Monday, June 10, 2013

Residual Hearing: Is it usable?

People who have qualified for cochlear implants often have concerns about losing residual hearing after implantation.

Prior to being implanted with cochlear implants, my body felt like it was in "hyperdrive" all the time.  I was constantly in a state of alert, as I had to work to hear with what little hearing I had left.

That takes energy and it was wearing me out.

Hearing people tend to want to "preserve" residual hearing of their deaf family member.

But is residual hearing usable?

In my case, I heard nothing without my hearing aids.  It had to be the mother of all thunderstorms for me to "hear" thunder without hearing aids. 

Here's what my residual hearing was not doing for me, prior to cochlear implants.  I definitely didn't have any hearing in the speech range, and I couldn't understand speech unseen over the telephone, and depended 100% on lipreading by the time I qualified for CI's.

With my CI processors on, I can hear the doorbell, the heat pump coming on and shutting off.  I can hear traffic go by from inside my townhouse. I can hear birds.  I can hear dogs barking, the phone ring, the ticking of a second hand sweeping a clock.

I am still deaf without my CI processors on.  My silence isn't totally silent.  I hear tinnitus in my ears - it used to be really bad, roaring, hissing, hooting noises.  Now it is more like white noise.  I can hear my Sonicare toothbrush vibrate as I am brushing my teeth.  That's what is left of my residual hearing.

It isn't much.

Over time, I am getting more relaxed in using cochlear implant processors.  I can trust what I am hearing with my cochlear implants.  I rarely startle when people walk into my office (unless I have had too much coffee!)

Hearing with cochlear implants is still a process.  I may not hear a new sound each and every day, but my brain picks it up.  I can hear things as they drop, like the tip of a ball point pen, or a nail, or even pieces of food dropping on the floor. After it has rained, I can hear the squeaking of shoes.  I can hear my feet squishing through already saturated grass.  I definitely hear rain, and yes, I can tell a light rain from a heavy rain.

In my view, cochlear implant processors pick up where hearing aids leave off.  I hear far better with cochlear implants than I ever did with hearing aids, and with CI's, I don't even miss residual hearing.

I had so little left. I would counsel people who are investigating cochlear implants to think about the flip side of the coin.

What ISN'T residual hearing doing for you?  Can you hear the doorbell ring, the teakettle whistle, a child crying, a door knock, an alarm clock ringing WITHOUT hearing aids?  Can you understand speech?  Can you understand speech unseen without a captioned phone?

Again, is residual hearing usable?  If not, and you want to be able to hear, than you owe it to yourself to investigate cochlear implantation if hearing aids are not an option for you.

Technology is growing by leaps and bounds.  We are fast approaching a day where cochlear implants can be implanted and residual hearing can be preserved.

I had nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Amazing.

1 comment:

  1. Exactly, Mindy, ifor many of us there's no point in worrying about residual hearing -- what we've got left isn't of much benefit to us compared to the CI. And new technology that could make use of residual hearing is probably decades away. I think the new Mid-scala electrode and other shorter electrodes may be of use in cases where people only have a severe/profound loss on one part of the chart (eg in the high frequencies but not the low frequencies) but as I'm not a doctor, I don't know! Many thanks for your blog entries.

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