Kate's Cochlear Implant

Deciding to get a second cochlear implant
Kate's Cochlear Implant So it’s been 8 years since my first cochlear implant! So much has happened since my first one and now. Ben and I got married! Then we had a baby: Then I got a new job: And then we had another baby – we’re now a family of four! And now… I have finally decided, […]
Tue, Jul 25 2017

My final post? 7 months on
Kate's Cochlear Implant So, I am thinking this might be my last ever post on this blog. I have reached the point where there is not really much new stuff to report. I know it has only been 7 months since I got the implant (7 months! is that all???! Can you believe it?) But already, I think […]
Mon, Jan 12 2015

I won a Human Rights award
Kate's Cochlear Implant Can you imagine my face when they told me I had won? I was in shock. It was the Australian Human Rights Community Award for an Individual. It’s a big thing for me, because when you do the sort of stuff I am doing, it’s very lonely work – you think no one notices it. […]
Mon, Jan 12 2015

Looking back: The isolation of deafness and considering...
Kate's Cochlear Implant I turned 30 years old this week. A real milestone for me. It has caused me to reflect back on my life over the past few years … I was thinking about how this blog has been exceptionally positive. When I started it in June last year, I actually thought it might be quite sad in […]
Mon, Jan 12 2015

My final post? 7 months on
Kate's Cochlear Implant So, I am thinking this might be my last ever post on this blog. I have reached the point where there is not really much new stuff to report. I know it has only been 7 months since I got the implant (7 months! is that all???! Can you believe it?) But already, I think I have [...]
Fri, Feb 19 2010

I won a Human Rights award
Kate's Cochlear Implant ok, so this news might be a bit old, but some people still don't know. In December last year I was awarded the Tony Fitzgerald Memorial Award – otherwise known as the Australian Human Rights Community Award for an Individual. As you can imagine, I was totally utterly blown away that I won. Several people nominated [...]
Thu, Jan 21 2010

Looking back: The isolation of deafness and considering...
Kate's Cochlear Implant I turned 30 years old this week. A real milestone for me. It has caused me to reflect back on my life over the past few years ... I was thinking about how this blog has been exceptionally positive. When I started it in June last year, I actually thought it might be quite sad in tone, or dramatic. [...]
Wed, Jan 06 2010

Listening to TV on plane flight with cochlear implant
Kate's Cochlear Implant Ben and I flew to Perth last month to attend the Hear For You mentoring program for deaf kids in Western Australia. It's a 5 hour flight from Sydney to Perth - I normally hate flying long flights because I can't hear the announcements (freak out when pilot says anything, think we're going to crash); can't watch TV (no captions); [...]
Mon, Nov 30 2009

It’s been 4.5 months now
Kate's Cochlear Implant So it's been four and a half months now since I got the cochlear implant in my right ear. I haven't written an update in a while, because I haven't felt like there is anything interesting to report! But I guess what I think of as being boring, my family and friends might find interesting. So, here we [...]
Sun, Nov 15 2009

Is a cochlear implant really that good?
Kate's Cochlear Implant Got an interesting comment from someone who's read my blog: I am glad you are purporting success with the device, and are such an active advocate.  Indeed your story is miraculous compared to the ones I have come across (numbness, tinnitus, excruciating pain from hair, white noise).  So I am wandering if you are another version [...]
Mon, Oct 19 2009

Using the telephone with a cochlear implant
Kate's Cochlear Implant This is an interesting one. Since my last post, I have been trying the phone more and more, and find that I can't always hear what people are saying really clearly. No matter what program on the implant I use, it's not always clear. Some days I can hear, other days I can't. Some people I [...]
Tue, Oct 13 2009

Week 11: What can I hear now?
Kate's Cochlear Implant OK, now for our weekly update on what I can hear now! Yaaaay. Today I made a phone call to someone I didn't know. That's a big thing, because it can be kind of hard hearing the voice of an unfamiliar person on the phone. I have been talking to Ben and mum on the phone heaps now [...]
Wed, Oct 07 2009

Senate inquiry into hearing health launched in Australia
Kate's Cochlear Implant This is an important shout-out to all my Australian readers with a hearing loss. The Australian Federal Government has launched a full Senate Inquiry into deafness! Is there anything about having a hearing loss or being deaf that frustrates you? Have you ever felt annoyed at the cost of buying – and maintaining – hearing aids and cochlear [...]
Thu, Oct 01 2009

My submission to the Australian Senate Inquiry into Hearing...
Kate's Cochlear Implant 30 September 2009 Re: Inquiry into Hearing Health in Australia To the Community Affairs References Committee (community.affairs.sen@aph.gov.au): I would like to make a submission to the Hearing Health Inquiry. I am a deaf young professional living and working in Australia. The current Australian hearing health system is antiquated and not working well at all – i...
Thu, Oct 01 2009

Captioning Awards night in August
Kate's Cochlear Implant Back in August, I attended the Deafness Forum of Australia's captioning awards. It was a really exciting event – I had no idea how big, and impressively run it was. John Howard has recently become the Deafness Forum's ambassador, so he was there at the dinner. That was a bonus. I have some great photos below. I actually [...]
Mon, Sep 21 2009

Week 8: What can I hear now?
Kate's Cochlear Implant Ok, now this is amazing. I have had my Week 8 mapping session with Monica at the Sydney Cochlear Implant Centre, and afterwards, she tested my hearing ... and I did incredibly well. In fact, Monica even told me to mention on this blog that it is a bit out of the ordinary – this is not usual. Reason [...]
Thu, Sep 17 2009

Week 6.5: Overhearing conversations
Kate's Cochlear Implant I just read a comment from a lovely lady I met in Canberra for the Deafness Summit last year – she lives in Melbourne and got a cochlear implant I think either early this year or late last year. Anyway, here is part of her comment, and I found it really struck me as being one [...]
Sun, Sep 06 2009

5.5 weeks since switch on – some photos
Kate's Cochlear Implant Thought I would post some pictures that I have been taking along this journey. These ones are from the very first moment Ben set me up to listen to an audio book. It was a wonderful moment! I hadn't done this since before my hearing  became so bad when I was about  15 years old. Kate's Totally [...]
Mon, Aug 31 2009

5 weeks since switch on
Kate's Cochlear Implant Ok, now for the big drum roll. I had a speech perception test with Monica on Monday this week. I did really, really well. Now, to remind you what a speech perception test is – this is where I sit in front of a set of speakers in a quiet audio booth, and try to repeat back both [...]
Thu, Aug 27 2009

4 weeks after switch on – I went to the cinema!
Kate's Cochlear Implant Before I start on telling you what I am hearing now, I want to just waffle on about something else for a second! The best thing about this blog for me... The very best thing about this blog for me has been the parents from around the world that have either emailed me or left comments on [...]
Tue, Aug 18 2009

How does it sound now?
Kate's Cochlear Implant Amazingly, now, the sound is much more normal than it was in the first 2 weeks. Less robot, more normal but echoey. Some cool (and not so cool) things that I have noticed in the 3 weeks since being switched on: I can walk home from work with both the hearing aid and cochlear implant switched on. [...]
Fri, Aug 14 2009

3 weeks after switch on: Today I did something I haven’t...
Kate's Cochlear Implant At work today, I tried out one of the accessories that comes with the cochlear implant – the personal audio cable. You plug it into your laptop, ipod, computer, or TV – anything with headphone jack basically – and the sound goes direct into your cochlear implant. I wanted to try and see if I could hear [...]
Wed, Aug 12 2009

Cat with a cochlear implant? Yes it is true!
Kate's Cochlear Implant Now, most people who know me, know I love cats. I was intrigued when I came across this photo on the web, which I didn't really believe was true. Until my audiologist told me that apparently it IS true! This is how scientist have been studying the effects of cochlear implants on deafness! After 3 months [...]
Mon, Aug 10 2009

Another ‘Hear For You’ student has become a school prefect!
Kate's Cochlear Implant I think this is amazing. I got an email from the mum of one of the students that I mentor - Dan's mum, Clare – and I really wanted to quote what she said, it made me feel so proud: Dan has some big news which we are so very proud of. Today he was chosen as a School Prefect for [...]
Fri, Aug 07 2009

2 weeks after switch on: fun with magnets
Kate's Cochlear Implant Had a huge laugh this afternoon. I had been leaning back in my chair at work, scratching my head, and as my hand brushed over the cochlear implant magnet on my head, suddenly felt a piece coming loose. My first thought was: “Oh my GOD! I've broken it!” But when I pulled it off, I realised that, stuck [...]
Wed, Aug 05 2009

12 days after switch on: I called my mum!
Kate's Cochlear Implant Yes. You read right. I called my mum on my mobile phone (speaker phone though!), and we talked for 6 minutes, and I heard almost every single thing she asked me. It was amazing. No lip-reading. No prompting. We just had a conversation! This was on my wish list to achieve by the end of the [...]
Mon, Aug 03 2009

Day 7: Cool things I have heard today
Kate's Cochlear Implant Things I have heard today: My boss Penny coughing sounds really cool, like a cat connected up to lots of wires, meowing in staccato, but robotically. Sounded so good, I asked her to ‘please keep coughing'. The roller ball on my mouse when I scroll up and down pages, has a very satisfying quiet little purr. [...]
Wed, Jul 29 2009

1 week since switch on: The good, the bad, and the ugly
Kate's Cochlear Implant It has been exactly one week since my switch on, and the experience has been astounding – and not always for the good bits, which is obviously hearing things. I have discovered several weird things about cochlear implants which have confirmed for me that I did the right thing in waiting until I was well and [...]
Tue, Jul 28 2009

Day 5: interesting sounds around me
Kate's Cochlear Implant Today it took me an hour to walk to work instead of the normal 40 minutes, because as I walked, I had to keep stopping to work out what the hell it was that I was hearing! I had taken my hearing aid out, and just had the implant on – and suddenly, as I walked [...]
Mon, Jul 27 2009

Day 4: I am getting used to the robots!
Kate's Cochlear Implant It has been three full days since I got the cochlear implant switched on, and boy, is it amazing. Let me tell you things I have been hearing. Ben and I decided to go to Kangaroo Valley for two days, to get away from it all, and give me a tranquil rural atmosphere in order to get used [...]
Sun, Jul 26 2009

Daily Telegraph story: “The moment Kate Locke was saved...
Kate's Cochlear Implant Well, after all that, here is the story in the Daily Telegraph: They do make it sound like I was 'saved' from something terrible (hahaha), but they did a pretty good job with the video! [link] You can post comments on that article as well, so feel free to comment away and say what you think about the [...]
Wed, Jul 22 2009

Switched-on. What does it sound like?
Kate's Cochlear Implant I bet you are wondering what it's like! One word. Bizarre. Totally. And. Utterly. Bizarre. Remember playing the ‘triangle' at school? Well, imagine everything I am hearing translated into that sound. That is the cochlear implant for me. As I type on the computer right now, it's as if the keys are either triangles dinging, or perhaps one of thos...
Wed, Jul 22 2009

Tomorrow is the big day!
Kate's Cochlear Implant Tomorrow at 11.30am I get switched-on. I have been waiting for this moment, not just since the surgery 3 weeks ago, but for about 10 years. I first knew I was a candidate for a cochlear implant when I was about 17 or 18 years old. I always thought to myself  “one day I will get it, [...]
Tue, Jul 21 2009

The things I miss
Kate's Cochlear Implant Have you ever wondered how deaf people listen to music or watch movies or TV? To understand what they are hearing, they usually need captions. I used to be able to hear normally... and one of the things I really miss is being able to hear the lyrics to music. I can hear some music quite well with my [...]
Fri, Jul 17 2009

Two days back into ‘normal life’
Kate's Cochlear Implant I am back to some semblance of normal life, being able to go back to work, and wash my hair. (Although am still without any sound in my right ear. Only 6 days until switch on.) But having everything ‘go back to normal' has had the interesting affect of making me much more aware of the changes to my head [...]
Thu, Jul 16 2009

Final bandages come off! 13 days since surgery, 9 days til...
Kate's Cochlear Implant Today Ben and I drove out to Westmead Hospital to see Professor Da Cruz to get the final layer of bandages off, and to check that everything has healed up. I was pretty excited about this, because it was also the day when I could get the go-ahead to wash my hair – which has been [...]
Mon, Jul 13 2009

Damn – I have lost some of my sense of taste.
Kate's Cochlear Implant Ah dammit. I was getting peckish while working from home yesterday, and decided to have one of my weirder, healthy snacks – a container filled with pepitas, pine nuts and sunflower seeds, and strips of nori (that is dried seaweed – well, I did say it was one of my weirder snacks). And lo ... I can't taste [...]
Thu, Jul 09 2009

How long until I hear again?
Kate's Cochlear Implant People have been asking me how long it is until I hear again; whether I will actually have to wear something external to ‘hear', or if its all internal; and if it will be like completely normal sound. Well, in answer to those questions – the implant will be activated in 14 days, so in the implanted [...]
Wed, Jul 08 2009

How much did the cochlear implant cost me?
Kate's Cochlear Implant Cochlear implants are expensive. In Australia, they cost almost AUD$25,000-$30,000. And that's just for the surgery and implant, not for the rehabilitation and software ‘mapping'. Luckily, I had private health insurance, which meant the entire amount was covered, except for one payment of AUD$250 night in hospital as excess. I was also really lucky ...
Mon, Jul 06 2009

Some more photos pre- and post-op
Kate's Cochlear Implant I decided to post some more photos of Ben and me pre and post surgery. My actual sugery apparently only took 1 hour, though I was ‘inside' for four hours. I don't remember waiting around that long. And here is Ben's last view of me as I am taken in. I was definitely feeling scared as they [...]
Sat, Jul 04 2009

The importance of this blog
Kate's Cochlear Implant I wanted to talk about why I started this blog, and why I think it's important. My sister-in-law Karen has been reading it, and said to me tonight: “The weird thing about a blog (if you don't post comments) is that it can make you feel really close to the person writing it, whereas they don't even [...]
Sat, Jul 04 2009