing. It's a pretty good approximentation...(especially for late deafened people) but it's not Hearing Person hearing
matajan, did you know that when hearing aids were first popular Deaf people were against them?
 
deafdyke said:
Grendel, actually many low vision (severely visually impaired) people do benifit from glasses. and can benifit from using their residual vision. But it's not nessarily "seeing" the way sighted people or even people who can REALLY benifit from glasses think of seeing.
Also, most people with CI are functionally hoh. They aren't hearing the way a hearing person thinks of as hearing. It's a pretty good approximentation...(especially for late deafened people) but it's not Hearing Person hearing
matajan, did you know that when hearing aids were first popular Deaf people were against them?
Click to expand...

Yes
 
Answer is no. If adult need surgery to get CI, must use phone and throw away VP in trash. :lol:
 
matajan said:
if you wore cochlear implant, will you become hearing?
Click to expand...

I have CI and I still be deaf when I take them off. CI does not help clarify human voice. I still have problem understanding phone conversation. Other than that, generally, I can hear just about everything what hearing can hear if I tune up the volume. CI do not make you "hearing" but just enhance your life.

Right now, my CI Processor have bad microphone. It cost me $500 to have it repaired (they will give me refurbished one anyway). I don't want to pay for it because it's not worth money if microphone don't last more than 3 years!! It frustrated me that there is no insurance willing to cover the cost of repair!! Hearing Aid have insurance coverage to pay for repair, not CI.

Catty
 
you have to renew your warranty if you have cochlear brand (not sure about AB) it will cover your repairs. I didn't renew mine and my CI is broken. I may not get a new one for years or maybe never. (do not have the money, I have my son's health to worry about. Don't worry, I do have my bodyworn sprint in case I need it)

only medicaid or medicare will cover it without the warranty.
 
purplecatty said:
I have CI and I still be deaf when I take them off. CI does not help clarify human voice. I still have problem understanding phone conversation. Other than that, generally, I can hear just about everything what hearing can hear if I tune up the volume. CI do not make you "hearing" but just enhance your life.

Right now, my CI Processor have bad microphone. It cost me $500 to have it repaired (they will give me refurbished one anyway). I don't want to pay for it because it's not worth money if microphone don't last more than 3 years!! It frustrated me that there is no insurance willing to cover the cost of repair!! Hearing Aid have insurance coverage to pay for repair, not CI.

Catty
Click to expand...

deafgal001 said:
you have to renew your warranty if you have cochlear brand (not sure about AB) it will cover your repairs. I didn't renew mine and my CI is broken. I may not get a new one for years or maybe never. (do not have the money, I have my son's health to worry about. Don't worry, I do have my bodyworn sprint in case I need it)

only medicaid or medicare will cover it without the warranty.
Click to expand...

To both of you, you can either choose to pay the extended warrenty OR can cover it by ESCO. They are both less than $200 a year per ear. It would cover loss, damage and repair.
 
Personally, I say it depends on the person.

Before somebody lambasts me, let me explain. If one has to have a CI, then of course they are deaf by definition. However, I know for a fact that when my CI is on I act very much hearing. To the point, that everybody thinks I'm "hearing". This includes the fact that I use the phone normally and do all the other stuff hearing do. I'm the guy that has about a 5-10% loss depending on the "noise" (with CI) but gets along fine otherwise.

As far as I'm concerned while my CI is on, I'm hearing. But at the same time, when it is off I'm deaf. Interesting dilemma for me...
 
matajan said:
if you wore cochlear implant, will you become hearing?
Click to expand...

NO, if you have CI(s) you are still deaf - because if you take off CI(s) you are 100% deaf, just like if a deaf person uses HA, if they take off the HA they are deaf.

Also, I know a number of Deaf with CI(s), they are still very involved in Deaf community and use ASL (some also speak).

Deaf may have CI(s) for a number of reasons including:

implanted in early childhood

having used HA before, then stopped benefiting from HA so they got CI

I know a few people who get CI when they had children

and some for a number of other reasons

All the people I know who were part of the Deaf Community before getting CI are still VERY involved in the Deaf Community and continue to value Deaf culture, ASL etc. :)

Some people, especially some oral deaf seem to think that you can't be a part of DC and have CI - this is now a myth and not at all true - especially in 2010!
CI is much more accepted in Deaf Communities now. Of course not everyone "likes them" however we respect that people are able to make up their own choices about CI.
The common thread in the Deaf community is valuing and growing our: Language (ASL in USA & most of Canada), culture, forms of artistic expression and seeing being Hoh/Deaf as a "difference" rather than a "disability".
 
sr171soars said:
Personally, I say it depends on the person.

Before somebody lambasts me, let me explain. If one has to have a CI, then of course they are deaf by definition. However, I know for a fact that when my CI is on I act very much hearing. To the point, that everybody thinks I'm "hearing". This includes the fact that I use the phone normally and do all the other stuff hearing do. I'm the guy that has about a 5-10% loss depending on the "noise" (with CI) but gets along fine otherwise.

As far as I'm concerned while my CI is on, I'm hearing. But at the same time, when it is off I'm deaf. Interesting dilemma for me...
Click to expand...

I have a similar situation - I often say that Hh (instead of Hoh) means "Hard of Hearing" and "Half & Half"

I was born with SSD (+120db on mt deaf side) however by high school I had mild fluctuation loss on my "hearing, now Hoh side". As a young adult I was FINALLY diagnosed with APD.
Due to the APD as well as a result of medical conditions and medications which impact my hearing ... even though my pure tone tests show mild HL on my Hoh side - in reality most of the time, I function and response in a manner that indicates moderate HL on my Hoh side. Of course in noise, when stressed or exhausted etc the APD 'interferes' (for lack of a better term) even more significantly.

Because explaining this all the type is like writing a mini essay - I typically write "profound right +120db, Hoh left mild/mod flux +APD" as it is actually a better realistic explanation of my HL :)


Because of the SSD, APD and then additional mild/mod flux HL I constantly (and often suddenly) find myself "tightrope walking between 2 worlds".

In absolute quiet, with someone who speaks clearly and is facing me ... I'm "mildly Hoh" (but never "HEARING IN HEAD"!!!!)
*Typically, this happens about 5-10% of the time*

In a tiny amount of background noise (like a fan being on etc) even if someone is facing me speaking I'm significantly Hoh - even with my HA. *Typically, this is where I am about 70% of the time*

In anything more than a tiny amount of background noise I'm "functionally deaf", by which I mean that with or without my HA I am unable to understand ANY speech or understand the meaning of any sounds.
*Typically, about 20-25% of the time*

As such - I float between having only mild HL and being functionally deaf.

I have never felt "Hearing" even when I "only had" SSD with perfect hearing on the other side - being "hearing isn't something I can imagine anymore than being able to hear what stereo sounds like is something I can imagine (without transposing it into a visual concept).

I DO understand what it's like to be deaf! When I lay on my Hoh side - I hear NOTHING (and I LIKE IT!!). I have a TTY, visual signallers & a Sonic Boom alarm clock because I can't hear the doorbell etc and it's stressful worrying that you'll "miss something". I prefer ASL to English because it's far more accessible for me (and I can actually socialize with a GROUP of people in ASL, which is impossible for me in English!). I LOVE the Deaf Community, Culture etc and have been welcomed with open arms and hands ... whereas I always feel in the hearing world that I'm working to keep up, missing things, etc ... The Deaf Community is what "HOME" should feel like - but often doesn't if you're the 90% of Hoh/deaf who have a hearing family :)
(and yes "HOME" includes the "good and the bad" including the "family": squabbles, bickering, support, love, friendship, honesty, safety, trust etc)



An interesting thing that has been very helpful is reading Deaffy's account of going from SSD, to Bilat deaf, to unilaterally CI .... he states that his personal experience is that he actaully hears BETTER now with the unilateral CI than he did when he was "naturally SSD"
This is very helpful for me because many of the people I know have worked with , or are friends of people who have 1 CI (90% of whom have been implanted in the last 5years)
They (hearing people) have ALWAYS insisted that I must hear SO MUCH better (with SSD +mild flux loss+APD) than the people they know with CI ... however I now can say that I know someone from whom this was not true. This is helpful mainly because these hearing people have always completely understood that CI is NOT like "having bilateral normal hearing" ... yet at the same time have told me that I "must hear basically the same as someone with normal hearing" (frankly their logic is a bit odd to me *shrug*lol)
 
deafdyke said:
matajan, did you know that when hearing aids were first popular Deaf people were against them?
Click to expand...

That's because they were sending severe/profound deaf to oral school/mainstream school with HA's. Imagine that ? Nowadays they know HAs don't always work well with spoken language (deaf people knew that and tried to tell them) so they don't make deaf children to wear HAs to be oral only without ASL anymore. It is replaced with CI.

edited: of course, if CI didn't exist yet, hearing parents would still continue oralism only and HAs
 
Last edited:
matajan said:
if you wore cochlear implant, will you become hearing?
Click to expand...

I HOPE the answer is YES! Because I need to hear to get a good job, I need to hear to help my family, I need to hear to protect myself, I need to hear to get back what I miss so much, the musics, the songs, which I've ever heard before. I don't want to be shouted at every moment people talk to me, I don't want to be limited in doing what I want just because I'm too nervous or shy because I can't hear, and I don't want to have misunderstanding in communication for the whole of my life. If CI can give my life back, to feel comfort, safe, relax and not too tired at the end of the day due to pushing myself to listen to what people said. Then I won't care : whether I am a deaf or a hearing.
 
matajan said:
if you wore cochlear implant, will you become hearing?
Click to expand...
doublefacepalm.jpg
 
As a Cochlear Implant user of almost 4 years-I don't consider that I am "hearing".I am still bilateral deaf-which will never change in my life time.

Implanted Sunnybrook/Toronto Advanced Bionics-Harmony activated Aug/07
 
Back
Top