Carolyn Posted August 7, 2018 Report Share Posted August 7, 2018 Hello everyone, I introduced myself in another forum a couple of months ago, and appreciated all the feedback. I did go ahead with the surgery and had my (unilateral) processor turned on August 3rd, so I am only a few days into this. Turn-on went better than expected. I was told I might only hear beeps and static in the beginning, but right away I could hear and understand the audiologist with the help of lip reading. I do notice a honking/beeping sound with every syllable of every word spoken. This has been annoying, but I have still been able to make out the words with the help of speech reading up until this point. I have been able to follow a commentator on a news program without the help of captions (something I was unable to keep up with using hearing aids alone). My problem is that this afternoon, for whatever reason, the honking sound seemed to get louder (no changes in the program I’m on) to the point where it is really difficult to find and understand the spoken word. Just wondering if anyone has experienced a setback like this (It could be that I am just tired of listening altogether). Also, is the honking sound something that can be adjusted or tuned out through the mapping process? Thanks for any input you can offer. Sorry for the long post… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HearPeers Heroes Mary Beth Posted August 7, 2018 HearPeers Heroes Report Share Posted August 7, 2018 @MED-EL Moderator This post actually posted 32 times! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vinod Posted October 10, 2018 Report Share Posted October 10, 2018 My name is Vinod. I am new to this forum. I have profound hearing loss in both ears. My audiologist and doctor suggested. cI replacing my phonack hearing aids in both ears. I am concerned the percent of success of CI. If it does not prove successful I will lose my residual natural hearing and which can not be regained if lost. I am thinking only one ear at the present time. Will it be two different voices in both ears? I will appreciate your input in order to make a good decision Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HearPeers Heroes Mary Beth Posted October 10, 2018 HearPeers Heroes Report Share Posted October 10, 2018 Hello @Vinod and welcome to HearPeers! It is a big decision and many of us have had lots of questions before making our own decisions. We are a friendly bunch so feel free to ask as many questions as you wish. Getting cochlear implants has returned so much hearing to my life. They are amazing tech! Many people use one hearing aid and one cochlear implant (bimodal). Our brains do a great job using the CI input. For many people, aural rehab helps speed up that process. It helped me a lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carolyn Posted October 10, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 10, 2018 Hi Vinod, It sounds like your hearing experience is very similar to mine. So let me provide you some encouragement. I, too, had severe/profound hearing loss in both ears, and hearing aids were becoming less and less effective, to the point where I dreaded social situations, and had tremendous difficulty in my work as a college instructor. I also had grave concerns about losing my residual hearing, which my surgeon told me would most likely happen. I was implanted in July and turned on in early August. I was implanted on the left side only. I did not lose ALL my hearing in that ear, but I did lose more (which didn't leave me with much, believe me). The good news is, I don't care. Hearing with the implant is different, but I still wear my hearing aid in the other ear, which balances out much of the mechanical, robotic sound of the implanted ear. More importantly, I hear and understand speech better, and it is improving all the time.(I'm about two months post turn on and my speech recognition at one month was 72% as opposed to 20% before implantation.) I know everyone's experience is different, but I can tell you there is good reason to be hopeful. It's not perfect, but it's better. I'll take that. It has greatly improved the quality of my life. Good luck to you. Please let us know what happens. Jewel and Mary Beth 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HearPeers Heroes Mary Featherston Posted October 10, 2018 HearPeers Heroes Report Share Posted October 10, 2018 @Vinod I had the same concerns. I had my first CI implanted on my bad ear just in case. On Friday I'm getting the other ear done, the improvement is astounding. Just one data point! Kara of Canada 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hicksy Posted October 11, 2018 Report Share Posted October 11, 2018 Pretty much the same. Progressive loss equally in each ear. Hearing aids were always useless to me. Reached the point where I was actively shunning society due to not being able to understand mostly anything. My main fear was losing what little hearing I did have left as well as losing my ability to love music. finally reached the point where I realized I was missing most of the music I knew so well anyway and took the plunge. Lost my hearing completely in my implanted ear and it hasn’t bothered me a bit. What I gained is so amazing and what I lost so insignificant. I will say I won’t be in a big hurry to have my other ear implanted as I do find a bit of comfort in having at least a smidgen of hearing when my processor is off despite all the accolades of going bilateral. Mary Featherston 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HearPeers Heroes Jewel Posted October 12, 2018 HearPeers Heroes Report Share Posted October 12, 2018 Hi @Vinod. Welcome to HearPeers. The first time I heard about CIs I was told that I qualify for them in both ears. I only ever wore a HA in one of my ears as the other one lost hearing pretty rapidly several years ago. I had good low frequency hearing in the HA ear but the HA didn't help me much after a year or two. I had to rely mostly on lipreading to get me through in recent years. I would wear the HA on and off. I was concerned about losing my residual hearing. I was concerned about whether the CI would work as the audi told me there are no guarantees. That was 6 years ago. Fast forward to today where I finally got my CI and have been activated three weeks. Although I could hear the same after the CI surgery I started to lose much of my low frequency hearing after a week or so. Not sure if it's because I flew back home 10 days after the surgery. Anyway with the CI I am able to hear far better than I was able to with the HA. Today I could hear the bartender shovelling the ice to put into glasses about 15 feet away. Voices don't really sound robotic to me. I have not had to lipread since a day or so after activation. So I ended up gaining far more than I lost. Music is still a bit of a challenge but I'm optimistic. It's normal to be anxious about this. It's a big decision. But if I had known that it would be so good I probably would have done it sooner if I could have afforded it. Do your research and take that leap of faith. Btw I have not had any problem with my brain being confused with CI hearing in one ear and limited hearing in the other. My CI ear is the dominant ear and I hear very well with just that ear. So you can try wearing the CI as well as a HA in the other and compare it with not wearing anything in the other ear. You may end up not wanting to use the HA again and will just want to get a second CI. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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