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What has surprised you the most about your CI journey?


Mary Beth

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I look forward to reading your responses.

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What surprised me the most was that I actually hear better now that I’m deaf, than I did when I was hard-of-hearing!

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17 minutes ago, Mary Beth said:

What surprised me the most was that I actually hear better now that I’m deaf, than I did when I was hard-of-hearing!

This - exactly.  I'm not quite there from the standpoint of clarity - not all the frequencies are fully integrated yet.  But my word comprehension is several orders of magnitude better.

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Well it's still early days for me. I got my audiogram of the test done prior to activation and turns out I lost 55 dB in my implanted ear for the low tones. Although that's a bit of a downer I'm surprised at how much I can now hear with the CI and I don't have to do any lipreading whatsoever! The CI is far better than all the HAs I used. 

As an aside I'm also surprised that my ear is so small for the Sonnet. I really didn't expect it to be falling off from time to time. But to be able to hear like normal is worth this minor problem. 

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I was surprised as to how much I could hear sounds. I didn't expect to hear so many quiet sounds or sounds with very low volume. 

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I agree with you all! How much I can hear now far outweighs any pain and suffering I went through to get here. The other day I heard my dogs claws on the sidewalk! Wow what an amazing device! Or devices I should say. Lol 

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The electric teakettle boiling the water , the dogs barking next door , the car radio from the car in front of me with my windows up,the buzzing of an old thermostat that my family says has been doing this for years ..they got used to it ..started driving me crazy ..I had it replaced with a new one that didn’t make any noise ..?and going bilateral is a whole new world ..much easier to hear in stores/ restaurants etc etc ..

Jane

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Great topic @Mary Beth! For me it's all the above. Seeing  the difference from hearing aids. I wish I would have thought of CIs alot sooner?. The most surprising for now since I'm early in my Journey is actually understanding tv dialogue without captions or along with the captions.

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@sassychele02 - totally with you about the relative sound vs the hearing aids.  When I consider that up till May I was hearing only what I could hear with my hearing aids and getting, as I learned in February, only 19% word comprehension, I am amazed that I functioned as well as I did.  I'm not anywhere near where I expect I'll be with CIs, but it's far, far better. 

And like everyone else, surprised by all the little sounds.  Fizzy carbonation and ice cubes clinking (and boy, if you chew ice, is that EVER loud) and my cat's purr.  It's awesome.

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I’m surprised at the number of people who approach me out of curiosity or to tell me their own experiences with implants among friends and family.

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On 10/4/2018 at 9:37 AM, Mary Beth said:

What surprised me the most was that I actually hear better now that I’m deaf, than I did when I was hard-of-hearing!

Same wth me.  I am shocked

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I didn’t have anyone approach me unless I wore my hair up. And the processor was visible. Very few people. So I make a point of meeting people that I see have them now. 

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Ha, @Kara of Canada - I don't have enough hair, my processor and coil are completely visible.  My husband and I were at dinner last week and he was getting weirded out because some guy was staring at me.  Now, I'm 60 years old and overweight and I have no illusions at all.  I must have given Ron a funny look because he had a lightbulb go  on over his head and he said, "ohhhhh... I bet he was looking at your CI".

I tend to take opportunities to talk to people at work when I can.  It's good for people to see others with differing abilities and know that it's okay.

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lol! I know what you mean! I still feel that for the most part people dot really know what a CI is. Those who do help the rest of us by spreading the word that living with hearing loss can be very sad and lonely. 

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