SSD

[Michael 66]

 

I am SSD and I am waiting for a CI, a flex 28 on my deaf ear.

My concern is can it get to sound quite natural after lots of aural rehab and time, so my good normal ear and the CI ear together sound very similar and natural?

Or will speech/music always sound robotic in the CI ear? 

I’m hoping that when listening with both ears together the CI ear will sound very similar to my normal ear and blend in as a natural sound.

Any help would be welcome as I’m devastated by losing my left ear and suffering terribly with tinnitus.

 

[Mary Beth]

@Kylie

@Jared Charney

[Tim]

@Dead ear I'm SSD.  I was implanted & activated in January. 

When I stream directly to my CI, the voices and music sound less clear and rich.  Some distortion but still generally pleasant or at least understandable (prior to trialing an ABF adjustment which I will roll back).  In seven months I've listened to a dozen audiobooks streamed directly to my CI as rehab and have done over a hundred of hours of podcasts and of music (spotify.)

Even without sounding the same, the brain's neuroplasticity is amazing.  When I'm not streaming to just the CI, it blends together and I don't even notice that my ears have different audio qualities.  A bit like an old prescription for glasses, it can look really good and feel normal.  In fact, I often touch my CI to prove to myself it is actually working since it blends together so seamlessly. 

Some little/big benefits:

• My family has noticed how I don't do the SSD head turn anymore. 
• On walks outdoors or in the house, I can tell where sounds are coming from! 
• I don't find in-person meetings and loud social events nearly as exhausting.
• I ask people to repeat themselves much less often.
• I don't stress over finding the perfect seat at in-person meetings from an audibility perspective.  (i.e. just to the left of the center of conversation, have the soft mumbler on my good/right side, watching out for the loud projector fan noise, etc.)
• My tinnitus was 24x7 on my bad side before the CI and now is essentially gone when wearing the CI.
• I ran an academic conference with most of the attendees being non-native English speakers this Summer.  I could not imagine having done that before the CI. 

Everyone's journey is different so it is important to go in with realistic expectations.  My recovery path was probably around average, certainly not a "golden activation" where people can recognize words and sentences right away.  Also, there are some people that have had more difficult paths. 

My hearing on my CI side will never be equal to a normal ear - the frequency ranges of the electronics are inherently more limited (150-8500 Hz vs. around 20-20,000 Hz for a good young ear.)  Having said that, I'm glad that I had it done for many reasons.

• Improved quality of life and work now.
• Potentially easier recovery spending less time of understimulating the bad ear/hearing nerve than if I waited years longer.
• Avoiding scenario of total deafness if I were to suddenly lose hearing in my good ear and then really being stuck in an "emergency" situation of rapidly getting a CI. (A low but non-zero probability.)

A couple of recommendations:

• Engage with the Hearpeers community - for example, enrich your profile to say what country you are in as some advice can be country specific.  The forum and community is really a tremendous resource. Search for people and old threads.
• Do some prep to be ready for surgery/recovery (discussed in detail in other threads here)
• Get set up with audio content sources to plan for rehab.  (ex. audiobooks via Libby or Audible, podcasts, etc.)  You might not be able to really use these for weeks after activation but getting set up or familiar with them in advance is helpful. 
• Consider requesting the anatomy based fitting at the outset.  (Mine was 6 months post-activation which might have made it harder, again ABF is discussed in great detail in other threads.)
• Find a buddy or two (whether in-person or virtual) that will be getting a CI at a similar time.  (Might find them through your clinic or Hearpeers, easier if they are fellow Med-El users to trade lessons/questions on hardware.)

All in all, I'm glad that I had it done!  I wear my CI openly and it can sometimes be a good conversation starter with people.

Good luck and keep spirits up.  Welcome soon to the club. It will be an adventure!

 

[Jared Charney]

Good morning @Dead ear @Kylie and @Tim I think Tim has created an amazing response! I'll chime in (with random thought tangents here) that I had sudden hearing loss about 7 years ago and also experienced 24/7 truly awful tinnitus that at points was so overwhelming that I would effectively go deaf in some situations including work and family life. Fast forward to about 3 years ago when I was implanted. A month after surgery and when the audiologist placed the other processor on: voila! no tinnitus, as long as I'm wearing my Sonnet 2 or Rondo 3, my brain is too busy taking in sound and processing it into electronic code. For me it was quite literally an instant success. Rehabbing took time though streaming but slowly and surely more and more success. I too no longer fear going out to dinner with my wife or fear certain work situations. From time to time if I am struggling with background noises I will use my AudioLink and it is very effective for suppressing those noises and my brain relaxes and I'm able to hear well. I agree with Tim, there's some kind of magic that happens as you progress w/the CI when sound mixes between the "good" ear and the CI ear it just sounds normal. I find that my CI helps me hear in every situation not just background noise but in all situations and for me that's the real miracle. I'm no longer worn out both literally and figuratively by not hearing and by tinnitus. I no longer feel like a victim of circumstance but I feel extremely grateful. also, Tim had touched on how well it helps with sound localization and that is also the case for me especially helpful with my work. I also love when people ask me about my CI and I can't tell you how many people I've met who also have SSD but have not looked into CI's so that's also helped people connect w/audiologists to explore that as an option for them. I even had an article written about my journey and an artist did a painting about it as well. It's helped me heal in ways I didn't think possible. Good luck and keep asking questions!

[Dianna]

Hi dead ear, i am implanted on one side but still had low hearing in each ear. I had one side implanted of my choice. I have worn hearing aids for oncreasing hearing loss for several decades.

My ci gives me about 80 percent clarity with words, nearly 100 with ha on the other. I wore an ear plug for awhile in the "good ear" and rehabbed the ci alone with streaming.

Its been 2 years since implantation, i prefer the sound from the ci over the hearing aid.

[Kylie]

I am also SSD and got my CI a few years ago. With my 2 ears together (natural + CI) the sound is beautifully balanced and sounds very natural. Can't remember it sounding different before I was deaf. So yes the brain finds a way to work it out for a natural total stereo sound. Marvelous!!

[Tim]

Thanks for the very kind words @Jared Charney. 

The respondents in this thread (as well as other people) have all been so helpful for me in my hearing journey by sharing their experiences, advice, and time.

I'm happy to help return the favor to those earlier in their journeys. 

[Lauren]

I’m not single sided but had a similar story to Dianna’s with hearing aids before first going bimodal then later bilateral.

Despite the history of hearing devices, the CIs sound so natural that I plumb forgot just today that my left Rondo 3 was still on while I was focusing on switching over to the Sonnet 2s. Everyone’s journey is different and mine took time and brain training to get to the natural sounding but now that I’m there it’s nothing short of amazing. 

As for Tim’s comment on ABF, definitely try doing it sooner than later if it’s an option. I did it at the 7 month (ish) mark and it was rough going the first month or two as I was well adjusted to my prior map. 

[Michael 66]

Thank you Tim, Jared, Dianna, Kylie and Lauren for your kind and informative replies. Your advice help and support mean a lot as I’m devastated by the loss of my ear and debilitating tinnitus. 
Doctors in the UK seem so discouraging about CI for SSD when you would like some encouragement. 
Losing my own voice in that ear is quite distressing to me. 
Do you hear your own voice again with a CI? 
With time and practice while listening with both ears together does it get to sound like your own voice again? 
Many thanks 

[Dianna]

Hi deadear, yes i hear my own voice. The mics pick up sound and the mics are close to sound. When i am sitting in a room watching tv or listening, my hardware is focused on sound in front of me, when my roomate speaks it sometimes startles me to speak.

[Kylie]

This is also one of the questions I was worried about, as I am a singer.

But happily yes now my voice sounds like normal to me, both for talking and singing! I am so happy with a CI for my SSD, I would like everyone to have the same opportunity.

[Mary Beth]

@Dead ear

If you would like to chat with other Med-El CI users (including SSD users), think about joining our GoogleMeet.  Here is a link.  Respond in that topic if interested.