TheresaO Posted December 9, 2017 Report Share Posted December 9, 2017 Greetings! This is my first online forum and I am not active on social media. So I am not really sure how this works. However I really like the idea of being able to connect with others facing similar issues. I experienced sudden deafness in May. I had a cochlear implant (kanso) in July and it was turned on in Aug. In retrospect I may not have done a lot of research on my options and really trusted my audiologist’s advice. Being deaf it seem like any option to be able to hear was better than the state I was in, particularly because my mind was making up so much noise in my head to compensate for the loss of hearing. I was starting to go crazy but that’s a whole another story. So the good news is the implant quieted all the noises/voices in my head and I am able to participate in conversations. I guess I was just surprised at the point of turn on of how I was now living in a Mickey Mouse world. My doctor had said the turn would be like Christmas but I didn’t understand that because I was going to be given a backpack full of stuff ! I am able to distinguish now between male and female voices. I was curious if anyone had any experience similar to mine. Will I ever hear or be able to understand music like I had previously? I miss listening to music and I think the fact that my husband plays guitar makes it even harder. Thanks so much for creating this community ! Theresa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HearPeers Heroes Mary Beth Posted December 9, 2017 HearPeers Heroes Report Share Posted December 9, 2017 Hi @TheresaO and welcome! Yeah, things sounded very weird at first for me and music was a mess. Thankfully with MAPpings, aural rehab and time that all improved. Check out our topic called rehab for lots of suggestions of things that helped us both with speech and with music. I wish you the best on your journey. TheresaO 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheresaO Posted December 10, 2017 Author Report Share Posted December 10, 2017 Thank you Mary Beth. I will check it out ! Mary Beth 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HearPeers Heroes stream2525 Posted December 10, 2017 HearPeers Heroes Report Share Posted December 10, 2017 Did you love all your hearing ? Are you able to understand speech? I have read a lot and most people have same experience as yours. From what I understood , you need around one year to get sounds close to normal. TheresaO 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HearPeers Heroes Mary Beth Posted December 10, 2017 HearPeers Heroes Report Share Posted December 10, 2017 @stream2525 Almost all articles and CI audiologists/surgeons seem to say one year. But I have friends who had achieved great hearing with their CIs well before one year and also friends who took longer than one year. One year may be an average or the length of time most users take but it is arbitrary in a way for any individual CI user. Studies show that there is continued improvement in listening well beyond one year after activation. In fact, one study I read showed continued improvement over the length of the study which was 5 years. Definitely for most CI users who are doing aural rehab, the quickest improvements will happen early in their journeys. I have been activated for over 2.5 years and I am still noticing improvements, especially with musical pitch. Everyone’s CI journey will be unique. That is one reason it is so fascinating to read about other people’s journeys. No two ears take the same journey - even two ears on the same person! Hicksy, Jewel, stream2525 and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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