Anyone here with a Cochlear implant regretted it?

Cochlear Implants
#15

@boreham Completely understand wanting varied input. I did same here and on Facebook pages for all brand of CIs. My approach was that my hearing was only getting worse and if something got any worse I would be exhausted trying to keep up with conversation, phone calls, etc. If it was as good as or better than two hearing aids, it was a win in my book, because it would give me peace of mind if and when my ears degraded and I would already be adjusted to the CI. I did not retain much of my residual - hoped too. I’m OK with that.
I posted about my progress two weeks after activation here: Advanced Bionics CI Activation a Success - #23 by ssa

On the AB Facebook page there are two or three people who are very negative about their progress and how the CI sounds to them even after a good bit of time, effort and rehab. From other things they post, they sound just negative about life. I really believe a positive attitude of acceptance helps the adjustment. It will not sound like normal hearing…but we don’t have normal hearing or we wouldn’t be having this conversation.

Don’t apologize for asking questions and gathering input. It was an essential part my preparation for surgery. Some of us just need to process things a lot. Others who might be more technical by nature may find it unnecessary. Honestly, I find this adjustment process easier than the preparation research by far.

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#16

Thanks everyone for the great info and encouragement. I have moved from being somewhat doubtful and apprehensive to positive, though realise I have to assessed. Other health issues may delay.

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#18

Op said for this thread he only wanted negative comments. I guess I took that for what it meant.

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#19

You’re correct @hass5744 but seems no-one has any!

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#20

Well we know that’s not true. Lack of response is not an indication or proof that something is perfect. There are people on this planet who still claim the world isn’t round.

#21

agreed a small sample size… like i said you are in the wrong forum, if you want to hear how awful CI is go to a Deaf forum (big D) … I heard so many good/bad things about it when I went to RIT… The people who saying bad thing are part of the big D community and those who are not complaining are not part of the big D community.

#22

I have read that the briefer the hearing loss the better the results. But how does a deaf person evaluate their cochlear implant?

#23

I didn’t really think everyone was happy. I should have said “it seems no-one HERE has any negative comments”

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#24

Nixon called them the silent majority.

#25

Firstly: They don’t recommend getting CI for the profoundly Deaf with no hearing language skills. It is one of the contraindication for getting CI…

Secondly: Medical community learned to not implant people who that have no hearing language skills and those who not have realistic expectation or the willpower to go through the process of rehab…

Thirdly: we have like 50 years of experience with CI since they were introduced.

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#26

First off I’m not sure what profoundly deaf means. Second of all have had a profound loss for 15 years and have been recommended to getting an implant more times than I can remember. Last but not least what is hearing skills?

#27

Individuals who have been profoundly deaf since birth and have never worn hearing aids will not have good outcomes with a cochlear implant. The auditory system simply doesn’t develop and other systems in the brain start to move in and take over that area for other things.

Similarly, even for someone who is post-lingually deafened if they go for long enough without hearing aids (auditory deprivation) other systems in the brain will start to move in to make use of what was previously used for hearing. So the longer you go (years and years) without auditory input the poorer your outcomes will be.

And then. . . anyone for whom a cochlear implant actually FAILS will be unhappy with the results. This is a small but present group.

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#28

Speaking of doing it sooner than later My audiologist recommended me to get CI eval 1 year before I was implanted. I took the eval, my case was borderline, high chance of denial by insurance co , and I knew about the brain plasticity changes so i went ahead and did it so my odd are in my favor…

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#29

Interesting note for hass specifically. . . your audiogram is profound but at least you have aidable hearing across a reasonable frequency bandwidth. I would expect your CI outcomes to be better than someone who has much better low frequency hearing but who had been unaidable at high frequencies for years and years.

Likewise, there are individuals who actually have reasonable hearing from a sensorineural perspective, but have an intractable conductive overlay that cannot be resolved by surgery and that limits the effectiveness of hearing aids (imagine a moderate to severe sensorineural loss but conductive component makes them severe-profound corner audiogram). My understanding is that these people typically do very well with cochlear implants.

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#30

Not sure why you are asking these questions or being so negative.

You have been a part of this forum long enough to know the answers to your own questions. You are just stirring the pot and that doesn’t help the OP.

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#31

Hello, new to the forum here. However, Neville’s post should be somewhat disregarded. I have been deaf since birth, got my first cochlear implant at age one, and today I hear and understand sound on a completely normal level. The result that a CI recipient experiences is largely going to depend on how aggressive they are with follow up rehab/therapy. We pushed my follow up rehab/therap hard, and it brought awesome results. Go for it, but be agressive with your therapy.

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#32

Key point is you were 1 year old thus you were well in the developmental language milestone of your life and we are talking about older people, who are well past the developmental language milestone.

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#33

This is not correct in my reading from those getting CI.
I tend to agree and disagree with how long a person has lost their hearing and CI working well. I have read both good and bad. It still floors me to read about someone who has been deaf from birth and gets a CI many many years later and learns to hear. It typically takes time and lots of effort.

It’s all about how bad you want to hear and understand speech.

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#34

Children with profound hearing loss who are identified early and get a cochlear implant within the first few years typically do very well with oral language. Or who are identified early and wear hearing aids and then get a cochlear implant later. Unidentified children who are unaided past about four years of age have a much harder time, and after about ten would likely be recommended immediate full immersion in ASL rather than a CI.

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#35

That is understandable. I got my left CI at age 9, and while it is completely functional as well, the difference between the two is quite obvious to me. So yeah, I can only imagine a middle aged person’s difficulty in adapting to a CI.