I appreciate the encouraging update. I’m very happy for you.
Reviving the thread again hoping Spoons can ask his ex a question for me.
One year after activation I’m pleased with my results. I have the CI in my left ear, regular hearing aid in my original (but very weak) right ear. Without the two devices I’m not quite stone deaf. With both devices in place, and paired, my hearing is good enough to get through life. I can hear my cat purring!
But one thing puzzles me. While the clarity of the CI is exceptional, the volume level is very weak. When my audiologist fine tuned it earlier this week, she had me listen to three or four different bandwidths one at a time. With each sample she gradually increased the volume until I felt it was “comfortable”; what bothers me is that I have no idea how much louder it could have gotten before becoming uncomfortable. Because it sounds to me as if the CI should be delivering a much louder signal to my ear. Is there a reason for her not to start the calibration at “too loud” instead of “too soft?”
So as not to hurt you?
This sounds like a question for the audiologist.
IANA expert but have worn conventional hearing aids for 7 (!?!) years now.
Starting at the soft end sounds like a safety measure. But stopping at “just barely loud enough” sounds like a choice for a different reason.
A lot of hearing loss, although maybe not yours, comes from sustained exposure to loud noises. So the default assumption may be that better to baby your current hearing with soft sounds than to blast it and wreck what little is left.
I’ve encountered a lot of practitioners in lots of areas of life, not only medical, that apply one-size-fits-all rules of thumb to every case, even the outliers. Might that be you? IMO time to ask.
Good points, thank you both.
Cochlear Implants bypass the outer and middle ear entirely, permanently destroy the inner ear’s sound transmission capabilities, and deliver signals directly to the auditory nerve. There is literally no natural hearing left to damage, and in any case an audiologist can deliver loud test tones that are uncomfortable but nowhere near a level that would cause damage.
Although it didn’t require conventional hearing aids until 20 years ago (my mid-50’s), my otosclerosis was congenital. No history of prolonged excessive noises.
Yes, the question of “stopping at barely loud enough” is the question for an audiologist but my own is 90 miles away from here and I’m assuming she isn’t necessarily the only one who can answer it.
Cheers, Tom
It sounds like they start low so as not to be uncomfortable, and then move up. Maybe your audiologist is conservative, or maybe you and she had a misunderstanding about what “comfortable” means. Either way, if it would be more useful at a higher level, it sounds like you can probably get that adjusted. But you probably need to see the audiologist to do so.
(Bolding mine) After further reflection I’ve come to the same conclusion.
I’m pretty sure the levels can and should be higher, it’s definitely an adjustment she’ll have to make, and at only 12 months since activation I wouldn’t have it any other way. Fortunately, I’m really comfortable (there’s that word again) with her and trust her judgement implicitly.
I’ve sent your post and question to my ex-wife, so I guess we’ll see what she says.
Yes, that is my understanding from being married to my ex, and picking up things from her (it all worked both ways; I have a basic understanding of audiology from her, and she has a basic understanding of law from me). In connecting directly to the auditory nerve, a cochlear implant (CI) destroys the natural ear’s capability to hear. Deciding on a CI is not a decision to be made lightly, as once made and done, there is no going back to using the natural ear.
I’m glad to hear (heh) that things are going well, and I will let you know of any reply I get from my ex in regards to your question.
Many thanks!