Just realized the thread title works with “here” or “hear”.
“Anybody here hear with Cochlear Implants?”
My wife got a coclear implant last February. She is currently 49 and has been hearing impaired her whole life, but it had gotten much worse in the last year. her experience has been is has been very positive. The surgery was the easiest on she ever had and she feels that getting one has been one of the best decisions she’s ever made and only regrets that she waited so long.
As far as the learning curve goes it varies from person to person. When it was first put in my wife thought that everyone sounded like a cylon, and the “s” sound kept going forever. When we were on our way home from turning it on she repeated “Swiss cheese” over and over to herself because it sounded so weird. I think this was because previously she hadn’t really heard that the natural “s” sound lasts more than an instant. She also played a “game” called everything makes a sound where she would realize that even turning a page in a book or putting down a pencil makes a noise. But after a week or two of wearing it the cylon sound and lingering s’s went away as her brain got used to translating the different stimulus. It is also important to keep using it. She went without it for a while (for reasons I won’t go into here) and when she put it back on again, it was again harder for her to hear. She still can’t hear well on the phone, but that may change with practice and with setting up the phone to correctly interact with her implant.
The newer implants don’t entirely destroy your natural hearing, although there is likely to be some degradation, and given that the reason you are having the implant is presumably that your hearing in that ear is poor to begin with there may not be a lot of useful hearing left.
Her main complaint is that the batteries don’t last as long as advertised, and that with her very thick hair its hard to keep the transmitter coil attached to her head, which contributes to her not using it as much as she should.
I’ve now read a few first-hand accounts, here (thanks again, all) and elsewhere; I’ve also heard a simulation/virtual rendition of what CI’s sound like to newbies. Bottom line is I’m encouraged, rather confident I could handle the learning curve without too much difficulty.
I’ve already been forced to make similar adjustments with my current hearing aids (because of the distortion inherent in the extreme amplification required); the CI would just be more of the same but at a whole 'nother level of difficulty.
I’ll now admit I was not expecting this thread to raise my hopes. Yay, Straight Dope! Or something.
Reviving the thread three and a half years later.
It’s time.
At age 73.5 my hearing is now so bad that even with my high end hearing aids, I’m effectively deaf. Unless conditions and environment are absolutely ideal (almost never in real life), I can hear speech but seldom understand it. Have to rely heavily on a speech to text transcription program on my phone.
My ENT, Audiologist, and Primary Care Physician are all encouraging me to get a cochlear implant. Since I’m now at the point where I have literally nothing to lose by trying the procedure, I have an appointment in June to get the ball rolling.
The Audiologist, who herself has CI’s in both ears (!) tells me that things have changed in the past few years regarding the recovery and learning process. With that in mind, if any of you care to comment further about your first or second-hand experiences, please do so.
I’m feeling encouraged and hopeful, not at all worried (with nothing to lose) — just curious about what I might encounter.
Thanks all.
My mother, about your same age @TreacherousCretin, had one implanted about a year ago and I’ve had an opportunity to observe her progress. In short, hers has been 100% successful and positive. I’ve been able to see her delight in hearing stuff for the first time in decades (the turn signal indicator in the car, birdcalls) or at all (like a coffee maker that beeps). I got the impression her recovery and learning were easier and faster than she expected. She had worn hearing aids in each ear for a long time and it’s much better now with the CI and remaining aid.
I think the presurgical appointments before the big day were the major source of irritants and anxiety but in the normal medical services way.
Thanks for the message, very encouraging. The snippet I’ve quoted is of particular interest to me, as I’ll have the first implant in my dead left ear, while retaining my heavily hearing-aided better (barely) right ear for at least a while. The interplay between the two sides should be interesting.
I posted a response above, in October 2020; but because you updated the thread with your plans, I reached out to my ex-wife, who you will recall is an audiologist. She reviewed the thread, and let me know her views.
First of all, she had a link that illustrates what hearing through a cochlear implant is like:
I tried a few of the samples. None are very long, and they’re simple sentences that might occur in any conversation. They are much improved over the sample I heard maybe 20 years ago. Not so muddy nowadays, but still a little robotic. My ex did say that there have been great advances in the technology since then, and I have to agree.
Next she was interested in the fact that your ENT, Audiologist, and PCP are encouraging you to go ahead with the procedure, and had this to say (note that I’m quoting my ex):
(Edited a bit to remove personal conversation.)
So there you go. I did send my ex-wife a link to the thread, and she reviewed the link, and now that she has the link, I’m sure that she will be looking in from time to time, so keep the thread updated as things develop. Good luck!
Thank you! It is a huge decision, made somewhat easier by my having almost literally nothing to lose — Virtually no hearing in left side, extremely limited in right side. My audiologist pointed out that even if the (left side) CI somehow doesn’t work out for me, all I have to do is deactivate the processor, unplug the external hardware, and I’ll be no deafer on that side than I was beforehand.
I’m also fortunate that the clinic is heavily booked, still two months until my preliminary interviews, giving me plenty of time to think about it
Again, thank you and jnglmassiv for taking the time to reply.
Edit: and I definitely will update for your ex.
My 92 year old father had essentially the same amount of hearing you do; nothing on the left and very diminished on the R. I watched him slowly become more isolated in the middle of conversations despite state of the art hearing aids and adaptive devices such as a speech to text telephone and a direct imput from his phone to his hearing aid (I cannot teach him to text!). He had a cochlear implant last month. He now says that he can definitely hear from that ear but everyone’s voice is low-pitched. The surgery was minimally invasive and he tolerated it well. He hasn’t yet started any formal training but is concentrating on having my mother read to him and watching television with the actual sound and not just subtitles. He hasn’t commented on any surprising noises but did comment on the delay in the closed captions on the television so I know he is hearing. He was provided with tons of materials and devices including multiple types of batteries of varying size and length of charge, adapters for the television and a microphone for one to one conversations. He certainly does not have normal hearing but at less than 2 months out he is apparently doing very well. Like you point out, you have nothing to lose if one ear is essentially nonfuctional. You can still have a hearing aid on the better ear and use the implant on the ear that does not currently hear at all.
Thank you! The increasing isolation has indeed become unbearable. I’m particularly encouraged by your father’s age, and I hope my post-op experiences are as promising as his.
I had no idea they were doing this for 92 year olds and would have guess not. I’m glad I’m wrong and glad he’s doing well. Closed caption errors are a small pleasure to listen & watch for.
I was surprised too until I researched it and found that they were doing it in people over 100. It is a very minimal surgery ( general anesthesia but home the same day). The major criteria is how much the patient can potentially benefit. My father is still mentally sharp, goes to adult education classes, attends the opera regularly etc.
For me this was one of the biggest surprises early on:
First, carving out a shallow depression in your skull for the internal half of the magnetic connecting piece to nestle into, and then boring into your inner ear to thread a strip of electrodes into your tiny, spiral shaped cochlea… is minimally invasive outpatient surgery. Wonderfully amazing.
Also- my Audiologist told me she has CI clients/patients in their 90’s. Why am I not surprised that right here on the SDMB I’d get a current, first hand (nearly) account from just such a person. And hearing how well it’s been going for him.
My ENT guy told me my hearing loss is slowly reaching the point where my insurance might cover it. His gripe was that my situation is so predictable that a CI should have been done already.
I had a similarly frustrating experience three years ago, although I wasn’t ready to commit to the CI yet anyway. Much more recently both my ENT and Audiologist told me the “qualification” standards have been relaxed since then, and they assure me that I’ll easily qualify this time (June). I’m hoping they’re right.
FWIW my insurance is Medicare with supplemental United Health.
My father-in-law had one CI done, 5-6 years back. It took a while to be approved - because, while he was really at the outside of what could be helped with hearing aids, he must have done better than expected on some kind of screening test.
He had the second one done a bit less than 2 years ago. I’m not sure about the process to decide usefulness / eligibility in his case.
He did have some training stuff he needed to do on a computer after the first one. He never really talked about how he heard things; I wonder if it may have been easier since he still had a little (aided) hearing in the other ear - as in “murble gbndf” from one ear, and “good morning” from the other, training his brain?
He too had Medicare with a UHC supplement. His hearing had been shot for 50+ years - he worked at a textile mill for a bit as a newlywed, back when hearing protection was simply Not A Thing. He got by with hearing aids, but it had been deteriorating his entire adult life.
Three years ago my hearing wasn’t quite so bad as it is now, but I was already badly impaired in everyday communication with people. The CI screening test involved keeping my hearing aids in place and functioning while having the technician test my ability to hear spoken words at various volumes. I did rather well, so I didn’t qualify.
I had serious doubts about this. The test was conducted with the technician and I seated several feet apart, in a dead quiet soundproof booth, and with the Tech carefully articulating the test words.
All of which of course bore very little resemblance to real life. Also, the Tech informed me that my test results were the same as what would be expected with a properly functioning implant. Which I frankly still think was bullshit. In the real world I was barely able to function with my existing hearing aids.
I complained about it afterward to my ENT (same clinic as the CI lab). He was openly surprised by what I told him but was careful not to criticize or question his own clinic’s findings.
Regardless I soldiered on for another three years.