Problems with cochlear implant

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danscu

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Hi
I had my cochlear implant fitted 7 weeks ago and was activated last week. It is an Advanced Bionics implant.

Since the op, I have had constant tinnitus in my implanted ear. Also, I have experienced occasions when the tinnitus gets so loud it becomes unbearable, before it gradually goes back to the "normal" level after a minute or two. This loud tinnitus always occurs if I get out of my chair or bend over, even if I do so really slowly.

My second problem is with the activation. I know it is early days but I am just hearing whistling tones when there is noise or speech, and these tones sound very similar to feedback on a hearing aid. It is really tiring although I know I have to keep at it and wear the processor as much as I can, and with time hopefully things will get better. I also notice a constant ringing tone when I switch the processor on which stops when I turn the processor off.
Does anyone else here share these experiences?
Regards
Dan
 
danscu said:
Hi
I had my cochlear implant fitted 7 weeks ago and was activated last week. It is an Advanced Bionics implant.

Since the op, I have had constant tinnitus in my implanted ear. Also, I have experienced occasions when the tinnitus gets so loud it becomes unbearable, before it gradually goes back to the "normal" level after a minute or two. This loud tinnitus always occurs if I get out of my chair or bend over, even if I do so really slowly.

My second problem is with the activation. I know it is early days but I am just hearing whistling tones when there is noise or speech, and these tones sound very similar to feedback on a hearing aid. It is really tiring although I know I have to keep at it and wear the processor as much as I can, and with time hopefully things will get better. I also notice a constant ringing tone when I switch the processor on which stops when I turn the processor off.
Does anyone else here share these experiences?
Regards
Dan
Click to expand...

when I was activated, i could only hear beep, dings, and white noise... I guess the ding is like the whistling you hear. Give it some time, it get better. It definitely get better after several mappings.
 
Hi Dan: I recall from my operation in July/07 having strange sounds-like water falling-when I woke from the operation-- that lasted about 3 hours. None since.
Lots of strange sounds-street cars with dance music. Mapping took care of that problem. I recall thinking someone was following me- only my foot steps which I hadn't heard before! I keep it on all the time-except when swimming.
Just takes lots of time to get used to all the sounds- you DIDN'T hear before.Have patience with yourself-Dan.
Like you I have an Advanced Bionics-Harmony model. Just crossed over the 3 year anniversary-recently.
 
Patience.... when i was first switched on it was all white noise at high pitch it was like that for about a month. Yes it's tiring and emotional but preservace paid off by keeping wearing it, listening hard, ask a person what's the sound to help you to teach your brain what the sound is, If you find the sounds uncomfortable, turn it down and granually increase it through the day/week. Note down your new sounds that you could identify and isn't uncomfortable, sounds that made you uncomfortable and tell your Audiologist so s/he have the idea what you are hearing. At first, paper crinkling was the highest pitched sound ever heard that made my eyes squint so was the water running, the audi turned down the highs a little so it was more comfortable until i got used to it.

I had suffered with tinnitus all of my life and with CI it had been much better as it over powers the sound of tinnitus but it's still there when i take the CI off, although not as loud as pre implant and it usually settles quite quickly.

I am now 2 years/4months post implant and since about 18 month mark it had been great, I had began hearing well. That's from me, who was born profoundly deaf, aided until implanted at 30. Each person is different, their hearing history is different so the outcome is different.
 
Hey there Dan,

I am 4 months into my activation with my implant, It was pretty wild at the begining. At first I had trouble with men's voices but could easily hear womens, it took me about 2 weeks to get pretty comfortable with hearing via CI. The sound during the early days of water were the worst for me it did not sound anything like water for me. Pre implant I had tinnitus 24/7 for 10 long years The night of surgery it was unbearable but did calm down to a very small hum. Now it's pretty much non existent unless i am very physically active then it will get somewhat loud but will settle back to nearly nothing within a few mins. Now 4 months into implant I can hear better than I have ever heard in my entire life ( I am late deafend). I have gotten to the point to finally take the steps to do my life long dream to play the guitar now that I am able to hear everything within music. I no longer require the use of closed captioning on the television. I wish you the best in your journey the more you use it the more it will be benefical to you. The brain is a powerfull organ!!
 
I haven't wore my CI for weeks, and when I got it fix, all that dinging and bells came back to me... it always sound like that if you don't wear your implant for awhile. Not sure why it does that though.
 
danscu said:
Hi
I had my cochlear implant fitted 7 weeks ago and was activated last week. It is an Advanced Bionics implant.

Since the op, I have had constant tinnitus in my implanted ear. Also, I have experienced occasions when the tinnitus gets so loud it becomes unbearable, before it gradually goes back to the "normal" level after a minute or two. This loud tinnitus always occurs if I get out of my chair or bend over, even if I do so really slowly.

My second problem is with the activation. I know it is early days but I am just hearing whistling tones when there is noise or speech, and these tones sound very similar to feedback on a hearing aid. It is really tiring although I know I have to keep at it and wear the processor as much as I can, and with time hopefully things will get better. I also notice a constant ringing tone when I switch the processor on which stops when I turn the processor off.
Does anyone else here share these experiences?
Regards
Dan
Click to expand...

Some experienced tinnitus after surgery and it's normal.

Tinnitus happens to a lot of people after activation. It's normal. It takes a while to get used to it. CI is "tinny" - always do but over time, your brain gets to filter out the tinny part well. The tinny is actually a result of "conditioning" - it's constantly putting pure noise to help "condition" the hair cells for incoming signals. It is used to improve speech comprehension. And you will likely hear the tinnitus after you turn off CI for a while.
 
Yep, everyone said the right thing, it takes time.

Your brain is processing all these new sounds, and needs to "map" itself. The older you are, the longer it takes.

The first 3-4 weeks are going to sound awful and weird. 2-3 months later, it starts to sound normal. I went in for a 'tune-up' every week for 4 weeks, then 2x a month after that for 4 months. Now I go once a year.

As for the tinnitus, some is normal while the cochlea repairs itself, but if it continues for another 2-3 months, talk to your surgeon.

People have different reactions to the new CI.

With mine, I had a very sensitive spot behind my ear that if I pushed it, I got very dizzy. Took a year to heal completely. Also, some of my facial nerves got re-connected in a weird way: If I scratched one part of my head, I could feel the scratching on another area, even though I wasn't touching it, and part of my tongue had a bitter taste every time I scratched a certain part of my head.
 
green427 said:
.
Also, some of my facial nerves got re-connected in a weird way: If I scratched one part of my head, I could feel the scratching on another area, even though I wasn't touching it.
Click to expand...

Thank god, I am not the only one!!
 
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I am lucky my facial nerves were never affected.. but my taste nerve was out of whack for about 15 days or so. I couldnt taste much of anything .
 
I've been talking with CI users in the past couple weeks and discovered that there ARE problems the CI poster-folk in here do not mention. I wonder if it is because they tend to be more open and honest when talking with a fellow deafie? It is so weird.
 
Beowulf said:
I've been talking with CI users in the past couple weeks and discovered that there ARE problems the CI poster-folk in here do not mention. I wonder if it is because they tend to be more open and honest when talking with a fellow deafie? It is so weird.
Click to expand...

I think its because the CI is a huge investment and they don't want to mention problems...
 
PFH is correct about the total cost of a Cochlear Implantation. The total cost for me -surgeon fees/hospital care/audiologist fees/implant itself-3 years ago was $55,000.00 CDN covered by Ontario Health Insurance. I met their criteria-to be fully covered. The Implant section-Sunnybrook/Toronto has to choose who are suitable. The rejection rate is 60% of those considered over the last 18 years.
So far, no problems with taste, tinnitus or facial nerve problems

Implanted Advanced Bionics-Harmony activated Aug/07
 
Nothing is usually 100% problem-free. Besides I think the pros of CI's certainly outweighs the cons.
 
Beowulf said:
I've been talking with CI users in the past couple weeks and discovered that there ARE problems the CI poster-folk in here do not mention. I wonder if it is because they tend to be more open and honest when talking with a fellow deafie? It is so weird.
Click to expand...

We talk about problems with CIs all the time in other forums, blogs, facebook. Equipment issues (breaking, adjusting, settings, batteries), accommodation issues (FM systems, accessories for other technology), where they can/can't be used, some people have trouble keeping them on in rough and tumble physical sports, some people get irritation at the magnet contact point if they set their magnet too strong, teachers don't know what they are, strangers think they are bluetooths, etc.

I've seen several CI users discuss their experiences, the apprehensions, the scary surgery, the discomfort after, the activation and excitement/ disappointment of first sounds, getting to know the equipment. I suspect you are just thinking there are a lot more problems than you are reading about, and there may not be. Perhaps you'd read more if the moment CI is mentioned, a truckload of people without any familiarity with CIs didn't join the conversation and begin the anti-CI debate.
 
Or people do not post here because other people think they are writing not so positive experience when they aren't.

Here you gotta be a cheerleader rooting for CI . I am not going to do that and be your CI cheerleader
 
deafgal001 said:
Or people do not post here because other people think they are writing not so positive experience when they aren't.

Here you gotta be a cheerleader rooting for CI . I am not going to do that and be your CI cheerleader
Click to expand...

Thats what I was meaning when I started the CI Support Group thread....
 
GrendelQ said:
We talk about problems with CIs all the time in other forums, blogs, facebook. Equipment issues (breaking, adjusting, settings, batteries), accommodation issues (FM systems, accessories for other technology), where they can/can't be used, some people have trouble keeping them on in rough and tumble physical sports, some people get irritation at the magnet contact point if they set their magnet too strong, teachers don't know what they are, strangers think they are bluetooths, etc.

I've seen several CI users discuss their experiences, the apprehensions, the scary surgery, the discomfort after, the activation and excitement/ disappointment of first sounds, getting to know the equipment. I suspect you are just thinking there are a lot more problems than you are reading about, and there may not be. Perhaps you'd read more if the moment CI is mentioned, a truckload of people without any familiarity with CIs didn't join the conversation and begin the anti-CI debate.
Click to expand...

But you hear almost none of them discussing explants.
 
Hi danscu. Sounds like starting problems from what my friends have told me, and hope it works out for you in the end. Good luck!
 
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