Going under the drill on April 10

Good to hear. Since I’ve been on the CI path I’ve been very aware of others who are also CI users, and it appears thatit is a very rare thing. Last fall we were on a tour in The Baltic countries and there were two bimodal men on the tour. I haven’t seen anyone with it since. I’ve worn HA”s for many years and at one time I think I was the only person in a factory of 5000 people with them. After I receive my processor tomorrow I suspect that I will start noticing others. It’s kind of like when you buy a new, or different, cae and suddenly it seems like everyone else has one just like it.

Thanks for your thoughts.

@Roberto2 said:

Since I’ve been on the CI path I’ve been very aware of others who are also CI users, and it appears thatit is a very rare thing.

I have to agree with you on this. I have seen two people with CI’s in the 5-6 years I have been implanted. Both saw me first and came to me. Both were from out of town visiting. They were about three years apart.

@Raudrive said:

CI has been around for about 25 years.

Prof Graeme Clark did the first Cochlear implant in Australia on the 1st August 1978..So that just a few more years than about 25.

@Roberto2 said:

Since I’ve been on the CI path I’ve been very aware of others who are also CI users, and it appears thatit is a very rare thing

It’s not as rare as it used to be. It been nearly 7 years since I got mine. The evaluation regulations when I got mine was the WRS had to be below 30%. In more recent years these strict regulations have been relaxed a lot. The WRS is now below 60% this is allowing a lot more people to be successfully evaluated as a future CI recipient.

You are off to an amazing start so early after activation. Rehab can be very boring for people. There are a lot of different ways of doing it. You need to find your own way of doing rehab so that you enjoy doing it. I’m an avid book reader, so I just read audiobooks.

I can remember standing in my kitchen, turning in circles trying to figure out what the different sounds were I was hearing. In the end I had to ask what the sound was, my family didn’t understand what the process was.

Good luck to you with your rehab.

@Deaf_piper said:

I can remember standing in my kitchen, turning in circles trying to figure out what the different sounds were I was hearing.

This got a chuckle out of me Sheryl. It is so true. After being near deaf for so long and then all of a sudden you have a very loud world like turning a light switch on, it’s crazy and overwhelming at times.

This is why the CI audiologist starts new patients out with low volumes. Their end goal is to really crank the volume up over a number of mappings. Getting the brain acclimated sooner is a good thing for most but it can be challenging. I say this for the OP.

Rick just figuring out the most simple sounds eg wall clock ticking, microwave beeps, fridge motor, birds tweeting, tap dripping, washing machine singing (mine plays a tune).All the simple things we take for granted are a huge challenge to our brain in the very early stage after activation.

I live in an area that is mostly seniors. My church a lone has about 80% of us wearing aids. And there is 4 with CIs that I know of. All of the ones with CIs are only single CIs.

I had my first mapping session yesterday, and I’m not sure what to think about it. Sounds are definitely louder and clearer. I can now make out some words using only my CI, but not enough to understand context. So I think that’s all good. On the down side, there are many sounds that seem to translate into a high screech or hiss, and that seems to be a bit disorienting. It seems like I’m almost on the edge of being dizzy from the sounds. Do you expect that I will become accustomed to this in time, and it’s just a part of the process, or is there a problem with the way the CI is programmed?

@Roberto2 said:

On the down side, there are many sounds that seem to translate into a high screech or hiss, and that seems to be a bit disorienting. It seems like I’m almost on the edge of being dizzy from the sounds.

You are doing really good. All those screeches and scratches are sounds you do not understand yet. With some time your brain will figure out what those sounds are.

The dizzy and sometimes headaches is normal. You are exercising your brain with many new sounds. Your descriptions are very similar to my experience which I believe is a very good sign.

The first year to year and a half for me was almost overwhelming. All the new loud sounds can really tax you. I found that turning the volume down a little in the late afternoons or evenings was a nice break after a day of exercising the brain. The sensitivity setting is another way to calm down all the loud sounds from everywhere.

Hang in there, doing great.

Thanks for the advice. Going slow will be hard. Actually I downloaded an audiobook and a print copy of the same title this evening. Turns out that even without my aid, I can hear the words quite clearly as I read the print. Bit starring at the wall instead of the print, not so much. Nevertheless, that was encouraging.

@Roberto2 If you join your local library they have apps you can get audiobooks and print version as well. These audiobook are free from the library.

I was one of the lucky ones I heard speech at activation. By the next mapping 1 week later I was hearing all conversations. I didn’t experience the scratchy, screechy sounds. So I just listened to audiobooks all the time.

Yes, you’re right about the audio books. I downloaded an audio book and thhe print version of the same title yesterday. I can see how that will be helpful. I can already follow along quite well with my implant only while also reading the words. However; when I try to hear it without looking at the words, it’s a different matter. Nevertheless, I understand that it’s a process and I’m in it for the long haul.

I am bimodal with an Advanced Bionics CI on L and a Phonak Naida Link M HA on R. My surgery was Jan 2025 and a repositioning surgery because the electrode shifted this Feb,

Almost no pain from the surgery but lots of nausea after the 1st. surgery but not the 2nd.

To train my CI hearing, I listen to NY Times articles “read by an automated voice”. These sometimes sound unnatural, especially with pauses between words and with words in “quotes”, which are often read as “quote, quote, quote, quote”. But the words are usually very clear. After a few weeks, they were too easy to understand but I still listen while eating breakfast or doing other things.

I find streaming from my laptop much easier to understand than using the device microphones. Zoom meetings are easier than in-person. Captions are often garbled but still helpful. When a speaker wears a Roger or Partner mic, the sound is about as clear as streaming. But when background noise is low, I can usually understand conversations.