Nick1996 Posted August 9, 2022 Report Share Posted August 9, 2022 I'm considering a cochlear implant one day, because my hearing has declined some, and I'm 26. ENT thinks it's all stress related. I'm afraid of it getting worse. What do these sound like after 1-2 years? I love music and used to play it often, but just as a bedroom guitarist. Losing music isn't huge to me at the same time as I just want to hear my family. Will their voices sound like they do now to me if I consider this one day? I see so many online websites that say it sounds like a vocoder and that scares me to death. Dianna 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HearPeers Heroes Mary Beth Posted August 10, 2022 HearPeers Heroes Report Share Posted August 10, 2022 @Nick1996 I understand completely. It was those vocoder CI simulations of what speech and music sound like that made me delay getting a CI. I did not want to hear like that. So I am happy to report that listening with my Med-El CIs does not sound anything like that! At first everything sounds odd and music took its own journey after activation. Now music and voices and nature and TV all sound terrific. People have their own natural voices. I hear accents and when people are playing with their voices and the individual voices of musical instruments. Life changing tech. Wishing you the best. Dianna and Jared Charney 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick1996 Posted August 10, 2022 Author Report Share Posted August 10, 2022 Oh thank god! By natural voice you mean if I ever get to the point where I am profoundly deaf that they can implant these and eventually I'll be able to hear my mother close to what she sounds like again! Thank the lord! Dianna 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HearPeers Heroes Mary Beth Posted August 10, 2022 HearPeers Heroes Report Share Posted August 10, 2022 @Nick1996 yes that has been my experience with my CIs. It takes time and practice but yes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dianna Posted August 10, 2022 Report Share Posted August 10, 2022 Hi nick, welcome! I am 11 mo activated. On day 1 i could hear better than my hearing aid! Voices were strange and electrical. By end of day my roommates sounded familiar! In an electrical way, but wearing my sonnet2 daily brought the voices into human range! I live with my 77 yo sister. I can compare to my mom, she sounded like herself within a week. I also live with my 55 yo nephew who has a twin! They both sounded like themselves i would say same time frame. Everyone is different and have different timeframes for development of the nerves and brain, and it takes patience. I am so happy with my ci, thinking strongly about doing other side! Good luck with your research, looking forward to your "story"! Di Jared Charney 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick1996 Posted August 10, 2022 Author Report Share Posted August 10, 2022 @Dianna Do they still sound electrical now? Dianna 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dianna Posted August 10, 2022 Report Share Posted August 10, 2022 Nope all voices sound human! I can hear alot of lyrics in music too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dianna Posted August 10, 2022 Report Share Posted August 10, 2022 I am about to be tested a gazillon times this morning, at my "12 mo." Evaluation a month early, lol. Hopefully will have a little comparitive info. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick1996 Posted August 10, 2022 Author Report Share Posted August 10, 2022 @Dianna I would love to hear from you regarding the results! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dianna Posted August 11, 2022 Report Share Posted August 11, 2022 Hi nick!! Well we did not discuss a 2nd ci this visit, and im going forward with a new ha. The clinic im going to is on the same campus but a different unit. My ci team has access to clinic data and vice versa so hoping to be bimodal in a few weeks. We tested hearing with no devices (i do have residual hearing happy day) My audi was so open to more discussion and settings than previous visits. After we "tuned" active electrodes we made new maps together, sge showed ma and explained settings and she gave me sesitivity controls. Updated the software on my phone and finished up with me hearing great! I am very happy today! Well, after this lovely 1.5 hour test and tune, i had 5 hours of assorted testing and i am exhausted! I am volunteering in a research grant and had 12 month testing up the yinyang! So my tune was setting the max for all electrodes, she showed and explained so much more than ever and thanks to this group i understood everything she showed or explained to me. Our goal is for the electrode maxes to be close, to level things off. We had to reduce two electrodes cuz i felt them! One actually tickled my lip! The adjustments made gave me the little "sharpening" i wanted on words. I need to rehab words maybe vs all the music apps i use. The hours of labs yesterday was like a week of rehab in one day lol. Sue and i agreed next time i see her we will make an app just for music as i am using all four with ai mild and strong. Great visit and i am happy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick1996 Posted August 11, 2022 Author Report Share Posted August 11, 2022 @Dianna I am very happy that your appointment went well! Dianna 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dianna Posted August 11, 2022 Report Share Posted August 11, 2022 Nick, one more thing..... A year ago i tested 50 percent hearing in both ears. Now they did tell me that with ci and no help on one ear, i hear in the 80 percentile in all tests. The parts left i need to work on are probably things i havnt heard well since age 5. So its all good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prof Mo Posted August 12, 2022 Report Share Posted August 12, 2022 Nick. I got my CI 4 months ago. I'm SSD. for me, started off robotic and chipmunk like but is getting much better fast. familiar music and voices sound close to normal already. I didn't hear in that ear for 30 years. From my understanding the time from losing your hearing to getting the CI is critical as your brain adjusts rapidly. The longer you can't hear the longer the rehab process. I"m at 60% words already and so damn happy I did it. I got a rondo 3. I was worried how it would look because I"m a handsome guy. now I'm handsome and can hear. 😀 Dianna, Mary Beth and Jared Charney 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roy Posted August 12, 2022 Report Share Posted August 12, 2022 Hi Nick, I’m 9 years post-activation with bilateral CIs. I have no natural hearing at all. Voices sound completely normal and at age 74 I understand speech better (>90% on each side) than most of my contemporaries. I play guitar and banjo pretty much daily, and they (and all other musical instruments) sound like they should. My sense of pitch is a bit wonky in the range between timing- and place-based cues (your audiologist can explain), but I’m able to tune a guitar by ear. Except, with electronic tuners, who does that anymore? Like Mary Beth, I delayed my decision to get CIs because I feared that sound would become robotic. And so it did - for maybe two weeks, after which sound became far more natural than with my HAs. So I have zero regrets. There are a few caveats, however. First, some CI patients don’t have good experiences and it’s not clear to me that the reasons are well understood. And I don’t know the frequency of sub-par outcomes. It’s a question you should ask. Second, I worked like a demon to acclimate by spending hundreds of hours listening to podcasts, audiobooks and music. And third, I reached high speech recognition levels quickly, but music took much longer. In fact, it’s still improving. Good luck on your journey. Jared Charney, Prof Mo, Mary Beth and 1 other 2 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dianna Posted August 13, 2022 Report Share Posted August 13, 2022 Thanks roy! Love your splanation! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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