Two Months Later - a Cochlear Implant (CI) Update

It is now two months since I got the cochlear implant. What has changed? What is still the same?

What is still the same: I'm still deaf in many ways. If I am in an elevator with several people I might get lucky and pick up a few words, but otherwise, nothing. I still can not hear on the phone or radio. I am still very dependent on the visual; lipreading, sound, and words or captions combined, I do great with following along the words whether on television or from a story. Take away the visual, and I'm lost. I need both.

What has changed: At work, I am somewhat more independent now. I still need the interpreters, but not to the same degree as before. I'm trying to learn how to switch back and forth between watching the interpreter and trying to listen to the speaker, if the speaker is easy to lipread. Previously, if the interpreters had to leave when the time was up, I had to leave too and miss out on the rest of the meeting. Now, I can stay and follow just enough to get the gist of things and even participate.

It has also made a difference for me in my daily commute. When there are problems on the Metrorail system, I can ask a fellow passenger to tell me what the announcer is saying. I don't have to ask them to write like before - I can understand them completely through sound and lipreading.

Television is more fun now too. I'm starting to be able to get more through sound and lipreading without captions. This enables me to understand uncaptioned commercials and live television reporting that does not have captions. I don't get that much this way yet though. Even so, it sure makes watching television a different experience when you are able to hear the voices. Captions lag slightly behind the voices, so I have developed a technique that I call "backwards listening." What I do is I listen for the words, sort of "file it" in my head, then read the captions and "call up" the words in my head.

The annoying sounds in my head that I mentioned earlier, are pretty much gone. I can't remember the last time I complained about that. The sound part of understanding hearing people seems to come so naturally that sometimes, I can't tell if I am understanding because of lipreading or if I am understanding because of voice.

I now have four programs on the CI: a P1, which is loud and I don't use it much because it does not block white noise (noise around me like people laughing in the cubicle next door); a P2, which is somewhat softer because the electrodes fire more slowly; and a P3, which I rely on most of all because not only is it comfortable for me and as loud as the P1, it also blocks out white noise; P4 is the same as P2 but also blocks white noise.

I have both a mini BTE processor and a body worn processor. At first I had misgivings about the body worn processor (childhood memories of a not so pleasant experience with body aids), but now I have accepted it. Why did I accept it? Three reasons. One, the body worn processor is somewhat more comfortable on the ear due to less weight (my ears are very small, and I wear glasses too), than the BTE. Two, I realized that the body worn processor was no big deal - it is just like an iPod in design except it can't play music or video. In fact, I noticed that the hearing people with their iPod and mp3 player cords were much more obvious with two big white cords and earplugs than me with a single thin brown cord and a small on the ear microphone. Three, the body worn uses rechargeable AAA batteries, so if I ever run out of 675 batteries for the mini BTE (the mini does not use rechargeables, and the regular does), and am not able to buy more, I have a backup.