Kate's Cochlear Implant WordPress.com Kate's Cochlear Implant A blog about my experience of being deaf and getting a cochlear implant. February 19, 2010 My final post? 7 months on Posted by Kate under About me, cochlear implant, deaf, hearing aids, hearing loss | Tags: after switch on, audiologist, audiology, cochlear implant, deafness, hearing aids | [49] Comments -- 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 reached the peak, and plateaued. The implant will not get any better or different now in my right ear. It has reached its’ ‘zenith’. -- Normal pjhone and TTY phone now sit on my desk together. It's goodbye TTY, hello normal phone since I had the implant. However, I keep the TTY on my desk just in case! Can't shake the feeling of -- deaf. So, as you can see – the cochlear implant actually did what I dreamt it would do – it allowed me to reconnect with the world on the phone -- So, if I am going to leave anyone with a word of advice, or perhaps a message to the deaf community, or maybe parents considering an implant – having been through this all before, having met so many people who’ve had implants, having talked to ENT surgeons, doctors, audiologists and researched online – it would be this: Kate’s Final View on Cochlear Implants Disclaimer, this is only my view, no one elses. You might think it’s -- its a clever, well-thought out comment. I’ll delete stoopid ones! hearing aid, except it is implanted in your head. just like hearing aids. To find out whether you are a good candidate, you need to see your cochlear implant specialist. A normal audiologist just won’t cut it – they just don’t know the -- years. implant after 5 years old seem to find it harder to adjust – maybe because of crucial years of language development have passed? Not ure. age of 5 years old seem to find their cochlear implant more useful. 20 per cent of the time you will not be using it (i.e. swimming, -- ign language and lip-reading to use with your family and friends. I am glad I got the implant. I am also glad I waited because it was an emotional ride. But I would do it all again, definitely. If I had a deaf child tomorrow, I would give it a cochlear implant before the age of 4, teach it sign language and show it how to lip-read. -- Here are my final test results for the 6 month test at the Sydney Cochlear Implant Centre – please note the disclaimer my audi asked that I include on my hearing aid result! -- running speech. Freedom Cochlear Implant hearing test result This is the test result for my Freedom Cochlear Implant, in my left ear. -- But I am going to hold off for a few years, only because the hearing aid balances out the sound of the cochlear implant, and makes everything sound ‘normal’. -- new blog: “Kate’s Second And Hopefully Final Cochlear Implant”! Who knows! -- hearing loss, Living with deafness | Tags: advocacy work, captioning, cost of cochlear implants, deafness, government support for cochlear implants | [5] Comments -- Looking back: The isolation of deafness and considering suicide Posted by Kate under About me, cochlear implant, deaf, hearing loss, Living with deafness | Tags: deafness | -- November 30, 2009 Listening to TV on plane flight with cochlear implant Posted by Kate under cochlear implant, deaf, hearing aids, Living with deafness | Tags: after switch on, cochlear implant, flying with cochlear implants, t-switch, telecoil | [19] Comments -- will be better than just being bored out of my mind. I held up the headphones to my hearing aid and cochlear implant and tried to follow the TV – I could hear it, but it was so static-ey and unclear, it was really disappointing. On a whim, I decided to try the ‘t-switch’ on both hearing aid and cochlear implant, which shuts out all the background noise, and only picks up the radio signals coming -- Wrapping my scraf around my head I managed to get the ear bud close enough to the cochlear implant microphone to be able to hear the audio for the TV/movies on the Virgin Blue flight. I sat like this for 5 -- Small obstacle was the fact that the headphones provided were ear-bud types. Now that is difficult for cochlear implantees, since the microphone for picking up sound is behind your ear, not in it! -- It’s been 4.5 months now Posted by Kate under About me, cochlear implant, deaf, Living with deafness | Tags: after switch on, cochlear implant, deafness, hearing aids | -- 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 -- So… yes. It is amazing. I am still profoundly deaf when I take off my cochlear implant and hearing aid, but now I can actually hear stuff when I have them on. -- hortlisted! As for other stuff happening with the cochlear implant – I was over at my friend Georgia’s house the other week, having an ‘infrared sauna’. -- back in tiny letters it said: “Do not use this sauna if you have an implant i.e. pace maker or silicon.” And I was like “WHAAAAAAAAT!!!!!??” slapped my hand over my ear, and -- with Cochlear Ltd later – they said that according to their information from engineers etc, infrared shouldn’t affect cochlear implants (nor hould any other sauna – good to know!). Yay for cochlear implants. Such a new invention, it’s like being the first person to walk on the moon or something. You just don’t know what -- October 19, 2009 Is a cochlear implant really that good? Posted by Kate under cochlear implant, deaf, Living with deafness | Tags: after switch on, cochlear implant, cochlear implant surgery | [92] Comments -- And I think it’s a really valid comment. I was extremely suspicious of anyone that told me a cochlear implant was good before I had one, and for good reason. It’s just hard to -- a different experience. I decided to get an implant after I saw a deaf woman I know who had two cochlear implants talking on the phone. That’s when I thought, oh well, it might work – and if it doesn’t, I havent lost anything. After I was booked in for this surgery, I started this blog because I thought everyone would think that an implant was a miracle cure, and think I would be ‘fixed’ once I had it, and I knew it wasn’t going to -- was what it was going to be like. Perhaps my optimism about the implant has come from the fact that I really didn’t expect it to be that good. -- friends the other night in a pub in Perth. We were discussing each other’s cochlear implants (there were three of us there who had just recently had one in the past year.) -- It was not really blog mention worthy. So, what other things suck about cochlear implants? because I really have been too complimentary to them, haven’t I? -- guaranteed to work as well as the first one, because removing the implant damages in the inner structure of the ear, i.e. the cochlea. So that is something that is in the back of my mind a lot -- Sometimes I can hear TV, other times I can’t. It’s not consistent. As for Cochlear Ltd being the best cochlear implant company, I don’t know about that anymore. I mainly support them because they are -- From the research I have done, it sounds like Med-El would be a good cochlear implant – it apparently has a slimmer electrode, which goes deeper into the cochlea, and gives you more spectrum of sound, and therefore makes speech and sound more natural. I am seriously considering getting a Med-El for my second implant. But who knows! So there you go… And what’s the answer to the million dollar question? Is the cochlear implant really that good? Well, the answer is …. for ome, yes. For others, no. It’s as simple as that. Everyone’s different, and that is probably the most frustrating thing about a cochlear implant ever. There is absolutely no guarantee about how it’s going to work. -- It’s scary. And that’s why whenever you meet someone who’s had a cochlear implant, or the parent of a child with an implant (because they’ve had to make the same decision!) you should think about the difficult decision they -- October 14, 2009 Using the telephone with a cochlear implant Posted by Kate under cochlear implant, deaf, hearing loss, Living with deafness | Tags: after switch on, cochlear implant, hearing aids | This is an interesting one. -- 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 can hear, other -- way deaf people use the telephone, and therefore communicate. It’s also brilliant for practicing listening with my cochlear implant. If you are interested in reading more about captioned telephony in -- profoundly deaf. In 2009, at age 29, I started this blog about getting my first cochlear implant. More. Implant’ uicide January 6, 2010 -- About me advocacy work after switch on audiologist audiology captioning cochlea hair cells cochlear implant cochlear implant urgery cost of cochlear implants deafness ENT Surgery flying with cochlear implants government support for cochlear implants hearing aids recovery surgeons switch on t-switch telecoil -- Follow Follow “Kate's Cochlear Implant” Get every new post delivered to your Inbox. Feed I look so I can hear.... » Cochlear implants Comments Feed alternate alternate I look so I can hear.... WordPress.com -- __________________________________________________________________ Cochlear implants NEWSFLASH: A new site is available at www.cochlearimplantHELP.com with everything you ever wanted to know about cochlear implants! MY HEARING JOURNEY – My personal learning curve, jumping from hearing aids to cochlear implants I discovered during my cochlear implant journey that the medic team don’t give you a lot of information, just some general ballpark end-user results and info on the implantation process. Once I started digging, I discovered a whole lot of stuff which enabled me to make an -- life, I want it to be as effective as possible. Hopefully, the information here will help those considering a cochlear implant to make an informed decision too. It’s important to remember that a cochlear implant will not give you normal hearing. However, it will give you better hearing than with -- process. Some will do well within a few months; others, particularly those born deaf, can take much longer. Many cochlear implant users report ongoing improvements for years after activation. -- CHOOSING A BRAND – what you need to know Having a cochlear implant implanted isn’t Plug ‘n Play. It’s like a computer – Garbage In, Garbage Out. You will need to work with the cochlear implant to help it along, and retrain your brain to recognise the new sounds. So, as well as keeping your expectations low, you need to do some rehabilitation work to get the most out of your implant. REHABILITATION – resources to help you get the most out of your cochlear implant WHAT IT SOUNDS LIKE THROUGH A COCHLEAR IMPLANT Be aware that if you listen to these links through your hearing aids, you will be listening to sounds processed twice, once through your hearing aid, and again through a cochlear implant simulation. So OF COURSE it’s going to sound screwy. I’d suggest asking a hearing friend -- TINNITUS Sometimes this goes away with a cochlear implant, sometimes it doesn’t. Roll the dice and see … COCHLEAR IMPLANT OPERATION This is a very informative video as the surgeon comments on the surgery and cochlear implants throughout. Well worth a watch in my opinion as it you get the explanation along with it. (After the jump, click on -- queamish! Video of a cochlear implant operation Tips on managing the hospital stay and operation. Should you have a meningitis vaccine? Read about Kathleen. COST OF COCHLEAR IMPLANTS SOECIC 2010 charges document – Southampton UK Healthcare Blue Book – USA Global Cochlear Implant – obtain cheaper implants abroad THE FUTURE FOR COCHLEAR IMPLANTS Cochlear implants : Where we are and where we’re going – a Powerpoint lideshow by Amber M. Gardner, Ph.D., CCC-A University of Virginia Health System, which offers a fascinating look at the progress of cochlear implants with photos that will make your hair stand on end! There were some very brave pioneers and we are eternally grateful to them. Cochlear implant hybrids (2006) Totally implantable cochlear implants for middle ear deafness. A paper was presented, The development of a tympanic membrane sensor for a totally implantable cochlear implant or hearing aid, (1997) but as yet, nothing has been developed from this. However, see this article by -- explanation of their system at Mimicking the ear. Considerations for design of future cochlear implant electrode arrays (2008) The Neurelec Digisonic SP binaural cochlear implant moves away from bilateral implantation and allows the wearer to hear in stereo with one processor and two microphones. UK news item (2010). NICE guidance TA166: Cochlear implants for severe to profound deafness in children and adults (Updated 2011) USEFUL LINKS Hearing Journey – the largest Cochlear Implant forum : the best place to meet cochlear implant users and ask for friendly advice. All brands are welcome however more technical advice can only be given for Advanced Bionics. Bionic Ear Association – Join the cochlear implant community, connect to a mentor, use online rehabilitation tools -- Cochlear – Nucleus CI community & Advocacy Programme British CI Group – Find your local cochlear implant centre in the UK National CI Users Association – Find your local cochlear implant upport group and information on cochlear implants UK Cochlear Implant Users Group on Yahoo Case studies – read about cochlear implant user experiences CI Theory – Optimize cochlear implant performance, downloads NHS – Annual Evidence Update on Hearing Disorders NICE – Cochlear implant guidance Deafness Research UK – Cochlear Implant Research Interview with Professor Graeme Clark Comparison of bimodal and bilateral cochlear implant users on speech recognition FAQ – Air travel with a cochlear implant Love playing sports, or working in construction? Here’s my article on helmets for cochlear implant users, which is continually updated with new resources. Photographs of inner ear anatomy and cochlear implantation (Source: UT Southwestern) If you’re technically-minded and want a deeper look at cochlear implants, check out this book: Programming Cochlear Implants MAUDE (Manufacturer and User Facility Device Experience) – FDA database of reported cochlear implant problems. Open the Product Class drop-down list, and choose ‘Implant, Cochlear.’ Choose the results per page at the bottom and date range. You will be able to see how many problems -- Hi Tina, Holy smokes, you have done a lot of research on implants! I’m an engineer, and didn’t have nearly the amount of information you have available to you when I received my first implant. You will find a lot of personal stories on Hearing Journey, and -- hi, i had a CI meeting and i was interested in having the implant but did not like the idea of having an big hearing over my ear -- Bryan (19:06:25) : they do have an invisible Cochlear Implant that implants inside your head Nicky with batteries and no outside parts, But its uper expensive!! like $30,000 dollars! :-O its called the “Esteem Hearing Implant” & you have to have the batteries changed surgically every 10 years. -- Bryan (14:52:21) : actually regular cochlear implants cost more between 50,000 and up so yeah.. I just had to do a little research so not bad for the invisible Esteem Hearing implant by Envoy. I contacted them and they send me a nice free info package by mail with a DVD -- amantha (12:51:02) : can you wear cochlear implant with wet hair Tina (17:34:37) : -- quite this breadth of information at my fingertipse when I was first implanted. You are quite a remarkable researcher ! Dr.V. (See you on HJ) -- Dan Schwartz (03:08:37) : Michelle, I’m not sure if your son has received his implant yet; but the warranties on the implanted electronics (at least here in the US) is 3 years for Cochlear, five years for MedEl, and 10 -- SteveHammond (19:34:06) : The internal implant is 10 years warranty with all 3 companies. How you get your numbers Dan ? -- doing the right thing right now– you’re doing your research. I encourage you to personally meet cochlear implant users and ask them about what they like about their brand. I am a Cochlear user and I’ve been with them since I was 9 years old, so that’s 18 years now. I got my second implant 2 years ago. They are the oldest company and I can say the quality is -- because these therapists will help your son learn to use what hearing he has and using the most of his cochlear implant to improve his speech and listening skills. -- There’s just no way anyone can hear the way a person with a cochlear implant can. In fact, that’s why we have mapping. Every cochlear implant user hears differently from another one. I can hear all the original sentences with clarity with my Nucleus 22 -- in my map. Don’t be afraid. This cochlear implant technology is the greatest gift you will ever give your child. I promise you. -- I will be writing a blog post on water resistance of cochlear implants as there is a lot of confusion on this issue. If a Cochlear CI-user damages their CI through water, they will void -- @Funnyoldlife regarding water resistance of Cochlear’s cochlear implants, there is a difference between a water resistant device and a waterproof device. You can’t go swimming or take a shower -- device and the Nucleus 24 device which is the first water-resistant cochlear implant. My Nucleus 22 would degrade in ound quality much more quickly so I had to send it in for -- John implanty zębów (01:28:20) : Super text, I will add this blog to my favorites. -- Hi All, I am planning cochlear implant for my sister. She has sever to profound hearing loss. Her age is 20. She has an excelent IQ. -- Hi Richa Are you looking at a hearing aid or a cochlear implant? If you want a cochlear implant, there are 4 brands. You can read the research I have done on my page about the brands at Choosing a Brand. Alternatively, you can check out Sounding Board or peak to a cochlear implant BEA mentor at Connect to Mentor (UK) or Connect to Mentor (USA). -- Can some one guide about best practices in speech therapy for a cochealer implant patient? and can some one suggest how much improvement can we expect in -- Hi Richa, Congratulations on your sister’s new implant! This is a very exciting time… and also a very scary time because there are so many unknowns. I’ll share my story. I was born with a profound hearing loss and was implanted at age 9, and I’ve been using the implant for 18 years, and recently got a second one on my other ear. It has been the greatest gift in life. -- would recommend for your sister, so that she can make the most use of her cochlear implant. Can you provide a little more background regarding your sister’s -- accepted in the deaf community (here is a fantastic blog charting the jump from hearing aids to cochlear implants). Several deaf people I know recently […] -- Angela (05:52:16) : I have nucleus 5 I had implant from april 7,2010 and had for a year now and I am loving it everybit up til June 2011 got -- my son is 12 year old i am from pakistan and he is dam and daf and i need echo plant sergeory cochlear implant plz gide me and hallp me -- for him, once he his a resident of the UK you should bring him to the Manchester Cochlear Implantation Center, there you will find a possible solution to his problem.. -- You might also want to check out the new website http://www.cochlearimplanthelp.com and the shopping guide for cochlear implants there. 20 09 2012 -- Glasses (19:07:30) : […] 16.Cochlear implants « I look so I can hear…. This is a very informative video as the surgeon comments on the surgery and cochlear implants throughout. Well worth a watch in my opinion as it you get the … https://funnyoldlife.wordpress.com/cochlear-implants/ […] 11 11 2012 -- I have asked friends who were hearing then went deaf and got a cochlear implant (or two). They say the sound is mostly the ame. There are a few musical notes which are not quite the same -- likely not to have done as much rehabilitation as those who say the sound is the same. The capability of the cochlear implant to give a very good replication of sound is possible with today’s technology – I would recommend looking at the Shopping Guide and comparing the ability of each implant to process sound. Your brain will do the rest. -- part (16:08:03) : If one person receives cochlear implant , how much distance a person can hear the sound effectively -- I have been research is there any massages therapy for cochlear implant ? I have it since I was 6 now I’m soon 30s. Hope hear u soon. -- I just wondering if anyone had massage at head area where cochlear implant at. Or any information for massage therapy chools that study about cochlear pains or sores try to erased -- massage. More people use cochlear they need more massage therapy for that. Have u ever touch Ur head where cochlear implant at u feel different it something. -- Congratulations on starting your CI journey. Please make sure you check the latest, and unbiased, cochlear implant comparison chart at http://cochlearimplanthelp.com/ I would be interested to know how you made your choice. A lot of -- I´m on my way and doing my due dilligence^^, my head is feeling like a steam engine. the cochlearimplanthelp.com site is giving me alot of information, but of course a lot of questions too. In my understanding so far it is basically important, that the part wich are implanted are the best, cause you can´t change without another surgery. All outer head parts could be changed -- tay inside your head for a very, very long time. Your software and processor can easily be upgraded, but the implanted hardware is only replaced when it fails or you have an explantation for -- The most up-to-date and comprehensive comparison chart for the major cochlear implant brands is at http://cochlearimplanthelp.com/cochlear-implant-comparison-chart / THere is a good explanation of electrodes and channels at http://cochlearimplanthelp.com/journey/choosing-a-cochlear-impla nt/electrodes-and-channels/ You are correct in saying that -- him. He’s had his first implant for 12 years, is now sitting in front of the TV with only his new implant processor on (newly implanted ear), watching with GOOD closed captioning. He says he hears patterns right now, softly. When both are on he hears kind -- Julie Ladeira (16:28:16) : Does anybody have experience with hybrid cochlear implants? 26 09 2013 -- hearing and had the ability to listen to wonderful music. I’m also 59. So, an implant that lasts 20 years is likely beyond my lifespan based on family history. -- Amit Soni (10:32:36) : I am planning MED-EL opus 2 bilateral cochlear implant for my 2.6 yrs old daughter. She loves water activity more than anything, so in future, I will have to go with Waterproof upgradation. Is MED-EL planning for waterproof implant in future? or I shall go with Advance Bionics which already has -- finalized which is 10th Oct. and I will have to finalize the implant before 3rd Oct. 4 10 2013 Umair (11:50:11) : My dad will have his first implant on 14th of October. I did lot of research on the different devices available and which should -- recognition. I checked comparison charts many times, I read all the reviews. All messages, all videos on different implants were checked. From the charts it looked like Med-El has better -- go with Advanced Bionics new processor Naida ClQ70 with mid-scala implant. To order the implant I met with my dads audiologist. She’s helping patients and programming these -- mainstreamed in 10th grade now, with no FM system, only using his cochlear implants. With the implant company now under the hearing aide company, the bluetooth integration is wonderful, too. -- the retraining of the auditory sections in the brain after the implant as this type of retraining therapy does have quite a good success rate with tinnitus sufferers. -- Has anyone heard of repeated failures of Cochlear’s CI512? I went through the fiasco of explant and reimplant in August of 2011 due to intermittent failures of a 3-month old implant. I was reimplanted with another CI512 two weeks prior to Cochlear’s recall (and before root cause of the failure had been -- Thanks for this blog.. I appreciate the insight you’ve provided for someone who is deciding on a cochlear implant… I am bilaterally implanted myself with the Medel. I’ve been using their new Opus2 processor on one ear (I can’t wear bilateral at -- Terri (03:41:16) : I am trying to figure out how my father will do with an implant, and learning to hear all over again, for he has dementia and is -- http://t.co/74rLuZct1j 6 months ago cochlearimplantHELP An comprehensive, unbiased examination of the cochlear implant journey, for users and would-be recipients. cochlearimplantHELP [127469310608676.1388.1000192506.png] -- telephony captions cinema ClearVoice cochlear Cochlear Americas Cochlear implant Communication Deaf deaf awareness deafness disability discrimination DLA drink education electrodes film fire food Freedom cochlear implant HELP » Should I even get an implant? Comments Feed alternate alternate cochlear implant HELP WordPress.com cochlear implant HELP Search ____________________ Search -- Skip to primary content Should I even get an implant? Listen to stories of families who have chosen to get an implant or two for their child. In this video, parents of children with cochlear implants share their experiences before and after implantation. IFRAME: -- And here are the results of several children who are successful users of cochlear implants. http://www.youtube.com/embed/v1TA_AbhqA8?version=3&rel=1&fs=1&autohide= -- MyFreeCopyright.com Registered & Protected © 2016 CochlearImplantHELP Locations of visitors to this page activation Advanced Bionics aLOKSAK App Aqua+ Aqua Accessory AquaCase AquaMic audiologist Australia bilateral bilateral implants bionic Blake Wilson Cedric Navarro CE Mark CIWear cochlear cochlear implant cochlear implants CP900 Cyber Monday discount electrode array executive FDA FDA approval FDA approved Gerry Adams Health Canada hearing aid House Ear -- Q90 Neptune Neurelec new processor Nucleus 5 Nucleus 6 Pakistan pediatric cochlear implant Phonak processor rehabilitation review RONDO Sinn Féin SONNET Sonova swim swim hat synchrony T-Comm T-mic Tracey -- The Twenty Eleven Theme. | Blog at WordPress.com. Follow “cochlear implant HELP” Get every new post delivered to your Inbox. Blog » Selecting a Cochlear Implant Surgeon Comments Feed HIA’s MarkeTrak IX Elegantly Smashed to Pieces by Amyn Amlani -- Twitter Icon 1727 Followers Facebook Icon 0 Fans Selecting a Cochlear Implant Surgeon June 11, 2015, 85 Comments -- October 16, 2015, 4 Comments featured hearing aids GN Resound Advanced Bionics cochlear implant HLAA HLAA Convention Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder Sam Lybarger Costco Siemens John Niparko hearing loss Hearing Loss Ass'n of America FM Assistive Devices Device Failure Cochlear Implant Circuit Failure Investigation Hearing Aid Telecoils Central Auditory Processing -- Hearing Loss Association of America Pat Kricos Sam Trychin ASHA AAA IHS cochlear implants Christie Nudelman Martha Jones MS CCC-SLP classroom acoustics Donna Sorkin Williams Sound Dr. Catherine Palmer Brenda -- Phonak Inspiro Phonak DynaMic Laurel Christensen Reliability Cochlear Implant — Tags: Advanced Bionics Sonova Jennifer Raulie Linda Luallen Phil Ives AB 2010 Recall AB January 2011 Layoffs Sarah Mosher Noisy -- International Loop Conference Bluetooth with hearing aids Derek M. Houston cochlear implant speech recognition Riley Hospital for Children Indiana University Acoustical Society of America infant cognition deaf -- Wifi CapTel WiFi MAC address filtering MAC address whitelist You are here: Home / Advanced Bionics / Selecting a Cochlear Implant Surgeon Advanced Bionics, Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder, Cochlear, Cochlear Implant, Jace Wolfe PhD, John Niparko, Kickbacks, Kickbacks, Med-El, Neurotology, Uncategorized 11 Jun 2015 85 Comments Hiring a cochlear implant surgeon for yourself or your child is just as important as selecting the right implant manufacturer, as the quality of the outcome is at stake. Unlike fitting hearing aids where the Best Practices are -- testing and radiographic imaging were edited to clarify terminology. Also, please see Brief Addenda to Selecting a Cochlear Implant Surgeon for additional discussion. -- performing this delicate task. It’s one thing to have a resident performing the “grunt work” of grinding out the pocket for the implant package and cutting the mastoid opening without nicking any nerves; -- Steroid Use on Low-frequency Hearing Preservation After Cochlear Implantation ^11 by David Haynes MD & his crew at Vanderbilt; and Effects of CI Electrode Insertion on Tinnitus ^12 by Thomas J Balkany MD in The Institute for Cochlear Implant Training blog. Although Balkany talks about how tinnitus can be generated when the basilar -- brief article breaking out these two articles; Third, how many implant surgeries per year of each brand does this urgeon perform? cochlear_duct_cross-section_thumb You want a surgeon who performs at least 50 implants per year, and at least 25 implants of your particular brand choice in the last year: Experience pays; -- electrode that was folded between the 3rd & 4th electrodes during placement. Because neither the implant was booted up and impedance checked during surgery, nor was there post-surgery radiography -- Click to enlarge in a new window Fifth, it’s mandatory that the implant be booted up in the OR by the audiologist with a cleaning cycle and an impedance check performed: -- electrode. What’s more, by not using radiographic imaging the patient with the improperly placed electrode would need to be reimplanted, which involves additional trauma to the skin flap, an increased risk of -- better to be safe than sorry, so make sure you get this in writing; Eighth, how will the implant electronics package be fastened down to the skull? It takes the surgeon time to carefully cut the pocket in the -- the surgeon used a “slip and go” method to reduce the OR time even further, which allows for movement of the implant package, and more harmfully puts unnecessary stress and strain on the delicate electrode -- Tenth, what is guiding the CI brand recommendation by the audiologist and surgeon? The best ones are comfortable implanting and MAPping all three major brands, so sometimes financial “considerations” are in -- “halo effect” from their name and “standing in the community;” so you’ll do much better by going to a CI center that also implants adults. As best we can tell, based on numerous off-the-record -- concentrate on “administrative tasks.” We just found out he’s implanting again, confirmed by their PR rep, with 15 implant procedures in the last two weeks alone. Needless to say, we are -- On choosing a CI brand, The Hearing Blog recommends you focus on the implant electronics package itself, as that is what will be wired into your head for the next 20 or so years; and except for the Advanced -- References: 1. Public review draft of AAMI/CDV-2 CI86, Cochlear implant systems – Safety, performance and reliability: Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation, May 21^st, 2015 2. Cochlear Implant Programming: A Global Survey on the State of the Art (31 authors). The Scientific World Journal Volume 2014 (2014), -- 3. Role of electrode placement as a contributor to variability in cochlear implant outcomes (Charles C. Finley and Margaret W. Skinner). Otol Neurotol. 2008 Oct; 29(7): 920–928. -- 8. Wolfe, Jace, and Schafer, Erin C. 2014. Programming Cochlear Implants 2^nd Edition. San Diego: Plural Publishing. ISBN-13: 978-1-59756-552-3 ISBN-10: 1597565520 9. First Person Report: Cochlear Implant Channel Crossover. The Hearing Blog, June 1, 2011; -- 11. Impact of Perioperative Oral Steroid Use on Low-frequency Hearing Preservation After Cochlear Implantation. Sweeney, Alex D.; Carlson, Matthew L.; Zuniga, M. Geraldine; Bennett, Marc L.; Wanna, -- 12. Effects of CI Electrode Insertion on Tinnitus, by Thomas J Balkany MD. Institute for Cochlear Implant Training, October 1, 2015 Bootnotes: A. We give props to Envoy Medical, maker of the troubled Esteem implanted hearing aid, for tossing out one surgeon from their program, as this individual, who is also well known in his region as a butcher CI surgeon, was taking as long as nine hours to implant the hearing aid. What’s more, this particular surgeon took almost six hours on a -- minutes), yet still bungled it, rendering her ear completely destroyed and unimplantable in the process; B. These gentlemen are also trained electrical engineers, which gives -- ignal processing involved with these magical devices; C. These gentlemen also implant Auditory Brainstem Implants (ABI), which truly is “brain surgery;” -- June 11, 2015 at 7:55 pm I was implanted three days ago. I wish I had this to guide my questions prior to surgery. Now I just hope for best. Reading this -- your surgeon, specifically on the measured impedance values after cleaning when the implant was booted up, and the post-surgical imaging to verify electrode placement. Also, now that your bandages are off, you should request a residual hearing test: You received an AB implant which uses a reloadable stylet, so there is no reason your surgeon should -- I don’t know how anyone can have knowledge of an each cochlear implant surgeon’s skill at threading a electrical array into a cochlea. I wish you would share that with us. You indicate -- June 13, 2015 at 8:40 pm Please don’t be scared. My daughter was implanted 12 years ago and has had no issues. It’s been a tremendous miracle :) I wouldn’t -- I find your opinion, which is what it is, on pediatric hospital implant centers as totally off base. My son was implanted at 4 and we had the best surgeon (who isn’t even on your list – Thomas -- hocked that I was not personally informed of his retirement. He implanted my daughter over 19 years ago. I should have been the first on the list for his retirement party. -- While I feel that this article was intended to help deaf and hard-of-hearing folks in making a decision about cochlear implants, I am a bit disappointed when I saw that you made worldly -- When it comes to make a informed decisions regarding choosing cochlear implants and surgeons. I cannot ask for a better staff and teams at all children’s! Dr. Peter Orebello is the best surgeon, -- My son is a patient at All Children’s in St. Pete also he is a Medicaid recipient. He was implanted at 15 months of age. He receives the best care we could have ever imagined. Our audiologist -- referred our mutual friend Regina from Sarasota to him for Gianna’s implants. I’ll also reply to you privately on Facebook messenger. -- June 12, 2015 at 6:46 pm My daughter had her right side cochlear implant at 26 months of age, her left side done when she was 7 years old. She is now 16 years old. Thus, we have been around cochlear implants for many years. We have lived in 4 different states since she was diagnosed. -- go and talk to recipients and parents of recipients in person. AG Bell, Minutman Implant, Hands and Voices, etc. etc. Second, I would definitely talk to the different cochlear companies -- furthered my research for what was best for kid for her second implant. When our daughter was first implanted, AB had a serious issue with cases of meningitis. I believe all of the implants slightly increase the risk of meningitis. Therefore, it is important for -- through its buyout. I also considered financial history of the company. Having the best equipment at the time of implant, but the company goes under, is not a situation I would want my child to be -- comfortable going with a Children’s Hospital. Once the child is implanted, the hard work starts. I believe it is crucial to the uccess of the child and their implant to have the best pediatric audiologist possible. The speech and listening therapy is also -- As for the CI manufacturers’ financial stability, in fact this is a big factor for FDA approval of any implanted device manufacturer — And has been for decades, such as back in 1985 -- Just to clarify, the FDA is extremely strict with the implanted medical device industry; and when one is sold it typically takes at least six months for the FDA to perform -- comments, a lot of people who have experienced cochlear implants themselves do NOT agree with him. Please let me know if I can answer any questions for you! -- all sorts of problems with her two CI’s; and she had to go to the above-mentioned Dr Baker in OKC to get reimplanted to get good results. -- Yes, I am very familiar with the Dallas CI Community. My cochlear implant was so successful that it transformed my life. My experience was 12% with a hearing aid to 92% with the -- Foundation, which Dr Peters founded to help people who cannot afford hearing aids and cochlear implants. I worked with Dr Peters and his CI team for many years prior to relocating to -- done extensive published research on bilateral cochlear implantation. He is an excellent, very experienced surgeon. And he has a heart of gold. I would trust him with my life and -- I have been scheduled with Sam Levine at the University of MN in Minneapolis. Sam has been doing implants since they were invented. Should I be excited or nervous to have him as my surgeon? -- Interesting article. We had the opportunity to have our daughter implanted by Dr. Clough Shelton in Utah. He is an excellent surgeon and does all the things mentioned in this article. -- For more, please see Role of electrode placement as a contributor to variability in cochlear implant outcomes (Charles C. Finley and Margaret W. Skinner). Otol Neurotol. -- Just saw your info on Dr. Niparko who just performed bilateral implants on my son. We could not be more thrilled. I called his office and learned that he has been elected President of USC Care, -- June 17, 2015 at 8:13 pm Dr Niparko is implanting again?! That’s the best news we’ve heard all week! He implanted my former girlfriend in 2003, as well as implanting a number of friends here in the Delaware Valley who drove the 90 miles down to Baltimore. In addition, -- doing the insertion so it is a moot point. As for the surgeon pulling my leg about the cochlear implant urgery. I can tell you that this surgeon is highly regarded -- most humble Dr I have ever met. As my hearing has worsened, he said to me, “Please, let me implant you and resolve your issues.” I believed him and let me tell you, it was the best decision of my life. By old implant standard’s, I had to much residual hearing at 40%. But I was missing more then half of everything said. Dr Niparko told me the sooner we implant, the faster the results. Not only did I preserve most of my residual hearing, the placement of -- word recognition. Now coming up on my 5th month activated, my hearing in my implanted ear is so great, I am considering going bilateral. For the record, I did not choose AB but Cochlear. It -- a bad placement, you will struggle. I feel extremely blessed to have Dr Niparko for a surgeon and his vast knowledge of implantable device’s. USC was very smart in hiring him, he has raised the bar -- ReSound & Cochlear systems last year at this link. Whether you choose to use an Enzo or not for your non-implanted ear, we recommend purchasing accessories which are compatible with it, -- Choose AB, MedEl or Cochlear… it’s all rubish if you get implanted for any other reason then to be able to continue to communicate with the world. Some will hear Music, Some will truggle with Music, if you got implanted with the thought that you will hear music again like you did with your regular -- July 27, 2015 at 3:12 pm I am considering a cochlear implant. What information do you have about Dr. Rick Friedman at USC-Keck? -- Our 29 year old daughter has profound hearing loss and the ENT recommended that she receive a cochlear implant. Do you have a recommendation for someone to see in the Phoenix -- malpractice issue with the kinked electrode array? I’m being implanted next week in Michigan, and it would be good to know… My surgeon is Dr. Eleanor Chan at the Michigan Ear Institute – do -- • Impact of Perioperative Oral Steroid Use on Low-frequency Hearing Preservation After Cochlear Implantation by a group at Vanderbilt. -- heard good things about them as well. Our current plan was to implant with Brian Dunham at CHOP and programming by Melissa Ferrello. My husband and I are professional musicians and am curious if you have input on the best implant or programming for musical access, pecifically pitch perception. -- discussed, he tries for residual hearing preservation As for brand, we recommend the Advanced Bionics implants, as there’s a new 1024-channel stim for music being developed which will run on the HiRes 90k implant. Also, although the externals are not as important as the implant circuit, we really like the Phonak processors; and as we recently -- and will be getting much better mid-to-late next year. The Med-El i100 is a decent implant, but although twice as fast as the Nucleus CI522 and with the electrodes spaced far -- November 30, 2015 at 6:57 pm It looks like Jefferson only implants adults currently. December 1, 2015 at 6:56 pm -- in Atlanta. One of my longtime patients who still had ignificant high frequency hearing was just implanted a few weeks ago (I’ll not name the surgeon), and even though the -- My 89 year old mother just had a consult with an audiologist in Cincinnati about the possibility of a cochlear implant…she’s been totally deaf in one ear for decades, and is progressively losing -- dwarves don’t tolerate general anesthesia well): He said he’s implanted under a local for a couple patients in their 90’s, November 19, 2015 at 11:04 pm -- audiologist do the fine tuning post op, or do I need to return to the site where the implant was done? November 29, 2015 at 11:17 pm Unfortunately, Dr Dana Suskind at UC/Comer Children’s only implants pediatric patients. If you get implanted in another city, then Yes, you can be MAPped locally; however switch-on (1st stim) and the first couple of MAPpings would be where you were implanted, especially if there are any “issues.” 25. -- This is incredibly helpful! Thank you! Do you have any experience with Colorado implant surgeons? We have been referred to Dr. Kelsall and Dr. Feehs in Englewood. I would love an outsiders -- Dan, thank you for your excellent blog post on selecting a cochlear implant surgeon. I am 53 years old, have worn hearing aids bilaterally for most of my life, and am considering a CI. There is helpdesk donate From hearing aids to cochlear implant A guest blog by Kirsteen Allison Kirsteen Allison blogs about her cochlear implant From hearing aids to cochlear implant is a guest blog by Kirsteen Allison. Kirsteen is a working mum in Scotland writing about her cochlear implant and experiences of deafness 2012/2013. Watch a short video of Kirsteen at switch on. From hearing aids to cochlear implant RSS Feed One year on -- But its still a big improvement! I had another check up at the Cochlear Implant Centre where I underwent the same tests as before - watching a video with and without sound. The -- dropped. I was told this was because I was relying more on hearing than lipreading and this is to be expected with cochlear implants. I'm really pleased with my results! I also had my hearing aid in my non implanted ear adjusted although the ound will never be as good as I want it to be. I would still love a econd implant and be bi-lateral but I just have to wait and hope that things change in the near future! -- 'focusing' on hearing something, if that makes sense. I think next time I visit the cochlear implant centre, I'll ask for advice and help with noisy situations. On my last visit, I had two of -- My updates are less frequent now, sorry everyone, but that's because I've been busy and also because my appointments at the cochlear implant centre are decreasing so I haven't had much to report. I get check ups -- hearing in that ear than to go without. Also if I were ever to get a econd implant, the transition would be easier if I have spent some time being bimodal (which means using a cocglear implant and hearing aid together). Speaking of a second implant, I spoke with the head of centre at my appointment. I explained I really wanted a second implant and asked if there was any way of making this possible. However the centre said I do -- I hope to be able to share my experiences here once I'm matched, so that my blog will be an interesting mix of cochlear implants and hearing dogs! -- christmas etc so apologies for the lack of updates. At the end of November, my cochlear implant centre advised me to reintroduce a hearing aid into my non implanted ear. I wore it for a month before I had to stop wearing it. I really hated the difference in sound between the cochlear implant and the hearing aid. The sound is not balanced. The sound coming into the -- Obviously the hearing aid cannot give sound as good as the cochlear implant but I was surprised by how quiet and poor the sound was, considering I wore hearing aids for 25 years pre implantation. I could not turn it up any louder. -- I was taking steps backwards rather than forwards on my journey to better hearing. I felt I did better with the cochlear implant alone so I stopped wearing the hearing aid. My audiologist did say that she did not want my brain to work for the hearing aid over the cochlear implant so therefore she would set the hearing aid a little lower. I will see when I return to the centre if -- carry on without it. Ideally I would like two cochlear implants so the sound is 'equal' in both ears but a second implantation (for adults) is dependent on funding and circumstances such as additional disabilities. I hope one day this changes! As for the current cochlear implant, I'm hearing more things all the time. Popcorn popping at the cinema and being able to follow the whole -- On this, you can see where I was back in May when I underwent all the assessments for a cochlear implant. You can also see where I am now. A big improvement, don't you think? tests pre and post cochlear implants I reckon this is proof more than anything that I made the right decision to have a cochlear implant and I hope it offers others considering an implant some reassurance that it is indeed worthwhile. I can hear so much now - fire alarms, telephones ringing, music playing -- I would be able to cope better in a college environment with the implant. I'm also exercising more - again I'd avoid exercise classes because of the fear I wouldn't understand the instructions and go the -- I am due back at the hospital to reintroduce my hearing aid into my right (non implanted) ear. I'm a bit unsure about this as my surgeon told me many implantees find they do not like wearing a hearing aid in their 'other' ear as the sounds are conflicting and confusing. Then again, some implantees do fine with a hearing aid and a cochlear implant together. I'm not sure how I will feel but I am very conscious of the lack of sound coming into that ear so I'm keen to try it and see -- I also saw Skyfall twice. Skyfall is the first film I've seen post implant. Previously I would go to a film and either spend the majority of it going "what did he say?", "why is she doing that?" or get the -- longer. I've adjusted really well, in fact sometimes I forget I only have a cochlear implant in one ear! It's improving all the time. I can hear music playing when I go to the -- and give me a very quick test. The audiogram showed my hearing with hearing aids compared with my 'new' hearing with my cochlear implant. There's been a HUGE improvement in just 4 weeks. I am hearing things -- gone, so yippee! I returned to the cochlear implant centre six days after switch on and I was in quite a bad mood. The beeping and squeaking was driving me -- There are four programmes in total. The other two programmes with my implant are 'focus' and 'music'. I think these are more or less self explanatory. I will not receive these programmes until later although I -- Hearing Link had given me. The physicist (the guy who put the 'electric drill' through my ears a while back!) set the cochlear implant up. He explained he would first go through 22 channels and I would hear -- began to sound a bit more normal. I wasn't aware there were 22 channels Then he told me he would switch the implant on and I would hear pretty much everything. Wow, what a lot of noise! I clutched my hands to my -- it will never start to make sense unless I bear with it. I was given two programmes on my Cochlear Implant to start with - programmes one and two. I'm currently on programme one and I've to -- when I do. I'm getting rather beeped off! I go back to the Cochlear Implant Centre next week to report back and get some more adjustments. I will have to return several times in my -- 28 August 2012 Here's me talking about my implant - after surgery but before switch on. -- the mornings. Kirsteen's implant scar - after 1 day When I washed my hair, I made ure I had someone to help me. I put cotton wool in my ear and tilted -- On the ward, I had visits from the anaethesist, a lady from the cochlear implant centre and my surgeon. The anaethesist explained the process of going to sleep and checked if I had any allergies etc. As I had anaethestic previously with appendicitis, I knew what to expect. The lady from the cochlear implant centre brought instruction manuals for my Cochlear speech processor and remote control for me to read -- information she gave me I already knew through undertaking research and peaking to other implantees. I told her all about my blog and she took a note of it, so hello if you are reading! -- into a funny hairstyle. I'm so vain, he laughed at my expression! He drew an arrow on my neck to indicate which ear would be implanted and asked me to sign a consent form. I asked if the implant would be 'high up' on my head but he reassured me it would be quite low. -- I will be in hospital for a few days and it will be 4-6 weeks before my implant is ‘switched on’. I reckon I’ll be very impatient during this time! -- was also asked if I smoked and drank. It took about an hour overall. Why is only one ear implanted? It's to do both with funding and the N.I.C.E guidelines (which you can Google). These guidelines advise children should be bilaterally implanted and adults with certain additional disabilities should be considered. Cochlear Implants are very expensive. There are several upport groups easily found via the internet if you need further -- The rehabilitation process is most likely described on your Cochlear Implant Centre's website or leaflets that they issue you with. It can take 9 months to a year before you are receiving the full benefits of the implant. It will not restore full hearing and there will be several appointments to adjust your implant to get the sound as best as it can be for you. -- effect is only temporary and I was warned it may happen. My expectations for my implant 16 July 2012 Well, for the implant to be a ‘success’ for me, I would like to be able to enjoy music again. It's hard to describe how it sounds now with my -- hearing aids and that it will take a long time to get ‘back to normal’. I also worry that one cochlear implant will not be enough. Would I need two? Would I need to use a hearing aid in the other ear? I asked these questions when at the Cochlear Implant Centre and was told: 9 months to a year to get the full benefit of a cochlear implant. additional disabilities. The centre follows the N.I.C.E guidelines. least 6 months to help me get used to my implant. I was advised ome people find they do not like it as the two sounds are very different. Some people on the other hand find it is helpful. responds differently to the implant. Information and expectations. Day 2 -- wait being around 9 weeks. Finally it was back to viewing the cochlear implant and explaining how it would work. I would receive advice on how to use the speech -- I had to complete a computer questionnaire where I had to rank where I thought my hearing would be after my implant on a scale of 1-10. This was to check my expectations were realistic. Finally I was able to view the different types of Cochlear Implant. My centre offers three brands – Cochlear, Advanced Bionics and Med El. I -- encountered was deaf aware. Obviously this is where the Cochlear Implant Centre is based so that explains why they are more deaf aware than other hospitals, but I -- each attempt sign language with me (which I don’t actually speak). I thought only the staff in the Cochlear Implant centre would know this. -- 05 June 2012 I had my assessment days over two days at the Cochlear Implant Centre. When my appointment letter came through, it offered April, which was a -- deaf I am. I had never considered myself as a candidate for a Cochlear Implant and always thought I wouldn’t be ‘deaf enough’ for one. I felt I was managing okay with the support I already have and with my family -- consider one and said she would refer me to the ENT consultant. My hearing loss had progressed to the stage where an implant would be enormously beneficial. When I met with the ENT consultant, I was still -- confused and feeling quite emotional and scared. The ENT Consultant’s words were that an implant would make my hearing ‘much much much better’. So that was the start of my journey towards getting a Cochlear Implant. I will blog soon about my assessment days. Cochlear Implant Journey - RSS publisher Clarity Now: My Cochlear Implant Journey At the age of 9, I was diagnosed with severe hearing loss in both ears. -- hearing. I FINALLY shared my truth, and made the life changing decision to get a cochlear implant. My journey began as a quest to hear, but it's so much more. This is my self-acceptance story. This is my search for CLARITY. Showing posts with label cochlear implant. Show all posts Sunday, February 8, 2015 -- hare of intense frustration. Then there was the introduction of my cochlear implant in 2012, and the shiny hope attached to it that life would quickly get better. And then... there was its aftermath with its -- to achieve better hearing. The time my sister, also living with progressive hearing loss, pursued a cochlear implant and how her results differed from mine. -- I had a lovely reunion with my childhood friends, one who hadn't seen me since I received the cochlear implant. It's always fun to gather others' feedback as to how they perceive I am hearing, and I was -- tranger named Joan. She had found my blog about a month after receiving a cochlear implant, and was struggling with painful “zapping” following activation, as if someone was flicking her head each time a -- Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest Labels: cochlear implant, cochlear implant results, concealing hearing loss, Pam Fisher, self acceptance, truth, Vanderbilt University Cochlear Implant Study Thursday, May 23, 2013 -- activity in his life. Recently, I happened to meet a woman through an online cochlear implant upport group. The woman is not in the military. However, she has -- years old- is she considering treating her hearing with a cochlear implant. The reason? After 40 years of significant hearing loss and straining -- Posted by Pam Fisher at 7:13 AM 2 comments: Labels: Aprons in Action, cochlear implant, Home Depot Foundation, military and hearing loss, Saratoga, Saratoga VET HELP, veteran -- Simple Summer This past week, my cochlear implant was re-mapped- AGAIN- and once more, I'm growing accustomed to different versions of sounds in each of -- Mellow. Enjoyable. Of all of life's activities, THOSE are the types of experiences I want with my cochlear implant-- the moments that are eemingly so easy to others. -- Posted by Pam Fisher at 5:01 PM No comments: Labels: adirondack, cochlear implant, easier, hearing problems, high peaks, Lake George, lip reading, remapping, what is cochlear implant Wednesday, January 23, 2013 -- was by no means a life-changing conversation, but this example is EXACTLY why I wanted the cochlear implant in the first place. Being able to call to your child and receive a response is such a -- damning them, agonizing over what to make out of them. I'm thinking my cochlear implant journey is my path to a refreshing glass of lemonade. Cheers! Posted by Pam Fisher at 4:15 PM 2 comments: Labels: cochlear, cochlear implant, cochlear implant surgery, event planning, hearing impairment, hostess, lemonade, motherhood, Pam Fisher -- Posted by Pam Fisher at 6:39 PM 4 comments: Labels: baby boy, born deaf, cochlear implant, cochlear implant urgery, hearing impairment, hearing test, infant hearing screening, -- understand the world. I was going on seven months with the cochlear implant, and I miserably acknowledged that I was still in such an early development stage -- Posted by Pam Fisher at 6:25 PM 1 comment: Labels: cochlear implant, cochlear implant surgery, Giving Tuesday, Glens Falls, North Country Coffee Cafe, OBrien Insurance, Pam Fisher, -- Posted by Pam Fisher at 5:19 AM No comments: Labels: Acceptance Speech, cochlear implant, Dreams, Foreign Hollywood Press, Golden Globes, Hearing Impaired, Justin Timberlake, Les -- At this point, I tell the owner, "Yes, I am hearing impaired but I got a cochlear implant this year and I'm re-learning to hear. You don't need to yell... I may ask you to repeat yourself sometimes, but for the -- Posted by Pam Fisher at 2:47 PM 6 comments: Labels: Advocacy, Barbie, cochlear implant, Disability, Fitness Barbie, Gym, hearing impairment, New Years Resolutions -- Me and Claire-December 2012. “Look at my mom’s COCH-LE-AR IMPLANT!” chimed my daughter Claire as she reached to the right side of my head. Surrounded by her friends, she -- hearing so in the spring, I got a surgery to help me hear better. It’s called a cochlear implant.” I then lifted my hair to show them the processor. “I’m still trying to -- In her signature high pitch singsong voice, she exclaimed, “Look at my mom’s COCH-LE-AR IMPLANT!” And you know what I realized? She’s proud of me. After years of worrying that my situation would somehow embarrass my kids, Claire looks at my cochlear implant as some kind of badge of honor. In fact, sometimes when I’m not wearing the processor, I catch -- Posted by Pam Fisher at 2:09 PM 5 comments: Labels: cochlear implant, cochlear implant surgery, hearing, hearing impairment, kindergarten, motherhood, Pam Fisher -- headache. I’ve had two colds since my surgery, and both times, it eems my cochlear implant’s functionality is compromised during cold and flu season. For me, a simple cold now coexists with head pressure urrounding my implant site, and more annoyingly, a constant buzzing that remains ringing through my head regardless of whether I am wearing the processor or not. That’s right; even when the implant is OFF, I till hear noise—a condition common to people with cochlear implants known as tinnitus, also known as “ringing of the ears.” Some people have this without being hearing impaired or having an implant, and it’s my understanding that deaf or not, it sucks for everyone. -- And so, I’ve spent the last few weeks pretty pissed off toward my cochlear implant progress. Today, however, and in more ways than one, I was lucky to see some -- understand him… that is, until I slid my processor magnet off my head to see what he would sound like without the implant. He wasn’t clear. And he wasn’t loud. I had no clue what he was aying. It would be a disservice to the implant not to acknowledge its value to me when I’m attending presentations and lectures. In that setting, and -- brightness. During the 2012 holiday season, my first Christmas with the implant, I choose for my days to be merry and bright. I wish the ame for all of you. Posted by Pam Fisher at 6:36 PM No comments: Labels: bright side, Christmas, cochlear implant, cochlear implant urgery, deaf, diversity, flu season, gratitude, hearing impairment, -- on the right side of my head. Now in November, I had reached a plateau with my cochlear implant progress, and even more embarrassing is that in recent weeks when I struggle to hear, I have suddenly burst into -- Posted by Pam Fisher at 6:10 PM 2 comments: Labels: Ace of Base, All 4 One, cochlear implant, Flanders, Hurricane Sandy, Pam Fisher, Rico Suave, Rockefeller Center, Rockefeller Center -- When I started the blog, I wanted to inform my family, friends, and colleagues of my decision to get a cochlear implant. I figured it was easiest to update everyone all at once as social media carried my news -- proved to be challenging, and as frustrated as I was with the new cochlear implant, I at least recognized as a writer that my experiences made for a good story. I was also generally optimistic. I figured in -- connected and whole. I tend to describe my cochlear implant success based on how well I communicate in “bigger” milestone events as opposed to everyday -- unrecognizable noise. NOT a great hearing weekend. Then came my first family vacation with the implant, and the reality that life with a processor was often inconvenient. I mourned the loss of natural -- around me were noticing a difference, saying I was more relaxed and eemed to understand more than when I was without the implant. My BIGGEST event of 2012, the one occurring a whole six months -- And I did. The wedding was beautiful, the resort was amazing… but it’s not a complete story if I didn’t admit to the cochlear implant frustrations. First, before I even made it to LaGuardia Airport en -- had never been able to hear in an airport before), but I found it just as difficult to communicate as it had been in pre-implant life. I also found group conversations to be more difficult than I expected. -- months post-activation is really no different than three months ago. Sometimes life with the implant is fine, and other times, it’s annoying. I remain grateful I can hear the phone ring, but totally -- Posted by Pam Fisher at 7:43 PM 6 comments: Labels: best friends, cochlear implant, cochlear implant surgery, destination wedding, Jamaica, wedding -- reader.... Me and Claire-December 2012. “Look at my mom’s COCH-LE-AR IMPLANT!” chimed my daughter Claire as she reached to the right side of ... profound hearing loss. Currently we are traveling the path of her hearing journey as she has received her cochlear implants, and we are continuing to expand her speech and language. We started this blog to -- hearing journey, and we have hopes that someday it will help another family facing cochlear implant surgery. March 10, 2015 -- We have big dreams for Audrena. Wouldn't it be fantastic if she grew up to become a cochlear implant surgeon? Or the first woman president? No matter what she chooses to do in life, we are confident that she will -- appropriately. The miracle of cochlear implants never ceases to amaze us! Even with its limitations, the technology has provided Audrena with so much more -- rough with them. That's why it is SO important to be very conscious of your child's cochlear implant equipment. We constantly monitor things because if she is not getting good quality sound, she can't catch up as -- Labels CI Circle: for Parents of Children with Cochlear Implants There was an error in this gadget He may not perform as well as his hearing peers or even another child of his age with cochlear implants without Mondini's Malformation, but he has come a very long way. There's still work to be done, but we are -- top a minute and talk about the sense of urgency you feel when your child's implants might be jeopardized. You never want to waste a econd to get your child's ear infection cleared up if it's possible. -- way, but it was a fleeting thought of how a simple cold can become a much more serious matter for a child with implants. I hated that he had to go through all of this. Again. And I hate that we will always -- Of course, we are still praising the miraculous technology of cochlear implants and Bud has come such a long way. But as I have been saying for the past two and a half years on here, there's a lot more work to -- Evan's Hearing Journey Erin Toes and her Cochlear Implant Journey Insights of a mom with two boys with cochlear implants Topics letters for luke & notes for noah Showing posts with label cochlear implants. Show all posts Monday, April 14, 2014 -- in his L ear and a severe loss in his R ear. We have gotten hearing aids, a cochlear implant, started preschool, continued with intense peech therapy, are learning a new language (ASL) and had another -- Posted by Kate at 9:31 AM 4 comments Labels: audiology, cochlear implants, deaf, hard of hearing, hearing aides, hearing loss, Noah, speech and language -- his Mom's side (got that?). As we sat down, the lady behind me said, "He's has a cochlear implant" about Noah. I turned around and smiled and saw the cutest 17 year old girl sitting next to her. The Mom then proceeds to tell me, "She is bilaterally implanted". The girl pulled back her hair and I saw N5's on her ears. Noah was overjoyed and kept -- Posted by Kate at 3:39 PM 1 comments Labels: CI, cochlear implants, deaf, family, hard of hearing, hearing aides, hearing loss, Noah -- Noah and if anyone asks, Luke is quick to jump in with "This is my brother's cochlear implant processor. It's held to his head by a magnet and it helps him hear". It's so precious. Posted by Kate at 1:47 PM 0 comments Labels: audiology, brothers, CI, cochlear implants, hard of hearing, hearing loss, Lucile Packard, Luke, Noah, sibling of special needs kid, -- which took the majority of the time. For those of you not versed in the CI world, Noah's implant will be gradually turned up over the course of the next 6 months. On his CI there are "programs" and he is -- [photo.JPG] Noah's Cochlear Implant--with a Finn McMissile cover Posted by Kate at 11:13 AM 1 comments Labels: CI, cochlear implants, deaf, genetics, hard of hearing, hearing loss, Lucile Packard, Noah, Stanford -- [image+(2).jpeg] In recovery. Notice that Curious George also has a cochlear implant! We waited for another 2 hours in recovery for Noah to wake up. He was -- Posted by Kate at 3:05 PM 4 comments Labels: CI, cochlear implants, deaf, hard of hearing, hearing aides, hearing loss, Lucile Packard, Noah, speech and language, Stanford, -- Posted by Kate at 1:53 PM 1 comments Labels: CI, cochlear implants, deaf, growing up, hard of hearing, hearing loss, Lucile Packard, Luke, Noah, Stanford, surgery Cochlear Implant Journey Category Feed Read My Lips WordPress.com -- Skip to content Category Archives: My Cochlear Implant Journey ← Older posts -- Posted on December 1, 2015 | 8 comments Last week I received a new processor for my cochlear implant. The processor is the tiny computer that translates sounds in the environment to a code. The electrodes in my implant use this code to end a message to my brain that I have heard the sound. I must admit -- invention for only three years. It seems like a lifetime and I can hardly remember what life was like before my cochlear implant. There are still challenges, especially when I can’t read a speaker’s -- ‘life-half-full’ glass. My new processor includes a special receiver that connects both my hearing aid and implant with the personal FM that I wear in groups to boost the sound. So I am now hearing in stereo! -- this time, even more than that first time I experienced music with my implant at the Symphony, some eighteen months ago. I could hear very oft sounds distinctly. It’s really quite something. -- columnists sometime in the future. We’ll see. And while my implant has improved my life in immeasurable ways, I still experience trepidation in any waiting room wondering if I will hear my -- 8 Comments Posted in My Cochlear Implant Journey More on music and cochlear implants Posted on December 4, 2014 | 3 comments Last June I wrote about my success hearing music with my implant. Since that time I have been trying to explain the difference between hearing ‘normal sounding’ musical sounds and hearing these sounds with a cochlear implant, to help others understand the enormity of this milestone. I had a meeting with my implant rehab therapist earlier this week and he found this great illustration. (see link below) I want to share it with you – both those of you who are implant users and those who might know someone with an implant. I think this is an easy way to understand what we go through trying to hear music with a cochlear implant, especially when the implant’s sounds overpower the sounds from the non-implanted ear. Some people with cochlear implants never reach the ‘normal’ stage; others get there fairly quickly. It took me almost two years. My brain -- very complex sounds. I now hear the ‘normal’ sounding music with both my implant and my hearing-aided ear and I am greatly enjoying this newly rediscovered -- ago. And I think the sound is actually clearer now. It IS the implant that is making the difference here. A couple of times during the concert I took off my cochlear implant processor so I could get a sense of what I was hearing with just my hearing aid alone. It -- enjoyed performing. The concert last week was another. I have one more task – feeling confident using my implant on the phone – and that will take some time yet. But my “cochlear implant expectation check list” is almost complete, so this will be the final entry of my cochlear implant journey, almost two years after I received this amazing device. -- blog on several occasions about my experiences hearing music with my implant. I could hear the true notes of simple tunes like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star with a week or so of practicing but a complex piece -- when you hear one of the two patterns. Seemed easy enough. Not! For one thing, the notes I heard with my implant did not always correspond with the placement of the notes on the screen. I know music. -- And a PS. I saw a different researcher for my post test. She explained that cochlear implants are designed for speech, not music and music involves a totally different signal. There is rhythm, there are -- 7 Comments My Cochlear Implant Journey: the year that changed everything Posted on September 17, 2013 | 8 comments A year ago today my cochlear implant was activated and I began my journey to hear again. While preparing for this anniversary edition I read through the early posts and I am amazed at how far I have come. I had my first annual hearing test with the implant just a week ago to ee how much I am actually hearing with my implant alone and with my implant and hearing aid together. Prior to being approved for the implant two years ago I took a number of tests, most particularly one that tests your ability to hear sentences over cocktail party noises. That time I got one right. This time I managed to get about half of them right with just my implant. That is the proof of the pudding. Now these tests are in a controlled environment; the speakers enunciate -- with real life. Still from a success rate of 2% to nearly 50% tells me that my implant is working pretty well! During those first few weeks after the implant was activated I practiced hearing words without reading lips. Now I can manage a telephone conversation of 30 minutes or more using my implant. Granted, my conversations are only with people whose voices I can easily -- the phone ringing from other rooms and other floors in the house just with my implant alone. Before I received the implant and using only my hearing aid, I could not hear the phone ring unless I was in the same room. The same for people knocking on my front door. Pre-implant when I was expecting someone, such as a repair person or neighbour, I had to -- During my first year review last week with the audiologist, as she was testing the implant’s processor I kept hearing a swishing sound. I thought there was something wrong with the processor so I mentioned it -- Music has been a major challenge because it is such a complex auditory process. I could hear individual notes fairly early on with my implant but not a more intricate piece of music. About six months ago I listened to the choir at church singing an anthem using just my implant and did not hear ANY music at all. All I heard were the voices speaking -- than normal and were similar to the buzzing noise from the day my implant was activated – just like they were when I first tried to hear individual musical notes. But I could hear differences in tone and could tell higher notes from lower. I must admit I did not have a lot of hope that I could hear music with my implant. I worried when I lose the hearing in my better ear and would need to rely solely on my implant, music would be lost to me. Now I know that won’t happen. It may take another year or even longer, but I will hear music. There were so many firsts this past year. Some sounds are still robotic and unclear. The implant is loud and my brain is still working on filtering out extraneous sounds. At the moment, blasts from a noisy -- blog about the sound I was most looking forward to hearing once my implant was working. It was the call of the loon. While I have not been near a loon to test this out, I have no doubt that I could hear it now. I have discovered that keeping things in perspective is an important component of success with cochlear implants. The other day a retired teacher of the deaf, on learning that I was approaching my first anniversary with the implant said, “Oh, it is still very new for you.” I realized that a year is just the beginning and I have many more -- in two things. First, I slept – a lot! And when you sleep, you don’t wear any of the external parts of your implant so I wasn’t getting the usual sound stimulation. And secondly my brain pretty much turned to -- important lesson for me at this stage of my development with the implant because the progress I make now is tiny and not always truly noticeable. So even when I feel I am not moving ahead, I actually am. -- on by one of my friends, I decided to ‘test’ my ability to hear complex music with just the implant. To backtrack a bit, last December I tried this test for the first time. At that stage in my development, I was -- took out my hearing aid (which does allow me to hear some music) and just listened with my cochlear implant. There was no musical sound at all. All I heard was the choir speaking words. It actually reminded me -- The other day someone asked me what is the best sound I have heard so far with my implant and what is the worst. This is a very interesting question and I had to think about my answer. The challenge I have is that I can hear using my left, non-implanted ear and a very strong hearing aid. So there are sounds that I hear with -- and some that I don’t (the beeping sound of a truck backing up). But new sounds with my implant? Hmm. It is raining quite hard today. I tend to wear just the processor for my right implanted ear rather than the processor plus my hearing aid whenever I can to help my brain practice listening for sounds and I -- The truth is that there were so many sounds that I did not hear – either at all or not very well – before my implant that pretty much every sound now is the best and there are none I can really call the Sound of Cochlear Implant Showing posts with label Cochlear Implant. Show all posts Tuesday, October 5, 2010 -- Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest Labels: alerting systems, bellman, CI, Cochlear Implant, geemarc Wednesday, September 30, 2009 -- till emotionally attached to it. I still expect to wear my Senso, even if I'm 16 months implanted , and going. -- Journaled by Vivie at 12:42 AM Labels: babyworn, braces, CI awareness, Cochlear Implant, Dental, insurance, Pouch, xray -- he certainly is welcome here.We also share the love of knowing new CI implantees , which I do here in Greece.Right now I'm in the proccess of helping a new candidate take the decision for her implant ( she's going for Cochlear too ) and helping her with a lot of advice. -- Journaled by Vivie at 4:46 PM Labels: babyworn, Cochlear Implant, cracked processor, Rachel Chaikof, houlder worn, trips -- I find myself in the position to say..I did choose well with the naming of that blog.It's fitting.Sound of Cochlear Implant. It's something so precious , and so simple too in the same time! -- 1 comment: Links to this post Labels: CI, CI moments, Cochlear Implant, Long Coil, Pouch Thursday, June 11, 2009 -- both in Greece and abroad , chosen Cochlear , so it couldn't go wrong. Internal implant had 24 electrodes , and various mapping techniques, especially for the Freedom implant. Processor had the option of both , rechargeable , and plain batteries.I -- ones.I like going green.And the disposable is handy, too.( the rechargeable I think got out recently , but when I was implanted , it was out ) -- Plus , it has the child lock.it is advertised so the kids wouldn't play with it , for kiddos that wear their implant.But I find it useful as I have little hands getting my implant.I just let them see it for a bit then put it on my ear again.no need to check anything!Peace of MIND!!!! -- wasn't inside , I'd buy it , it saved my arse more times than I count. The only complaint I've had from my implant is that it was heavy at first ( compared to a hearing aid ) and that the plastic casing that -- Journaled by Vivie at 2:20 AM Labels: CI, Cochlear, Cochlear Implant, processor Older Posts Home -- magic (1) CI (7) CI art (1) CI awareness (2) CI moments (5) Cochlear (1) Cochlear Implant (5) coil (1) cracked processor (1) Dental (1) fall (1) FM system (1) geemarc (1) insurance (1) Long Coil (1) music. (1) « Previous | Main | Next » Switching on my hearing - William's cochlear implant story Comments -- William with his head bandaged, in a hospital bed William recovering after implant surgery [EMBED] -- November, after many years of thinking about it, he chose to have a cochlear implant surgically fitted. The device was activated just before Christmas and since then he has been learning how to interpret -- hereditary condition I've got - deafness. I chose to have a cochlear implant. I went under the knife in December. They cut behind my left ear, -- improvement in my hearing. There are lots of reasons I wanted a cochlear implant but chief among these was a deterioration in the little hearing I had been born with. -- receding from me. Cochlear implants electrically stimulate the inner ear to create a imulation of sound. It's not the same as hearing. -- The staff at the hospital tried their best to manage my expectations of what an implant could bring me. They said that the best I could hope for was to understand speech a little better, and to be able to -- expectations were spiralling beyond a reasonable level. Perhaps because of that, the day they activated my implant was horrible. "The switch on is usually the worst day of most people's lives." The -- After switching on all the channels and checking they were working, they sent me home with the implant at a very low volume and with me wondering if I'd done the right thing. It was the worst day of my life, -- all sound different to before. Life with the implant is better than it was with the hearing aid, but also worse. I'm struggling to understand people as I adjust, and learn -- a bit easier. When people talk about a cochlear implant journey, it implies a destination. I don't think the destination is as important as the was told that one day I could wake up deaf. It was the hardest news I had to face. They did not have cochlear implants back then. I had to learn to “deal” with it. -- wrong with being White, Black, Latino, Russian, American, Hearing, PURPLE, etc. Some feel that the Cochlear Implant is Genocide. Yes, your child is deaf. You can cope, you can deal with it. You can -- know. And when the time comes when they are old enough to make decisions of their own . . . they can try this Cochlear Implant. It’s a big risk and a very big decision to make. We want what’s best for our -- CIs is very refreshing. It’s not a one-sided issue. Many seek to implant the person without even knowing why the person is deaf! My hearing loss is not really a “loss” because I don’t miss it! When I became deaf there were no such things as cochlear implants. All I had was a basic hearing-aid and being constructive myself about how to -- problem with being deaf. Why should they? They are successful while being deaf so a cochlear implant would not help them at all. My family has helped a lot. I don’t believe a cochlear implant would take the place of learning things from my family. I’ve also learned many things -- to live with their being deaf as I have. Being deaf is being normal in every sense of the word. No need for anything like a cochlear implant. The Right to be Deaf -- tell a deaf child that they are insufficient as they are? No one does. Yet, many who try to implant them with a cochlear implant don’t realize this! They try to tell the child that they are not good enough as they -- they haven’t learned yet that they are not acceptable. I’ve known other deaf who don’t have an implant and they are not troubled by being deaf. What they are troubled by is the idea that some want to surgically -- gamble that I refuse to take. With this, Deaf culture is misunderstood by those who wish to implant others. Deaf culture is human beings. Certainly, human beings have a -- Being deaf doesn’t limit someone as much as misunderstanding it does. That’s why before any parents try to implant their deaf child I believe they need to understand that being deaf is only a difference. We can -- Being deaf only means a different lifestyle and a different way of learning things. A deaf person doesn’t need a cochlear implant to urvive or to be successful! Success needs hard work. If a child gets implanted then their work will not be in achieving success. Their hard work will go to figuring out how to live and to figure out what’s wrong with them. There’s NOTHING wrong with them! Then why did they get implanted? Their parents had a problem with them being deaf! That problem is not going to go away with the cochlear implant. That problem will only get worse as the child tries to fit in with the other kids in -- other kids. Then the child will really be disabled. And that’s the sad part. But if the child is not implanted then they can be a child and ee that the world is there for them to do whatever they wish with. -- Why can’t people just accept us as we are? Why would they want to change us into what we aren’t? Why would they want to implant deaf? Some even want to implant all deaf! What has this world come to? We have not lost the ability to be compassionate! We have not lost the ability to understand ourselves and others. Then, why would someone want to implant deaf babies? Why would someone want to implant deaf kids? Why would someone want to implant deaf teenagers? Why would omeone want to implant deaf adults? My gosh! Have we lost the ability to understand? What on earth could a -- person—of any age—is still two things. They are a human being and they are themselves. How could implanting someone possibly do better? -- I know. If they have a problem with me being deaf then how is implanting me going to solve that? Whatever happened to understanding? Why do we have to put mechanics in -- different? How is being deaf a problem? If someone has a problem with my being deaf then putting a cochlear implant into me is not going to help at all!! -- without CI or HA? Cochlear Implants can make you become totally deaf after you realize that CI is not working for you at all. It is too late for any person -- appropriate for people’s their negative emotions or feelings who have the right to implant on Deaf children? I think not because it is still carrying on the old behavior pattern cycles from these people’s own -- becoming deaf as is. Just give them hearing aid if they like it or not before Cochlear Implant device because it is totally unfair. You can assume that they will hear everything as you are expecting them to have -- If it’s not broken, don’t try to fix it Hi, you are so right. Cochlear implants are just glorified hearing aids, but for some one who doesn’t have the capacity to understand -- now I can truly agree with them. It amazes me to see how badly, how far parents would go to implant their child. Once, someone even begged for money to fix their son’s CI. I used to long to be able to hear just so -- wander for quite a while. So, parents, please don’t implant your child when they are not old enough to make their own decisions, and other deaf people (mostly the IMPLANTEES’ VIEW Persons who have received cochlear implants, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, are an invaluable resource in our community. If you are an implantee, we encourage you to share your story with us. If you are a deaf person with a currently-functioning implant, what has your experience been? Has it been good? Bad? If your parents made the choice -- experience been? And if you’re one of the growing number of deaf people who have stopped using their implants or have even had them surgically removed, we’d like to ?read? from you. Please E-mail us at editor (at) -- Metabolic mess-up Hello, my name is Daniel Foley and I have been implanted at age 13. It does nothing but causes problems with me physically. Since I have been implanted, I noticed that my metabolism slowed down and I gained weigh. By the time I became 16 years old I weigh almost 300 pounds and I had -- roof. I really wanted to take the inside part out so bad. The strange thing is I was supposed to hear things with the implant, but I never heard one thing and my parents still tried to make me wear it until I became 18 and now I am almost 20. Now my parents are doing better. They also told me that my personality without the implant on is better than with it on. My friends said the same!! I even like myself -- a student from MSSD (Model Secondary School for the Deaf) Out from the bubble: enjoying life with an implant Hello, my name is Betsy Hitzel and I’m 28 years old. I just got my implant last October 2003, and I’m very happy with it. The cause of my hearing loss is called Perrault’s Syndrome. I was deaf -- my own little bubble. When I heard about the implant I was scared and worried, but the more I thought about it, I got excited. Now I’m happy I did it. Sounds that -- outside, even hearing the engine of a car when started, things people do not think about. So I’m glad I got the implant. I admit I don’t hear every word people say, but I don’t say “Huh?” all the time now. I’m hoping I can get the implant in my left ear. I feel whoever invented the implant, I would like to shake his or hers hand and thank them for giving me my life back. -- Anyway I come from a large deaf family and I have a deaf granddaughter. And I have a cochlear implant my self. I have had mine for about five years and I am against children having one until they are much, much -- pain was and he asked me want it pulled out and I said “no!” so I asked him if he thought it was coming from my cochlear implant as I notice with certain sounds it would make it ache so I decided to go back to the place that did my cochlear implant and I explained to the doctor what I just told you and he was stunned and acted like it was weird but -- Please do not allow these little ones to have it done also it is hard for me to get an MRI due to the cochlear implant so theses little ones may not be able to tell something is wrong. I hope this will help. -- “The doctors wouldn’t listen”: an implantee’s nightmare Hi. My name is Nan Young. [Editors’ note: All names in the following -- Victoria, Australia, I am profoundly deaf, late-deaf, I lost my hearing at age 44, I had an implant put in in January 2001 and I had it removed in April 2002. I would love to be able to tell my story to you, so that many more can see the problems I had with the implant and also the trouble I had with the doctors not listening to me, and then leaving me to fend for myself with not much help from them once the implant was removed. I would like people to see the other side of the Implant “Problems” but first I need to see if you get this, so that I can continue to give my whole story. This I need to do for myself and for all those thinking of getting the implant, so that one day I may feel that I have done my best to show the other side of it. -- have received it and then I can continue with the long story of my journey with getting hearing from the implant and then going back to No Hearing again. -- Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital. (This hospital houses one of the world’s leading cochlear-implant clinics.) Punctuation and capitalization have also been regularized. We have responded to Ms. -- removed. Soon after this, I felt like I had fluid in my head around the implant area. I spoke to a young doctor (can’t remember his name), who aid it was impossible to have fluid in that area, and said not to -- but I was happy, as I could hear something. For the next couple of weeks I used the implant a lot trying to understand the T.V. and people talking, I had to go back to the Implant Clinic on a regular basis once a week, at that time. -- didn’t. It was this day that I asked Mr. Cash to just please take the implant out! I didn’t want it in anymore; it was causing me too much trouble. -- At my next visit, Kim told me that I was not the only person having problems with the implant. There were others! When I saw Mr. Cash next, I asked him about the other people with problems, and I told him Kim -- a letter, stating how concerned they were for me. This letter also [had] a list of Management Options that they, the Implant Clinic, would give me to help. There [were] a number of options for me if I would -- omewhere for long-term stay to help with the sleep and for them to check the implant and infections. That was [also] back in May, and it was now September. Every time I saw the doctors there was always an excuse. That something else was wrong, never the implant! And I still asked [them] to please remove the implant or try and fix it, and also to move the electrodes up like Dr. Smith said he was going to do. Mr. Cash’s response to this -- again this was put aside and they, the doctors spoke of what they wanted! I said that I wanted the implant out, and Dr. Smith said that it would be too expensive to do that. My brother then asked Dr. Smith, -- till there were infections in my ear that they didn’t believe. [On] my next visit to Mr. Cash, I said I wanted the implant taken out. Again, his response was, even if the implant was taken out, at this tage he didn’t believe that it would get rid of my problems. He -- was in the other room asking Kat a lot of questions—things like “What would you feel like if your mother had the implant removed?” and “Why had your mother been to see so many other doctors about the ear -- can. He said that the scan showed a lot of fluid all around the implant area. I was totally stunned! Fluid? He said yes, but he could ee no hole that Mr. Cash was talking about. -- hole and the electrode was pushing through, and the doctor told me that the implant area was full of FLUID! Now I was told there was nothing? I went back up to my room and I was too furious, I think, to even cry. -- nothing?!?” He said he was sorry; he must have made an error when looking in it. I said “Oh, yeah? Well, I want the implant removed!” When I said this we were just outside his room, in the hallway, again. He then told me that having the implant removed was not a consideration at all! -- another appointment with Mr. Cash on the 12^tth March at 12.30 p.m., hoping that they will agree to remove the implant. If not, I am going to have to find someone who will. On the 1st March I went and saw my local G.P., and he said to me to ask if the implant was pressing on or against the internal carotid artery, as this could be causing the throbbing in my head. I am hoping that you may be able to help me get something done on getting the problems fixed or on getting the implant removed. Yours sincerely, -- means, use them. I really hate to see little kids getting implants but it is their parent’s decision. I often wonder about the longevity of implants. I never considered C.I. because it did not have good beginning with -- I don’t think I would have made it this far without an implant Hello, my name is Paige Adams. I'm sixteen years old and here is my -- At the age of five, the University of Virginia offered a possible operation for a cochlear implant. After doing research and listening to deaf pro-implant and deaf community advocates, my parents decided it was for the best for me to receive a cochlear implant. After a six-hour urgery, I had a magnet installed inside my skull on my right side above my ear. Within a month, I was wearing my cochlear implant to chool and I could hear things that I had never heard before such as -- and use it as an advantage for my education and communication skills. Today, I still wear the same old cochlear implant and I love it!!!! Even today, I hear something new and it is a learing experience. Also, -- Algebra (one and two), Geometry, and Precalculus. If I didn’t receive my cochlear implant, I do not think I would have made this far. My goals are to graduate high school with an advanced diploma and to go in the medical/audiological field who work with deaf patiemts and clients, cochlear-implant advocates, surgeons, speech therapists, clinicians, and parents. However, as Ryan McCreery’s response shows, -- interested in learning more about the views of the Deaf Culture and Community regarding cochlear implantation. As a Pediatric Audiologist, I work with a vareity of families to help them learn about hearing -- from the Deaf Community, and do not believe that hearing aids, cochlear implants or any other form of Audiological Habilitation are a “cure” for hearing loss. divergent views of parents of deaf children. If you are a parent of a deaf child and would like to share your views on cochlear implants, please E-mail us at editor (at) cochlearwar (dot) com. The view of a CI parent I am the mother of a deaf 9-year-old, who was implanted with a CI approximately 6 months ago. I am interested in Deaf culture and enjoy -- what area of the body it is used for. Your article makes it sound as though you should not even consider an implant because of a perceived risk which might never even happen. Click on any question to read the answer. What is your opinion of cochlear implants? Many doctors are calling it a "revolutionary technology" that is transforming what had been an isolated group of people, namely the deaf. How do you see the development in implants? Do you feel that the mass media has given the CI controversy fair and -- eliminate deafness? What bothers you most about implants? What are some of your concerns about children with CIs? -- How much person-to person contact have you had with deaf people with implants? Do you consider people with CIs part of the Deaf Community? Aren’t most people with CIs happy about their implants? Do you have questions about the effectiveness and safety of implants? Well, they can give implantees antibiotics, right? If the CI is here to stay, isn’t it a waste of time and energy to try and fight it? Those who are in favor of cochlear implants say that implants can make deaf children and adults hear. But Deaf advocates say that even with an implant, a deaf person is still deaf. What does that mean? Even so, doesn’t the CI have the power to bring an isolated, marginalized group of people into the mainstream of society? Aren’t implants a good thing for society? Why are some deaf people so bitterly opposed to implants? Why do you object to giving implants to deaf children? Isn’t some hearing better than nothing? Isn’t artificial -- Aren’t a number of born-deaf or early-deafened children getting remarkable, even miraculous, results from their implants? Won’t the implant prevent illiteracy in deaf children? If the Deaf community is losing the war against childhood CIs, what are -- Are CIs improving public attitudes towards deaf people? What’s the real motivation of those who oppose childhood implants? Do Deaf people oppose CIs because they need to recruit deaf children to -- What’s been happening with the CI controversy on DeafNotes? Who are these implant evangelists, anyway? Illicit promotion? How? But aren’t the implant corporations interested in reaching out to your largely deaf readership? But don’t kids with implants make miraculous progress? If deaf children can benefit from a CI, why deny them the opportunity? Why consign them to a childhood of silence? Aren’t parents who decide to give their deaf kids implants giving them more communication choices, instead of limiting them to signing alone? Are implants a form of child abuse? That’s what Deaf Culturalists claim. What’s your view? -- How is ASL going to survive the CI onslaught? Do kids with cochlear implants identify as deaf or hearing? Will the Deaf community survive the cochlear implant? Won’t implants ultimately render it obsolete? Will the implant destroy Deaf culture? What’s so special about Deaf Culture? Why should it be studied by -- Many of us are extremely skeptical about the claims we’ve been reading in the media and cochlear-implant (CI) promotional literature. We sometimes suspect that the media plays up the advantages of the CI while dismissing the disadvantages. We have no quarrel with deaf teenagers or adults who choose to receive implants. We have profound reservations about the current trend of implanting deaf infants and children. -- journalists that reveals prejudice: e.g., describing the CI as "a cure for deafness" and the sensory experience of the unimplanted child as "a world of total silence." -- coverage of this issue, you often see the doctor making some typically authoritative comment like "We get much better results with implants when the children are young. The earlier it’s done, the better the -- media visibility? The media loves parents of kids with implants. They certainly get a izable chunk of the spotlight. It’s hard to resist the sight of -- the spotlight. Another thing: in articles about newly-implanted deaf children, you always read what the adults (the doctors, audiologists, and parents) -- enemies of progress, as extremists, fanatics, and militants. Their concerns are frequently downplayed or dismissed. An anti-implant protest rally in Canada (1995) made it into Chuck Shepard’s "News -- Spring 2000, titled "Sound and Fury" and subtitled "Thousands of deaf kids can hear, and speak, thanks to a stunningly effective ear implant. So why is the deaf community in an uproar?" To quote one of the tatements: "Many leaders of the National Association of the Deaf have gotten implants, and the group is redrafting a position paper to make it more friendly to cochlear implants." We were aware that NAD was redrafting its old CI position paper, but who were these NAD leaders who had received implants? Nancy J. Bloch, NAD Executive Director, told us, "I don’t know where Arthur [Allen] got the ‘many leaders’ and ‘more friendly to cochlear implants’ part, committee is in the process of developing a new position statement for -- for emphasis on visual language development, among other things." It’s safe to say that no NAD leaders have received implants. And "stunningly effective?" Really? -- of bitter feelings. There has been some public outcry. A number of implanted kids have entered the schools for the deaf. How well has it been working out for them? Are they making good progress? Deaf children have been known to haze implanted kids mercilessly. Parents of implanted kids have been publicly confronted and excoriated by Deaf people. There has been name-calling, shouting, and a lot of online -- Insulted, perhaps, but perhaps a more accurate response is "disturbed." We’re gravely concerned about the effect that the implants will have on these children’s educational careers, their social lives, -- before making the commitment. Deaf people, quite understandably, feel threatened by the implant in a way that they don’t feel threatened by other technological -- Hearing aids, let it be remembered, are completely removable. An implant is a permanent installation. The new implants are used with babies, and the community "feels that they’re being robbed of their most precious resource–deaf children." (We’re paraphrasing a statement we recently read.) The implant takes away more than it gives. -- the closet, get some recognition and respect for it in the academic community and general society, along comes the implant and a new boom in the most rigorous kind of oral/aural approach. Some of us don’t -- Several factors. We are gravely concerned about implants becoming a "trend." Remember when tonsillectomies were the medical trend? If your child got sick and -- the trend died out. One mother of two grown deaf children has compared cochlear implants to ilicone breast implants, which the FDA assured us were quite safe, and were part of a cosmetic trend–until word got out that there were might be some very bad consequences. Some of us see implants as the latest medical fad for "curing" deafness. There is already a backlash of youthful implantees who are, for various reasons, unhappy with their implants and have stopped using them. A few have even had them surgically removed. It’s too soon -- they’ll be deprived of this tremendous source of enrichment. The implant industry has a ready sucker market in parents of newly-diagnosed deaf babies. They’re in a state of shock. They may -- their ads. Who could resist such a come-on? There’s a growing trend to send newborns straight to the implant clinic after the hearing-screening tests confirm that they’re -- Wham! The kid’s "fixed." We’re worried about the way the cochlear-implant corporations have been promoting implants as a providing a magic key to a deaf child’s success in the mainstream, and the misleading advertising -- incomplete, even deceptive, picture to parents. They tout the "higher quality of life" supposedly enjoyed by young implantees, as compared with unimplanted deaf children. The implant industry, as far as we can tell, has no real interest in the total well-being of these children, -- people), but to serve hearing parents. No CI surgeons or representatives from the implant industry have, to our knowledge, ever bothered to visit schools for the deaf or mainstream programs to see just how well the consumers of their prostheses are doing in their everyday lives. The implant industry has never sponsored any Deaf Culture or ASL-affirmative events. They do send representatives to Deaf -- any community initiative that isn’t strictly self-serving. We’re worried about the way implants are marketed to parents of newly-diagnosed deaf babies. Now, ostensibly, statewide screening -- Question: Do parents of deaf babies really understand the options before they commit to an implant? Question: Are implants really a more cost-effective measure in the long run than a sign-based education at a school for the deaf? Question: Do parents whose children get implants have higher expectations for them than parents who don’t? Question: What long-term effects do the implants have on a deaf child, ocially and academically? -- magazines, for example) carry glowing, simplistic stories about the "miracle" of the implant ("the gift of sound!"), without discussing the children whose experience with implants has been less than "miraculous." When they tout a certain child making exemplary progress with the implants, are they including full details of the child’s communication capabilities before he got the implant? In some cases, they omit this data. Some of this success is undoubtedly due to active -- extracurricular practice in reading and writing. We would like to know what effect implants have on these vital skills. Many of us in the Deaf community are likewise concerned about these things. The high cost of the implant, the fact that there is still no reliable way of predicting how much the implant will benefit a child or what its long-term effect on her life may be, the attitude of some doctors and implant-clinic staffers who prohibit any use of signing in the rehabilitative regimen, parents who refuse to allow their child to -- political clout of the CI lobby, our response has been scattershot. There is no single unified anti-childhood-implant organization. We are concerned about the way the implant is being promoted as a "cure for deafness." Calling the implant a "cure" is a fallacy. The implant does not cure deafness. From what we understand (and we have discussed this at length with people who have chosen implants for themselves), it is plain wrong to describe an implant as a "miracle" or "cure." In most cases, profound sensorineural deafness is not a "curable" condition. -- bionically undo this. There seems to be widespread misunderstanding about just what an implant can do and what it cannot do. What it does is to enable the user to perceive sounds and distinguish -- doesn’t make a deaf person hearing, but more like hard-of-hearing. While some implantees are able to carry on regular voice conversations on the telephone, others cannot. The outcome is quite unpredictable. Just what is the quality of sound the implantees perceive? One audiologist was quoted in a Sacramento Bee article (2001) as saying that with an implant, 22 electrodes were "doing the work of 30,000 hair cells." The 22 or 24 electrodes in an implant can’t possibly replace the thousands of microscopic hair cells in the cochlea that give richness and depth to sounds as they are perceived in normal hearing. One cochlear-implant usr likens the sounds he heard in his implant as "environmental noise." Perceiving "environmental noise" is not equivalent to hearing the full spectrum of sounds. -- the acquisition of "normal" speech. How many hundreds, even thousands, of hours does a deaf child with an implant spend in speech and auditory therapy? Much of this time could be more profitably devoted to getting -- Members of the CI lobby want parents to believe that in choosing an implant for their children, they’re giving them a magic key to entry into a world without limitations. This, too, is propaganda. The -- At an educational conference in North Carolina, we met several deaf children with implants, and none of them could communicate with us. And ince this was an inclusive conference, the kids could see Deaf adults, -- At another conference a few years ago, we met a deaf woman who had chosen an implant for herself, and we had a good talk. She told us that he didn’t believe that implants were right for deaf children, that it should be a matter of informed choice, that implants didn’t make a deaf person hearing. A number of deaf people with implants are fluent signers, and didn’t sever their connections to the Deaf community after getting one. (Getting flak from Deaf anti-implant advocates is another matter entirely.) Choosing an implant is a decision they’ve made for themselves because they want to -- Certainly . . . if they want to be. We are amply aware that some oral-deaf persons, with or without implants, reject any idea of affiliation with this community. They identify solely with the Hearing -- oral interpreters when they’re needed). And for most people with cochlear implants (most of whom, as far as we can tell, have achieved more modest gains than the spectacular ones enjoyed by Sigrid Cerf!), these concerns haven’t been eliminated. You would have to talk to the people with implants to get their views. Some are oralists; some are signers; some are eclectics. There’s a wide spectrum of experiences and a diversity of views. All deserve representation. We are quite aware that some implant users love their implants, enjoy what the implants do for them, and would never consider having them removed. Some, who have received implants as children, are glad their parents made that decision for them. Others aren’t. A good number -- developments with interest. We’re aware that the 24-channel implant is much less obtrusive-looking than the previous models, and mall enough to be used in infants. -- "problem" of being profoundly deaf. As is fairly well known, the installation of a CI destroys whatever residual hearing the implantee might have. During CI surgery, a narrow tube containing the array of -- far as we can tell, has a totally unpredictable outcome. The FDA approved cochlear implants for adults in 1985, and for children over 18 months of age in 1990, and has subsequently lowered the age to -- that the FDA proceeded recklessly, bowing to the interests of a wealthy industry. The long-term effects of the implants are still unknown, and there is some fear that we may have another "Meme" scenario in the not-too-distant future. Sure, they say, the FDA insists that cochlear implants are safe. Wasn’t this exactly what they were saying about ilicone breast implants not so long ago? Lately, we’ve learned that some CIs manufactured in the U.S. may -- adults. An Associated Press report dated July 25, 2002 notes that thirteen implantees in the U.S. have come down with meningitis, including two deaf preschoolers who died. According to this report, even implantees in other countries have also died from meningitis, and these cases are being investigated by U.S. health authorities. Doctors have been asked to report "any suspicious meningitis cases" to the FDA, to "aggressively treat ear infections" in implantees, and make sure children are properly vaccinated against meningitis. -- ome parents who say they weren’t sufficiently informed of the Deaf Community’s attitude towards implants and that if they had known beforehand, would not have committed themselves to giving their child an implant. We are not fighting against the implant. We support the right of deaf people to make informed choices for themselves. -- that has been lost or damaged. When we say that a person with an implant is still deaf, we mean that it doesn’t nullify one’s being deaf. It doesn’t reverse deafness. It mechanically provides sound stimulation, but it doesn’t make a deaf person hearing. Disconnect the implant, and the user is audiologically deaf again. A deaf child with an implant is still going to be treated by others as deaf, not hearing. They still need speech therapy, rehabilitation, -- ector will undoubtedly need oral interpreters. Society doesn’t ee implanted people as "ex-deaf," but as "still deaf." What do you mean by "isolation"? To us, an isolated deaf person is -- ee it as having more of a negative effect. For those who have lost their hearing, implants are undoubtedly "a good thing for society." If we became blind, we would want our eyes replaced -- experience as a sighted person, so we know what vision means, and what we’d be losing. Those who consciously choose to accept an implant understand that there are no guarantees, acknowledge the risks -- you." The proponents of implants want the deaf person to bear the full burden of the responsibility for communication, the burden of conforming to -- will probably not understand the cultural view of ASL. Entirely aside from that is the expense factor. Implants usually cost omething like $50,000 a pop, and we don’t think that figure even -- covered by health insurance? And one of the lines of reasoning used by these advocates is that the implant is, in the long run, cost-effective. It’s cheaper than the ultimate expense of sending -- Culturally-Deaf people have moral qualms about helping to pay for omeone else’s implant, especially when that someone else is a deaf child. They also have qualms about the implant industry’s making money off deaf people’s deafness. As far as we know, no deaf people occupy high positions in these corporations or clinics. Few, if any, deaf people are directly benefiting from the implant windfall. The implant industry is profiting directly from deaf children’s deafness–and what is it doing to improve the -- this, and you’re bound to get a vehement answer. We don’t feel that cochlear implants are good for born-deaf children. Why? It confuses them. It aggravates sensory confusion. -- comprehend sounds any more than you can force a blind child to see colors. The sounds they’re getting from the implant are not natural sounds, they’re electronic sounds. Even if they’re -- electronic stimulation can be a "miraculous" substitute for natural hearing. Well, you may note, so the 24-channel implant enables a wider and more natural range of sounds to be decoded than was possible with -- One thing that we’d like to emphasize, and which we feel is getting overlooked in this cochlear-implant slugfest, is the crucial importance of teaching deaf children how to read and write. -- important issue is getting trampled and buried beneath the stampede of cochlear-implant controversy. Proponents of cochlear implants claim that kids with implants are able to receive information aurally, as hearing kids effortlessly do . . . but are they really getting all the information? Aren’t they missing something? Is the implant really the "miracle fix" for deaf illiteracy? For decades, hearing aids were -- This intensive aural-rehabilitation regimen that’s part of the childhood-cochlear-implant package–is this really going to help their literacy? -- peech therapy does it take?) Without a solid foundation in literacy, how can a person develop good speech and listening skills? This implant brouhaha (give deaf kids bionic hearing so they can have better -- ight of the priorities. And this is one thing that worries us: that children with implants are being categorically excluded from the advantages of visual language and visual learning. The implant has unleashed a new assault against ASL and sign-based education. This is definitely not a good thing. -- the top of our priorities. Deaf children should learn how to read and write first. They need this far more than they need implants. Reading and writing are far more important skills than speaking and listening. -- an education–not adequate, let alone equal. Now we have an influx of deaf kids with implants coming into the public schools, the schools for the deaf, and the new oral schools. One Deaf superintendent told me (off the record) that there were several deaf kids with implants in his chool, and all of them had language delays. -- ruthlessly powerful and influential faction, as our critics argue, why weren’t they able to prevent the FDA from approving implants for deaf babies?) Imagine what schools and programs serving deaf children, teens, and adults could do with the money that’s being spent on childhood cochlear implants–$50,000 apiece! Federal monies spent by the National Institutes of Health to study language acquisition in youthful implantees could be more profitably used to improve deaf children’s literacy skills. We fail to see how the implant boom is improving public attitudes towards deaf people or ASL or the Deaf community at all. Indeed, we see -- children into mainstream public-school programs, and to "fix the problem" with implants. When oral/aural and sign-language programs are competing for governmental funding, which one is going to get it? -- This is something that neither the medical/audiological lobby nor the implant industry recognize. (But why should they? When deaf children become ASL users instead of consumers of expensive audiometrics, it -- Our company runs a bulletin-board Website called DeafNotes, which has a forum on cochlear implants. It has been the most frequently-posted and hotly-debated of all the topics on that site since it was launched in -- debates. The debate quickly began getting acrimonious, with parents who have chosen to give their deaf children implants posting threads like "Cochlear Implant Success Stories," and verbally slugging it out with Deaf people who feel that implants for deaf children are a form of child abuse. It has been a real headache for the moderators and us. We recall how it started. When a woman who had chosen to give her young deaf son an implant entered the debate, it had an explosive effect. We had to delete a batch of postings because the dialogue had degenerated -- progress is miraculous and want to tell the world about it; a few of them have been actively and aggressively promoting implants. We call them the "implant evangelists." A relatively small number of parents of deaf children with implants. There are a few of them who are notoriously aggressive and belligerent -- regularly interviewed by hearing-media reporters. They see themselves as ambassadors for the cause of implanting deaf kids. They have two faces: the mask of the loving, concerned parent (which they show to the -- be as extreme in their rhetoric as any diehard oralist. But we’ve have the worst trouble with the implant evangelists. We had to ban a few of them because they repeatedly broke the rules–they showed discourtesy to others, insulted opponents, used sarcasm and profanity, and engaged in illicit promotion of commercial cochlear-implant sites. They interfered with other participants’ enjoyment of the site, -- What they were doing–or trying hard as hell to do–was providing free advertising for the cochlear-implant industry–posting messages with links to corporate and promotional -- is not allowed. This prohibition has been routinely violated by the implant evangelists. When we removed their offensive posts, they creamed and cussed at us. A few of them sent us obscene E-mails. They called us Nazis. They accused us of censoring their free speech by uppressing their news about the miraculous progress their implanted kids have been making. In reality, we banned them because of their -- an interview with Sigrid Cerf, we contacted the company that manufactured the implant she uses, and invited them to advertise in DEAF LIFE. We received no response. Neither did we get a response from -- LIFE or a banner-ad in any of our Websites. And yet, when we removed posts with promotional links, the implant evangelists cried foul. That’s what the CI lobby and the implant evangelists would like the public to believe. We’re more apt to read about the "miracle tories" of deaf kids with implants because their parents have been actively publicizing and promoting implants, with the aid of the implant industry, which has one of the slickest propaganda campaigns we’ve ever seen. Kids who start signing at an early age (i.e., -- testimonial by a happy mother about the joys of having a deaf child with an implant: "our miracle child." But do you ever see an article about the delights of parenting an ASL-using child? My proposal: -- We find it morally questionable, the way some of these parents parade their implanted children around to the media, show them off to legislators, have them testify before Congress . . . More funding for cochlear-implant programs, please, and as long as you’re at it, you can cut the budgets of those sign-language programs. We certainly don’t need them. Some of these implant evangelists exercise a form of denial. They claim that their children were born hearing, then became deaf, so by giving them implants, they’re restoring their children’s original hearing. Can they prove their children were born hearing? Can they -- don’t need a CI to derive this benefit. Many parents who give their kids implants want them to use the oral/aural mode exclusively–no signing allowed. Parents who make the decision to give their children implants often say things like, "We wanted to give our child a choice. If Jimmy wants to learn sign language later and be deaf and switch off the implant, that’s fine with us." But how is Jimmy going to make a choice when he has no daily -- That puts a psychological burden on the child. The extreme culturally-Deaf view is that cochlear implants are a form of child abuse, even genocide–accusations that anger parents and, moreover, would be exceptionally difficult to prove in court. We can understand why Deaf people feel this way, why they feel that implants represent the latest of several organized attempts to wipe out Deaf -- we’d wager that they too have their secret signing groups. And in the newly-opened schools for deaf children with implants, we wouldn’t be at all surprised if the kids found a way to sign in -- their own. We are concerned about the emotional and cognitive well-being of these young implantees in mainstreamed or strict-oral environments. Some of them, of course, are receiving exposure to ASL. -- To them, being deaf is normal. They want to be accepted as they are. What sort of self-identity will these implanted kids have? Will they consider themselves deaf or hearing? A question: What’s special -- they reach their teens or college age. If this is so, we anticipate that a large number of implantees will do likewise. No matter how assiduously their parents, clinicians, medical professionals, and the implant industry try to make the Deaf community irrelevant and invisible, we believe that many of these deaf kids with implants will ultimately choose to connect with our community. The reason is fairly simple: deaf people like to be with other deaf people, -- perceptions and feelings. One of our challenges is to extend a warm welcome to deaf people with implants. We cannot afford to reject any deaf person simply because s/he has a CI. The Deaf community, like any -- attitudinal disability. Some of the comments we’ve read from implant evangelists and journalists are proof that the cochlear-implant trend has not improved public attitudes towards deaf people. Indeed, it -- This site is to be considered "in progress." We solicit input from deaf people who have firsthand experience with implants, negative and positive. We welcome your participation. better. Anyways, I’ll let his words speak for himself: I won’t criticize the issue of cochlear implant since I am not a ubject of cochlear implant. Only people with cochlear implant can either give feedback or criticize it. But with experience of associating with people with cochelar implant or researching information of good and bad sides of cochelar implant, people without cochelar implant can justify the case. Hence, parents of cochlear implanted children are foremost people without cochlear implant to voice about it. -- to communicate people who lack knowledge on sign language. I am hearing more positive side of people with cochlear implant since they are able to use spoken language fluently just like hearing people -- I associate people who use ASL fluently. If technology of cochlear implant occurs during my time I enter the world, I know that I will have cochlear implant since I belong to a majority group of deaf people since I come from hearing parents. -- tudents at school. Now if my children are deaf, will they get cochlear implant? I cannot answer that because it is not happening. Thank God and I pray that my children will not lose their hearing since I know -- correctly but I just learned that Sweden government are footing bills on cochlear implant surgery for deaf children. In the past, it was Sweden law that parents of deaf babies/children are referred to the deaf communities that advocate sign language. If people with cochlear implant are happy for what they are, these matter me the most since if they are happy, then I am happy. If they are sad, I will feel bad. So I have to say that people who criticize about cochlear implant are truly deniers or another better word, narrowed-minded whiners. -- Coalition convention to harass AGB people. I say AGB people without cochlear implant truly care for betterment of deaf children with cochelar implant or oral skills who have better opportunity than deaf children without cochlear implant due to job market where the world is run dominately by spoken language. For people who advocate DBC, don’t you find anything more exciting than just being so obsessed with your disagreement with the agendas of AGB. Cochlear implant are here to stay and it is sad to note that the deaf culture is becoming smaller and -- ince I wish I have oral skills due so I have lot of choice to make. I don’t blame for parents who choose cochlear implant surgery for their deaf children. -- April 5, 2008 at 7:08 pm I’m here to educate and inform others about cochlear implants, AVT, and my views. I’m not here to ask people to agree with me. If you don’t -- “Factors Affecting the Development of Speech, Language, and Literacy in Children With Early Cochlear Implantation” Ann E. Geers, Central Institute for the Deaf, St. Louis, MO LANGUAGE, -- and audition for communication were better able to use the information provided by the implant to hear, speak and read. Use of sign communication with implanted children did not promote auditory and peech skill development and did not result in an advantage for overall -- language. Oral education appears to be an important educational choice for children who have received a cochlear implant before 5 years of age.” Language Skills of Children with Early Cochlear Implantation Geers, Ann E.; Nicholas, Johanna G.; Sedey, Allison L. Ear & Hearing. 24(1) Supplement:46S-58S, February 2003 Use of a cochlear implant has had a dramatic impact on the linguistic competence of profoundly hearing-impaired children. More than half of -- Use of Speech by Children From Total Communication Programs Who Wear Cochlear Implants Ann Geers 1, Brent Spehar, Allison Sedey 2 -- did children who used little or no speech. After 3 years with an implant, speech users were more likely than children who used little or no speech to be placed in mainstream educational programs. -- in today’s mainstream society.” Relationship Between Communication Mode and Implant Performance in Pediatric CLARION Patients -- Ph. D., Advanced Bionics Corporation, Sylmar, CA” Paper presented at 1997 5th International Cochlear Implant Conference, May 1-3, 1996, New York, NY. -- audiological outcome measures was examined in pediatric patients who received the CLARION cochlear implant. The results revealed that both groups of children (children who used oral communication and children -- Approach to communication, speech perception and intelligibility after paediatric cochlear implantation S.M. Archbold, T.P. Nikolopoulos, M. Tait, G.M. O’Donoghue, M.E. Lutman -- The present study revealed that, on measures of speech perception and intelligibility obtained three, four and five years after implantation, children using oral communication outperformed those using signed -- position to be in. To have one’s own self worth rendered valueless, and the only redeeming feature is a future of implants… April 5, 2008 at 9:55 pm I work with deaf children including those who have been implanted. I have seen some children who were successful with speech and listening -- uccesses with their CIs and AVT: This is why I created Cochlear Implant Online, to inform parents of deaf children with CIs how to raise their children successfully so that -- provided a story written by my mother about her raising my sister and me (http://cochlearimplantonline.com/index2.php?story) to acknowledge parents that it takes a lot of hard work and dedication to raise their -- Can I just say summat. No one is, neither am I, saying that you should not have had yr implant. Or that the way you were raised wasn’t a uccess. It clearly was, and for you it worked. -- more visual or more aural. Would be nice to have a balance. That is why I like http://aslci.blogspot.com/ (the ASL-Cochlear Implant Community blog.) -- as my girls have. CI technology is continuing to improve with new implants and processors about every 5 years, and the age of implantation is continuing to drop. These kids do not need ASL. The older ones still do not need or desire ASL. I get that you feel -- ASL program. Why the English language is not completely accessible, I’ll try to explain… Even with hearing aids, cochlear implants (I know it’s improving so that it’s better now), or whatever assistive devices, -- in as well. The first step would be to contact your closest Cochlear Implant Center for a candidacy evaluation to see if you qualify for a cochlear implant. (This link will help you find the nearest clinic: http://www.cochlearamericas.com/Support/38.asp). Without knowing your -- to make the best decision for you! Anecdotal evidence from CI users who received their implants as adults tells me this: -- 2. You mentioned that you rely on lipreading and have problems in background noise. A cochlear implant most likely will help with this. Many adult CI recipients find that their CI aids in comprehension of -- they find themselves relying on hearing rather than speechreading more and more as their experience with the implant grows. Cochlear implants also have specific programming options that allow you to “focus” the -- with greater success. Many CI users can, but again, individual results vary. How can you get the best use out of your cochlear implant? Get the necessary follow-up! Frequent mappings, sessions with an AVT, at-home computer programs for listening practice, wearing the implant all waking hours, etc. all of these things will increase your enjoyment and success with a cochlear implant. 4. The time it takes is very individual, based on various factors -- 5. Your speech would sound different to you, but just different, not worse. In fact, because the cochlear implant provides improved access to high frequency sounds HAs can miss (/s/, /f/, etc.), you might find -- Please remember that my child has been aided( and now uses both a hearing aid and cochlear implant) since a young age and received one on one Auditory Verbal Therapy for 4 years. So, I will say that what you -- what the various manufacturers’ plans are should be a factor in choosing an implant brand if you do indeed decide to go that route. I will say that the longer you wait, no matter how good the new -- children ages 2 through 17. Thus, there simply aren’t that many implanted as babies or toddlers who have hit the older grades yet. Therefore, these AVT failures that you cite either weren’t in legitimate AV programs or likely were not implanted as babies or toddlers. Rachel was the first child in New England to get an implant, and when we moved to Atlanta, she was the first child her AV center had ever seen with an implant. Now, 85% – 90% of the children at the center have CIs. As I said, things are changing. -- Just as a hearing child absorbs spoken language from the beginning. Deaf children when properly aided or using a cochlear implant begin to absorb the same spoken language from the beginning. Of course 2 month -- of sign language and speech production among children who have received cochlear implants (Preisler, Tvingstedt and Ahlström, 2002). Thus, there is no empirical evidence to support the concern that the acquisition of ASL will inhibit English speech or literacy development among children with cochlear implants.” Also get this: “The importance of acquiring a strong first language applies equally to children who receive a cochlear implant. Current policy in Ontario discourages children who receive cochlear implants from acquiring ASL fluency in their early years. The assumption appears to be that -- April 6, 2008 at 5:04 pm Those children that I have worked with were implanted as babies and were in AVT programs. They are now in the elementary school ages so -- We believe it is the right of every child to use spoken communication. If he is properly aided or uses a cochlear implant, why would I begin by teaching him ASL? Why wouldn’t I choose to begin with English? We -- who are not happy with the result, these people have been. However, there experiences are not the same as someone implanted at a young age. In my opinion, ANY parent preparing to have ANY surgery for their child -- years, using hearing aids, which did not work at all for her, before we could have her implanted. My daughter was provided with teachers from the School for the Deaf from 6 months until three when the local school ystem takes over. We chose to have total communication at the time. My daughter was implanted shortly after and eventually, SHE showed less interest in the sign we taught her than in the sounds she was hearing. It wasn’t a perfect transition and if I had my choice I probably would have had her implanted earlier. But we had communication at the time and we still do. She is a happy child. She LOVES school. No one can -- I’d do it either with them sitting on my lap looking at the book and listening to me or with them by my side with their implanted ear next to me as they both only initially had one ear implanted. I consider this time spent with them to be a very important part of their auditory -- Language and cognition does NOT begin the moment a child speaks, nor does it begin the minute a child is implanted. It begins the minute the mother speaks or signs to the baby… right after birth. While one waits for implantation, and does not sign with the baby, one loses precious time in the language and cognitive process with that child… one that -- Your comment is very true. My sister, Jessica, has apraxia, a type of peech disorder. When she was first implanted, she was not making any progress in speech during the first few months as my parents expected. -- I’ve read the research. Didn’t wait for implantion. Found out about hearing loss. Properly aided the day after learning about his hearing loss. So he didn’t lose -- cool that he was able carry on a great conversation long distance with a funny sounding aunt using his cochlear implant. I think he asked her to repeat something once. Mind you that this was in our very loud -- I however am concerned more about OTHER parents who have a false sense of thinking that once they get their child implanted, their child will just automatically pick up and be “normal”. There are too many kids being implanted after five years old and with no intense AVT at all or dedicated parental involvement. Many of these kids were already exposed -- these two as two sepearate approach. The exception would be if a deaf family decides to implant their child, then I can see where AVT and ASL would be able to work. -- I really appreciate Open Minded’s comment. I appreciate DBC’s efforts and all the people behind Cochlear Implant Online. In the end, it seems everyone’s efforts are all about being able to -- emphasis that you are a ***successful*** AVT product, why not seize a golden opportunity to be implanted to hear people speak, laugh, cry, ing? “Two best worlds” is better than one world! -- it but what does it have to do with AVT? There are still many parents out there that have not implanted their child and are using the oral method – I can see where you might want to advocate towards these -- I agree that to expose ASL to babies is an excellent idea. But, parents who decide to implant their child should stick to practices that have been found to benefit C.I. to its fullest potential. -- There’s no way a parent can go back to the providers and complain if the implant didn’t work since they didn’t follow the recommended practice. -- process its basically a moot point. The bigger question is whether AVT is the best method for CI implantees and thats where I want to see an unbiased research document, because as -- afety net. Too many children in USA experience the same lack of exposure to ASL even when implanted and struggle with AVT therapy. DBC has been formed to ensure that children are able to receive the -- child may be a visual learner versus an auditory learner, or the age at which the child was implanted, or learning disabilities compounded with deafness, the list goes on. -- Why don’t you ask your hearing friends to listen to Jessica, who was implanted at age 15 months, at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ae2VW6NMZE -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNFnpZAtK9c who was implanted at age 9 months, or most of the kids at -- Texas Southwestern Medical Center. Her research interests include the developmental evaluation of deaf children after cochlear implantation. Sounds like legitimate qualifications for doing research to me. If your -- tem cell therapies, cellular mechanisms, aural rehabilitation, speech, anatomy, hearing loss, tissue destruction, cochlear implants, clinical epidemiology, hearing aids… and many others. Many of those focus on the -- deprived. They are not linguistically delayed upon graduation from the programs. They are functioning well with their implants in their worlds. Maybe you should work on your bi-bi program. Develop it, -- understood my point earlier. When I googled the names (in quotes), the only information I could find was on cochlear implant studies, the ear, hearing, otolaryngology, audiologic rehabilitation, and other stuff -- note that she got her c.i. at the age of 2 years and 8 months, which is considered late nowadays. The age of implantation does make a ignificant difference. Please listen to the speech of her younger ister Jessica who got implanted at the age of 15 months. In the successful cases of aural/oral competency with kids implanted less than two years old, even more with one year old or younger, -- can learn to listen very shortly after birth. They can babble as infants and, if implanted early, can develop the normal phonemes AT THE SAME TIME as their hearing peers (and I’ve had a toddler with hundreds -- Stories Choose Cochlear Implant Tags Acceptance Accommodations Advanced Bionics Advocacy AGBell ASL Audiology AVT Awareness Babies BHSM Children CI User Story Cochlear Implant Cochlear Implant Convention Cochlear™ College Deaf Community EaR Books Encouragement Events Facts Giveaway Contest Hearing Aids Language Life MED-EL Medical Care -- FAQ Cochlear Implant Life -- Facebook Twitter YouTube Flickr pinterest RSS Cochlear Implant Online is not endorsed by Cochlear™, MED-EL, Advanced Bionics, and AGBell. Articles and comments do not necessarily represent the views of all three companies and AGBell. This website is created by Rachel Chaikof, who is a Cochlear™ Nucleus® bilateral cochlear implant recipient, to create awareness about cochlear implants and listening and spoken language. Go Back AllDeaf.com > Deaf Interests > Hearing Aids & Cochlear Implants Reload this Page She's in BIG trouble!!! -- __________________________________________________________________ Well, after having an implant for about 5 months now, my daughter has milked this enough. The Audie said she has only been wearing it for -- Is there something else involved? When she disconnects her Cochlear Implant presumably she hears nothing How exactly does that square with "fitting in" with her hearing -- Was she not advised in order for her brain to "process sound from her Implant" she must have it on all the time for her brain to get used to new sound? Was she "excited" about getting a Cochlear implant thus hoping if uitable-of hearing much more speech- then she heard in the past? Even odder-most females can "cover their Implants" while most males can't-it is very obvious. -- Much luck in a resolution in the near future which brings some peace. Get Real:Implanted Sunnybrook/Toronto -Advanced Bionics-Harmony activated Aug/07 -- Forum Jump [ Hearing Aids & Cochlear Implants___] Go All times are GMT -5. The time now is 01:17 PM. Go Back AllDeaf.com > Deaf Interests > Hearing Aids & Cochlear Implants Reload this Page She's in BIG trouble!!! -- really care. She still begged for it, and wanted it. She was shown urgeries on YouTube of actual implants, and she still wanted for it. She even said she may want to be an ENT someday so she could do the -- curiosity.. Do you sign? Does you daughter have contact with the deaf community in your area? Also curious, whose idea was the implant and how did that come up? -- Forum Jump [ Hearing Aids & Cochlear Implants___] Go All times are GMT -5. The time now is 01:18 PM. Go Back AllDeaf.com > Deaf Interests > Hearing Aids & Cochlear Implants Reload this Page She's in BIG trouble!!! -- Forum Jump [ Hearing Aids & Cochlear Implants___] Go All times are GMT -5. The time now is 01:18 PM. Go Back AllDeaf.com > Deaf Interests > Hearing Aids & Cochlear Implants Reload this Page ok here goes -- __________________________________________________________________ A lot of folks have posted their journey in getting Cochlear implants. Mine has just begun. I`m still not sure what I will decide to do or -- There is still the risk of significant side effects from the surgery. Might want to investigate those more too. My second implant messed up my balance in that I can't do a forward flip or roll or hang my head -- roller coasters too. Also he didn't think there was much chance of it improving if implant was removed. Surgeon had no idea of the cause either. Also changed my taste sensation as well. -- have a date. It will be an out patient surgery and last about 2-3 hours. They will make a small cut in my head and implant an internal device. I will be completely deaf until 4-5 weeks after. Then I will be -- Forum Jump [ Hearing Aids & Cochlear Implants___] Go All times are GMT -5. The time now is 01:18 PM. Go Back AllDeaf.com > Deaf Interests > Hearing Aids & Cochlear Implants Reload this Page Otologics carina implant, anyone? LIKE AllDeaf on Facebook FOLLOW AllDeaf on Twitter -- Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts Otologics carina implant, anyone? __________________________________________________________________ Hi Folks, Has anyone here experience of the Carina implant? I am using GN Azure at the moment in both ears, I am considering some ort of implant in the future, perhaps a year or two I am wondering how they function during things like cell phone usage -- Here are 3 testimonials from those who have the Carina: The Hearing Study | Carina Fully Implantable Hearing Device Hear Again is offline Reply With Quote -- they are still doing trails and finding ways to improve speech discrimination with the implantable hearing aid. The microphone that is implanted under the skin has to be more sensitive while blocking out the body sounds that the mic may pick up. I heard some have good -- Send a message via AIM to etalton Send a message via Yahoo to etalton Carina implantable hearing aid gets showed off - Engadget Implantable Hearing Aids There are several articles at this site. Hope that helps... E.T. Left Ear Implanted 11-07-08 (Nucleus Freedom) Activation 12-18-08 Right Ear Implanted 3-3-2010(N5) Activation 3-11-10 -- use Carina. Here's another implantable hearing device that you could check out. It's a Vibrant Soundbridge. You'll have to wear an external headpiece. -- It's for sensoreneural hearing loss. It's for those with modereate-to-severe hearing loss, too. It's implantable in the middle ear. -- It's amazing how deaf people get mixed reactions from considering cochlear implants, but when it comes to implantable hearing devices or devices for people with moderate-to-severe hearing loss, people are -- Liked 4 Times in 4 Posts I have just had a carina implant operation in Hamburg tuesday 22nd of eptember 2009. At the moment I still have bandaid around my head and I -- Hospital in Hamburg and Thomas Witt from Otologics. I asked questions and they told me about the operation and the implant. I went home to figure out whether this was something for me or not. I took contact to -- blue marks in the head. The skin and scalp has to get used to the implant. Still can´t hear anything. My own doctor have removed the stiches - and the shaved hairs has -- to know. I don't think security should be an issue. As with most implants, I would think that you have an identification card showing you have the implant? Old 11-21-2009, 07:11 PM #21 -- Liked 28 Times in 25 Posts From reading the above=Carina hearing aid-is not a Cochlear Implant. Thus can't be compared at all. -- How it compares to other Hearing Aids- cost wise? Get Real:Implanted Sunnybrook/Toronto -Advanced Bionics-Harmony activated Aug/07 -- Old 01-29-2012, 08:41 PM #30 Oh and there was some weird tubeless implant thing awhile back that hit the news....seems to have shrunk without a trace. Most of the hype -- Forum Jump [ Hearing Aids & Cochlear Implants___] Go All times are GMT -5. The time now is 01:18 PM. Go Back AllDeaf.com > Deaf Interests > Hearing Aids & Cochlear Implants Reload this Page Otologics carina implant, anyone? LIKE AllDeaf on Facebook FOLLOW AllDeaf on Twitter -- Sweet sound published by the House Research Institute "One of the principal advantages of implantable hearing aids is that they directly transfer the amplified signal into vibrational energy, -- the journal Otolaryngology, patients who received the Otologics Carina implant in only one ear performed slightly worse on hearing tests than with the conventional hearing aids they had used before the surgery. -- Horlbeck, who headed the trial at Wilford Hall Medical Center in San Antonio. Of the other eight, most say the implant is "as good as a hearing aid, and a few of them feel it's better," says Dr. Horlbeck, who is currently working in Jacksonville, Fla." According to the published article, the Carina's Implantable microphone is 100 percent effective (better than conventional hearing aids) in the econd trial. This is very important because the Cochlear Ltd. is borrowing Otologic's exact Implantable microphone for the Totally Implantable C.I. So, believe it or not, the Totally Implantable Cochlear Implant's microphone is already 100 percent perfect (just like the Carina's mic -- commercially available (CE mark) in Europe since 2006. Come on! Get approved in the US already. Then they can get the Totally Implantable Cochlear Implant rolling. mlb 10th inning is offline Reply With Quote -- a battery that is recharged through the skin and a problematic implanted microphone, already overcome. Cochlear is the owner of Otologics. The french cochlear implant company Neurelec and Otologics got in lawsuit problems. Cochlear is the winner! -- I am VERY glad I found you. I am considering having a Carina device implanted. I am trying to collect as much information as I can before making such a big step. Are -- __________________ Get Real:Implanted Sunnybrook/Toronto -Advanced Bionics-Harmony activated Aug/07 -- things hyped up for their product. Also the mention of the Completely Implantable CI reminded me of that dude from years ago who was completely and totally fixtated on it. -- The speed of increasing hearing loss is highly specific to each person. It is my clear understanding that Cochlear Implants are not comparable to Hearing aids which only increase sound. Thus one can hear-somewhat. I have no comment on your understanding that Cochear Implants are "unsuitable" for you -- Forum Jump [ Hearing Aids & Cochlear Implants___] Go All times are GMT -5. The time now is 01:18 PM. Go Back AllDeaf.com > Deaf Interests > Hearing Aids & Cochlear Implants Reload this Page Choosing a cochlear implant brand LIKE AllDeaf on Facebook FOLLOW AllDeaf on Twitter -- Liked 2 Times in 1 Post Choosing a cochlear implant brand __________________________________________________________________ -- having enough with the HA so im certainly sure I will get implanted( in process of doings the CT scan and such things) I have a question... There are INDEPENDENT studies -- Send a message via AIM to soutthpaw I posted a thread before about the "Myth" that any one implant company has better technology. Rather they each use different approaches to -- programming knowledge and abilities. In other words there is still tons of room for growth with the N6 processor and the various implant arrays. -- on many occasions. One of the things they are currently working on is having bilateral implants wirelessly working together to better localize and process sound. -- is in your head that counts and AB is the best. http://cochlearimplanthelp.com/ HOH-ME is offline Reply With Quote -- Forum Jump [ Hearing Aids & Cochlear Implants___] Go All times are GMT -5. The time now is 01:18 PM. Go Back AllDeaf.com > Deaf Interests > Hearing Aids & Cochlear Implants Reload this Page Considering implant for your child LIKE AllDeaf on Facebook FOLLOW AllDeaf on Twitter -- Liked 312 Times in 236 Posts Considering implant for your child __________________________________________________________________ -- This section is intended for parents of deaf children, especially those who are seriously considering giving their child an implant. It is written by Deaf adults who are the grown-up children of hearing -- There is, however, a disturbing trend to send deaf newborns straight to the cochlear-implant clinic. The parents are supposed to be presented with information on the various options in a fair and unbiased way, but it seems that a number of them arent. Theyre being steered in one direction onlytowards the implant. They are told that the best time to implant is infancy, when a child is just beginning to acquire language. Any postponement could lead to irreversible delays in progress, as deaf -- decision. And when they get pressured by opposing factions, they ometimes fight back by choosing an extreme approach. Cochlear implants represent the most extreme of approaches: a surgical invasion of a -- OUR PERSONAL FEELINGS We dont believe that a cochlear implant should be installed in prelingually deaf babies and young children. If a child already has -- how to speak, or was born hard-of-hearing but lost her hearing gradually, we have no objection to the implant, because the child is imply reconnecting with her previous mode of communication. That child already has a basis for spoken and aural language. An implant will enable the child to build on the existing foundation. -- deafthat is, he has no foundation in aural/spoken languagethen we dont feel that an implant is suitable. It causes sensory confusion. Deaf children are, and should be allowed to be, visualnot auditorylearners. -- those who are blindbut deaf people are told that we should get ourselves fixed. Fixed, that is, with cochlear implants. SIGNS OF LOVE One thing that parents of kids with implants always tell the media is how much they love their deaf kids, and to make an explicit connection between their love and the implant. They say things like We wanted to give Jimmy exposure to the wonderful world of sound because we love -- them), and they respect ASL (even if they refuse to learn it), but they are confident that the implant is in their childs best interest. The greatest gift of love you can give your deaf child is to accept him -- MIRACLE OR MISTAKE? The cochlear-implant industry has run a fantastically successful campaign aimed at parents of deaf babies. Give your deaf child the gift of sound, they say. Give your child a magic key to success in he mainstream. With an implant, they claim, a deaf child can acquire normal or near-normal spoken language, just like hearing children. They -- In reality, there is no reliable way to predict how well a child will function with an implant, nor how rapid their oral/aural progress will be. The benefits accruing from the implant may be negligible. Its an expensive gamble. -- electrodes can never replace the delicate and subtle sense of hearing. Some veteran CI users have disliked the way their implants fed environmental noises into their heads. So they switched their implants off, finding that they could better focus on work or play without them. -- the wearer to distinguish some degree of sound discrimination. After receiving an implant, a child typically needs extensive one-to-one auditory/speech therapy so that she can learn to interpret these -- ign-language programs and schools for the deaf. But is it really? Implants cost $40,000 to $50,000 a pop, and we dont think that includes the intensive speech-therapy regimen thats required afterwards. Very few, if any, parents, we suspect, would opt for an implant if it wasnt covered by health insurance. There is a persistent myth that a child -- local community-college Basic Sign class, its still considerably cheaper than an implant. Most children with implants ultimately decide to join the Deaf community. They learn sign language; they make it an important part of -- BE WARNED! In persuading parents to commit themselves to the implant, audiologists and CI clinicians may not present a strictly accurate picture. They may -- Before he agreed to the surgery, he discussed the pros and cons with an audiologist. Steven was told that with an implant, hed be able to use the telephone normally, to engage in telephone conversations just as -- At least a few deaf children have told their parents that they wanted an implant for themselves. This, at least, was their conscious choice. Parents of these children, and we know of two such instances, discussed the matter thoroughly with the children first, did their homework, and investigated the pros and cons of the implant before committing themselves. In at least one case, a deaf girl who had gotten the implant lost most of her deaf friends. Deaf children with implants often endure hazing from other deaf kids: Borg! Borg! Robot-ear! Most deaf children, when learning about what an implant is and what it does, are dismayed at the prospect of having electrodes surgically installed in their heads. But some are satisfied with the implant, and ay theyre happy their parents made the decision for them. Others are unhappy about having implants and, for various reasons, stop using them when they reach college age. There is no consensus. The CI population itself is split in disagreement over the value of the implant. Some users, who had no technical problems with their implants, nonetheless decided to stop using them. -- ensorineural deafness is a permanent condition. It cannot be undone with an implant. Deaf children who are born-deaf or early-deafened will always be deaf. They will be looked upon and treated as deaf by hearing people. Having an implant will not make them just like hearing. How catastrophic is deafness? We recall an interview with Katharine -- going through. My parents got me a cochlear implant when I was a baby, and it took years for me to acquire intelligible speech. My parents were confident that Id do just fine without an implant. They had faith in me. -- One big question, of course, is: who has the final say in deciding to give a deaf child a cochlear implant? Who makes the decision on behalf of the deaf child? The parents, of course. And who influences this -- despite the well-publicized benefits of a signing environment, and we dont see much abatement of this trend. The implant doctors, as far as we can tell, shrug off criticism from Deaf advocates as the rantings of -- has a negative opinion of signing? One who links signing with low expectations? One who has an interest in promoting implants? Just who is presenting the options to the parents? Are the various possibilities -- only? Do the parents understand the sign-affirmative option . . . or is the cochlear-implant option being touted as the best possible (or the only) solution? -- igning with their deaf kids (especially after they receive an implant), they may not thrive in the prescribed oral/aural regimenbut theyre excluded from deriving benefit from signing. In effect, theyre -- Does it boil down to who has the slicker, more aggressive PR campaign: the chronically under-funded ASL lobby or the wealthy cochlear-implant industry? -- the outcome affirmed that a mother could refuse to give her deaf kids implants (even though county authorities believed that it was in the childrens best interests), and that the court could not overrule her decision and implant them against her will. Parents currently have the ole legal right to decide whether or not their child receives an implant. There are some Deaf people who feel that parents should not be the ones to make this decision. They believe that the deaf child should -- to encounter parents who have already given their deaf children cochlear implantsand are now sorry that they did. We have a bit of advice for parents in this situation: dont get bogged down with guilt. -- Balanced???? It seemed to be ALL from the perspective of those that aid DO NOT IMPLANT!! I feel sure there are those that are grateful that they got an implant very early. Likes: (1) -- Makes sense and allot of food for thought Its refreshing compared to the usual steady implant propoganda we are inflicted with by ci adherents and cult followers... -- I have been looking for some articles that do state this... nit from parents or doctors.. but from the deaf adult that was implanted as a baby.... if you find some or know of them can you shoot them to me in a -- without someone between us and them. People implanted at < 2 years old are just hitting their prime years now though, since implanting at that age didn't really start until the 90s. They're just finishing up school and entering the work force. -- Old 08-26-2015, 06:58 PM #12 I've met a few who've had early implants. But they were all college kids in public universities. It's really an unfair sampling. They've all had good support systems and probably would have been successful regardless of implants. That's kind of the danger of it, meeting random folks and getting their -- who only have one experience or opinion over the other. There have to be research studies on early implants and success in HS/college by this point that have come out of Gal or NTID. It might be -- Liked 83 Times in 38 Posts Well, there aren't many adults yet who were implanted as babies. According to an Internet search I just did, Cochlear implants were approved for children in the US around 1990, but I don't know when babies began receiving them. But even if the first Cochlear implant for a 12-month-old was done in 1990 (No idea if that's true) that person -- Old 08-26-2015, 07:14 PM #15 Yes implants in babies has been bieng done only since 90s.. Old 08-26-2015, 07:17 PM #16 -- religious about the oppurtunities the maricle has showered upon its blessed implanted babies and children, on the other it has very little real data to even back it up, considering the babies who have been -- have a position and stand on the issue Personally ive known first hand more early implanted that have had drastic negative effects from them then havnt. Im not stating non are -- Old 08-26-2015, 07:35 PM #19 The same can be said for those who say that implanting babies won't produce positive outcomes - or will prevent them - in the long run... -- Just saying, "I know several people who ended up with migraines," or "All the people I know with implants love them, " means nothing unless it's part of scientific research and statistically valid. I've had migraines my whole life and they're not due to any implant. Unless it can be shown that people with implants have statistically more health problems than they would have gotten without implants, there's no way to know. -- comes to drilling holes into.babies heads...well for me anyway... What other product are we implanting in babies on a mass scale using the above logic? Is that really the pitch to parents?"we dont have data either way" The first implants into babies were done in france against medical opposition by leading surgeons, its important to get a handle of the -- up, and still hardly doesnt regarding the shower of lavish oppurtunities that awaits an implanted baby if and only if the baby is implanted..now 25 years on some data will.exist,but when implants were first pushed none did. -- To bring this back Its almost absurd one would justify an implant by stating we have no data either way. -- Old 08-26-2015, 08:27 PM #21 There are never going to be guarantees with implants, nor probably agreement about whether they're appropriate. All parents don't agree on -- ending a child to an expensive school is no guarantee they'll get into Harvard, implants don't guarantee that a child will be more successful, but nothing else will either. That isn't going to stop parents from -- have a better life. Unless implants are shown to not be effective for any child, or to be very dangerous, why would parents not consider them just as they do -- kateboard and do all kinds of things more risky than getting implanted. Some parents are going to decide to have their children implanted and that's not likely to change as long as at least some children benefit -- probably get a better response too. This is about parents considering implants for kids « Previous Thread | Next Thread » -- Forum Jump [ Hearing Aids & Cochlear Implants___] Go All times are GMT -5. The time now is 01:18 PM. Go Back AllDeaf.com > Deaf Interests > Hearing Aids & Cochlear Implants Reload this Page Considering implant for your child LIKE AllDeaf on Facebook FOLLOW AllDeaf on Twitter -- Only pointing out for Nic that you are nothing but a hearie who lost it, then got implanted. You are not Deaf and know nothing about it. -- I don't think HOH=ME ever claimed to be anything other than someone that had hearing, lost it, and then was implanted. He then goes on to ay that he is grateful for the ability to hear again and recommends it -- His post was insulting,and condescending, dripping deep in audism...he also says so what regarding implanting our babies, essentially he trolled the thread...he offered no valube imput on the issue, he -- Referring to deaf babies as "ours." Other people's deaf babies aren't "yours" and you don't get to have a say in whether they get implanted or not; their parents do. It's a bit creepy when you imply that you know what's best for other people's deaf kids just because you also can't hear. You don't like it when babies get cochlear implants - we get that. But yeah, so what? Parents get to choose the culture their -- glasses or would you wear them if your sight required it???? No, this forum is Hearing Aids and Cochlear Implants . HOH-ME is offline Reply With Quote -- One mother in a parent of deaf and hoh children FB group claim that it is because of her son's 2nd implant, he is in advanced math. Ok if people are implanting babies which is their business BUT that view that this mother holds will be rampant in which will leave those deaf who don't have implants with a stigma as if they aren't as smart, functioning, or as valued as those who have implants. These audist views that does nobody any good and I see examples of -- I was referring to the entire forum. It is divided into sections one of which is Hearing Aids and Cochlear Implants. I do feel that these comments you have made here are in the right section. -- Isn't the name of this forum "ALLDEAF.Com"? Thus "presumably" the DEAF who use a Cochlear Implant can be part and not be considered- "trolling? Get Real:Implanted Sunnybrook/Toronto -Advanced Bionics-Harmony activated Aug/07 -- minoority. Be insulted all you want..meh and you don't get to have a say in whether they get implanted or not; their parents do.r. -- Thats not the reason at all....what is very creepy, is the religious devotion you share in frothing at the mouth visions of implantng our babies....yeah this assimilation is creepy... You don't like it when babies get cochlear implants - we get that. But yeah, so what? r. -- their babies isn't any of my business and isn't any of yours, either. what is happining, the implants the assimilation, the attacks on my people and culture, our language..is My bussiness. -- Poo on that. I saw someone wondering about people who implanted early. I have an ancedotal case for that. I'm a massage therapist, when I was going to -- it exactly for what it is..."oralisms final solution"....we do not see it at all in the best interests for our babies implanted against there will..it certainly IS very much in the interests and profit of the ci -- article was balanced....but i know to others it msy seem a bit extreme...its certainly not more.extreme then the push to implant...if anything the stand not to early implant is a more moderate stand then the rush to implant. Good to see.... -- Forum Jump [ Hearing Aids & Cochlear Implants___] Go All times are GMT -5. The time now is 01:18 PM. Implant Blog - RSS Katie-Louise's Cochlear Implant Blog A Positive Journey with an Advanced Bionics Cochlear Implant! Tuesday, 29 April 2014 Advanced Bionics Family Fun Day Are you considering in getting a cochlear implant? Not sure which brand to go for? Why not spend a day at Sherwood centre parc, Nottingham to -- http://www.advancedbionics.com/ Are you deaf....Considering a Cochlear implant? Needs some Advice/Support....Connect to a mentor here: -- Can you believe it 3 years ago I went under the knife to get this amazing cochlear implant. I was so nervous and I almost changed my mind. I am so glad I went ahead with it. There nothing to be afraid of -- of friends especially world wide after creating this blog and I have met up with a lot of people who are now waiting to get an implant or has just had them. There journey seems to be going so well just like -- topped blogging. So as from now, I will do my best to keep posting to increase the awareness of what a Cochlear Implant is and also to share my personal experience with wearing a Advanced Bionics Device! -- Saturday, 2 October 2010 2010 Top Cochlear Implant Award! I would like to say a big thanks to those that has nominated me for the Top 15 Cochlear Implant Blog award. Doing this blog has inspired a lot of candidate, cochlear implant users. A BIG thank you to Nottingham Cochlear Implant team, Advanced Bionics, friends and family for supporting me through this an amazing journey. -- 'Medical Assistant School' Top Cochlear Implants Blog Thank you all for nominating me and for reading this blog. -- 3 months ago Sound of Cochlear Implant 7 months ago -- 1 year ago Anna's Sound Journey by Freedom Cochlear Implant 2nd day with N6 - in London -- ourselves out there and WRITE..... Sarah's Cochlear Implant Trialling a Neptune -- Phone and Music with CI nearly 2years on Kirsty's Cochlear Implant NOT HEARING VERY WELL -- July 2010 Amanda's Cochlear Implant Journey Amanda update-March 10, 2010 Kate's Cochlear Implant My final post? 7 months on -- Today's Appointment The journey of Claire's cochlear implant 3-monthly tune up -- Blog: Katie's Cochlear Implant Journey Topics: -- html hit counter Advice/Support From Experience Cochlear Implant users Click the logo to find out more! I was implanted in April '08. I have written about my experiences from times to implantation to the present day. This would be a useful resource for anybody who has been recently implanted or is going through the assessements. I suggest you to look back at the blogpost in -- Me and My Idol (Gareth Gates) Useful Cochlear Implants websites Me and the squad in Germany Implant Blog - RSS Katie-Louise's Cochlear Implant Blog A Positive Journey with an Advanced Bionics Cochlear Implant! Friday, 1 October 2010 -- doing some more camp work! and finally - progress on my COCHLEAR IMPLANT. As you all know I had a postive experince so far with my cochlear implant having new CI moment hearing new things all the time. Advanced Bionics has become part of me and it is something that made my life much more easier. My confident has grown with communicating with other and of course before the implant I refused to use my voice and now I am forever talking; that's what my friends and family says. ha ha. Now I have had my cochlear implant for just over two year now which has gone ever so quick! I have still got a lot of things that I need to -- mentor so If you would like to ask any question about my cochlear implant journey feel free to post me a message on this link and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. -- BEA UK - Get Connected with a Mentor Bionic Ear Association UK - Get connected to a cochlear implant community -- by providing valuable information, education, awareness, and guidance on cochlear implants. Staffed with a committed team of audiologists and cochlear implant recipients, the BEA offers important support services to help you hear your best. The United Kingdom Bionic Ear Association (BEA/UK) offers you a community of cochlear implant recipients, families, volunteers and taff, all from the UK, who can support you throughout your hearing journey. Connecting with other cochlear implant recipients and families is an important part of the hearing journey. Through BEA UK you can connect with other cochlear implant recipients or parents, who can assist you in navigating the process of choosing and living with cochlear implants. Read our recipient stories, find a mentor, check out our online -- Advanced Bionics UK Chat-Room/Facebook! Are you a candidate and is going through your Cochlear Implant assessment but has all these question that you would like to ask and -- off on you during the day? My cochlear implant battery has never ever died on me through the day, every morning I put on a fully charged battery and it would normally last me a whole day (roughly12 hrs) and if I stay up later, I don't normally replace it and just leave the implant on my head while the battery flat. Today, for the first time since I have had my Cochlear Implant, the battery power actually went dead on me while at university. I -- that I do lip-read a lot. I did had to warn my friends that my cochlear implant has stopped working that they would need to tap me for my attention rather than calling my name out. Thanks to my lip-reading -- processor that afternoon actually reminded me what it used to be like before my cochlear implant and how hard I had to concentrate. From now on.... I must check the led light before putting my processor on. I hate being without my cochlear implant now, it really does mean a lot to me and when I have it on I really do relaxs more. -- they will finally say 'YES' to let us adults go "BILATERAL." I really do want a 2nd cochlear implant and I hope to get it before I completed my degree so I could go straight into teaching without havin' to worry -- 3 months ago Sound of Cochlear Implant 7 months ago -- 1 year ago Anna's Sound Journey by Freedom Cochlear Implant 2nd day with N6 - in London -- ourselves out there and WRITE..... Sarah's Cochlear Implant Trialling a Neptune -- Phone and Music with CI nearly 2years on Kirsty's Cochlear Implant NOT HEARING VERY WELL -- July 2010 Amanda's Cochlear Implant Journey Amanda update-March 10, 2010 Kate's Cochlear Implant My final post? 7 months on -- Today's Appointment The journey of Claire's cochlear implant 3-monthly tune up -- Blog: Katie's Cochlear Implant Journey Topics: -- html hit counter Advice/Support From Experience Cochlear Implant users Click the logo to find out more! I was implanted in April '08. I have written about my experiences from times to implantation to the present day. This would be a useful resource for anybody who has been recently implanted or is going through the assessements. I suggest you to look back at the blogpost in -- Top 15 Blog Award Top Cochlear Implants Blog A New Year 2009 Counter To See Where My Visitors are From? -- Me and My Idol (Gareth Gates) Useful Cochlear Implants websites Me and the squad in Germany Implant Blog - RSS Katie-Louise's Cochlear Implant Blog A Positive Journey with an Advanced Bionics Cochlear Implant! Friday, 11 December 2009 2nd Xmas with my Cochlear Implant 14 days till Xmas and still I haven't finished all my Xmas shopping. -- So, what have I been upto over the past few weeks? well, I have had a few trip to Ropewalk Cochlear Implant centre; I had a slight problem with my cochlear implant - struggling to control the sounds and feeling uncomfortable in loud and quiet situation. Somehow when I'm in lecture -- and is not seems to be having an problems at all - no more trips to the Implant Centre till my 2year appointment, I hope. Recently I went to the Ear Foundation Xmas Social and for the 2nd time -- Thursday, 3 December 2009 Styling Your Cochlear Implant (Getting Ready for Xmas) Hey all, -- thought they look so cute then as I looked at them I came up with an idea - lets pimp out my processor into an christmassy Cochlear Implant. I knew I had a party to go to this weekend, so I thought, why not I'll -- I just like to say sorry to thoses that has sent me an e-mail with your question about the cochlear implants in the past month or so and hasn't yet had a reply from me. I've been ever so busy at university working -- Anyway, thought I'd share this with you - I wouldn't say its a good thing, but everyone who has had a cochlear implant has bound to had omething stuck on their coil by accident or someone would put it on, -- Wearing a 'Huggie' with my C.I has made a big different to me. Even though I had a smaller T-mic, the implant would still fly off. So, wearing a 'Huggie' with your implant to wrap round your ears should help you -- headband. I place the band over my head by but putting the coil wire underneath. That also stops the implant from falling off and of course the coil doesn't come off as much as it used to. Placing the handband -- ears. I found that big material head bands tend to make a lot of rustling noise and it still made the implant falls off. I wear the band in all the sports I play all sort of sports such as -- (pictured below) This can be another way to prevent your cochlear implant from falling off. Sometimes while playing sports, you don't always hear the whistle even if your wearing your implant, as you too busy focusing on the game. There has been times where I was playing football and I had the ball, -- My mum has found this , great to know that they are looking to get an actor with a Cochlear Implant! BBC searches for CI recipient to play lead role in new drama -- professional actors in Dublin. In the drama, the character has a cochlear implant and is learning to talk, so the girl should ideally have some speech. -- Not only I have been working. Advanced Bionics/Manchester cochlear implant centre have asked me to join the football teens day that they had in manchester. Good time, it was great to meet the young teenagers -- It was nice to relax on the beach and enjoy the sunshine - the night entertainment was great too. Thanks to my implant, I am able to understand it more than I used to. I did have an accident with my implant - lost 2 batteries which fall out of Richard bag which had a hole in. Another call to the implant centre, grr. There was one night were the was a party in the dark, so we all had -- 3 months ago Sound of Cochlear Implant 7 months ago -- 1 year ago Anna's Sound Journey by Freedom Cochlear Implant 2nd day with N6 - in London -- ourselves out there and WRITE..... Sarah's Cochlear Implant Trialling a Neptune -- Phone and Music with CI nearly 2years on Kirsty's Cochlear Implant NOT HEARING VERY WELL -- July 2010 Amanda's Cochlear Implant Journey Amanda update-March 10, 2010 Kate's Cochlear Implant My final post? 7 months on -- Today's Appointment The journey of Claire's cochlear implant 3-monthly tune up -- Blog: Katie's Cochlear Implant Journey Topics: -- html hit counter Advice/Support From Experience Cochlear Implant users Click the logo to find out more! I was implanted in April '08. I have written about my experiences from times to implantation to the present day. This would be a useful resource for anybody who has been recently implanted or is going through the assessements. I suggest you to look back at the blogpost in -- Top 15 Blog Award Top Cochlear Implants Blog A New Year 2009 Counter To See Where My Visitors are From? -- Me and My Idol (Gareth Gates) Useful Cochlear Implants websites Me and the squad in Germany Implant Blog - RSS Katie-Louise's Cochlear Implant Blog A Positive Journey with an Advanced Bionics Cochlear Implant! Thursday, 23 July 2009 -- following the ball and If you lost where the ball is, then you have just missed out on some information. Before I got implanted with this wonderful Advanced Bionic device, it was so hard to keep up . when I -- to repeat. After having a cochlear implant, lip-reading has become alot easisr! I don't get tired so quick and I do get more involved. There are times -- in the middle - I always hear and keep up with the people on my implanted side and tend to miss some information on my non-implant ide. I do try and make sure I sit on the edge, making sure all my friends are on my implant side. It does help, but still not all places have "C" shapes seating. They can be round and that makes it worst when there is no edges to make sure everyone sits where your implanted side is. Maybe a 2nd implant would help in that situation? Has anyone out there notices the different in group situation after getting your 2nd CI -- thought If I ever did do the show - it would be good to tell people what a cochlear implant is. It could make Advanced Bionic more visable and maybe more people would be aware on a cochlear implant is. Another question my dad ask me. If I ever won 10,000 pound, what would I spend it on? I said I would pay to have a second cochlear implant done and my dad was just shocked and couldn't believe I would choose to have that done instead of something esle like a new car or something. Having a second implant would mean alot to me. Waiting till the N.I.C.E report change in 2011 is a long time to wait and it could take forever -- Looking for advice and support to help you with decision to get a cochlear implant or not? How about checking these useful sites; Advanced Bionic (the name of my cochlear implant) Contact Network Ear Foundation Cochlear Implant User Group British Cochlear -- I have met during my assessment at the Ear foudation to help me decide wheather I wanted a cochlear implant or not. Oh and there was Elaine from CIUG who I have spoken to loads of time asking her tons of question about the implant. I didn't realise they would be there When I got to the Mellor Centre, I signed in and went to my bedroom and -- got a drink, I spotted my great old audiologist that did my assessment to get a cochlear implant and who has left me for her new job just before my switch on, but hey at least shes working for the 'RIGHT' -- thanks tiz for the hint :-P They all know how crazy I am with the colours on my implant and what I did to one of the cover (yes, spraying it pink) Thats me and I love to stay in fashion, not just with clothes, but with my implant too. The next morning, I was ment to go for a run, but after seening the -- learnt so much, and still I can't believe how much I didn't know even though I had the cochlear implant for a year and there is still so much more to learn. I was actually impressed with the future equipments for -- lip-read, so I could keep up with what the others were talking about while my implant were off. After having the ear mould made, I also made a bouncing ball with the left overs lol. I actually gave that to -- quickly, some take a while. But for me, I am still not 100% confident and yes, it has only been a year since I've been implanted. It could take some users months or even years till they could get -- history of deafness, or sound menmory! Just because you know someone who had the implant around the same time as you, or maybe a few months later and can use the phone quite well, it doesn't mean they are better -- I once tried calling my granddad at Christmas for the first time and at the time I have only had my implant for six months.. I didn't actually hear him very well or understood him perfectly. My mum stood next to -- The event went so well, the weather was so nice and it was great to meet even more people with Cochlear Implant! It is nice to see more and more implant users around my age and to share each of our experience! So, I would like to say a BIG thanks to Sue and the Ear foundation crew -- forward to attend more of your events. If you need any advise or any upport with anything to do with Cochlear Implant I would recommend you all to check out there site on www.earfoundation.org -- Well, exam's are finally over! This year was the first time I ever done an exam with my implant. Every year, the lecture always tell everyone to sit quietly at their desk, no talking and to fill in all the -- me! How embarrasing This year has been totoally different! Thanks to my implant, I was able to hear myself and was able to BE quiet. In the exam room, everything -- hoot it! It was sooooooo ANNOYING! Eventually I did had to take my implant so I could get some peace and concentrate! Can anyone guess what it is? -- 3 months ago Sound of Cochlear Implant 7 months ago -- 1 year ago Anna's Sound Journey by Freedom Cochlear Implant 2nd day with N6 - in London -- ourselves out there and WRITE..... Sarah's Cochlear Implant Trialling a Neptune -- Phone and Music with CI nearly 2years on Kirsty's Cochlear Implant NOT HEARING VERY WELL -- July 2010 Amanda's Cochlear Implant Journey Amanda update-March 10, 2010 Kate's Cochlear Implant My final post? 7 months on -- Today's Appointment The journey of Claire's cochlear implant 3-monthly tune up -- Blog: Katie's Cochlear Implant Journey Topics: -- html hit counter Advice/Support From Experience Cochlear Implant users Click the logo to find out more! I was implanted in April '08. I have written about my experiences from times to implantation to the present day. This would be a useful resource for anybody who has been recently implanted or is going through the assessements. I suggest you to look back at the blogpost in -- Top 15 Blog Award Top Cochlear Implants Blog A New Year 2009 Counter To See Where My Visitors are From? -- Me and My Idol (Gareth Gates) Useful Cochlear Implants websites Me and the squad in Germany Implant Blog - RSS Katie-Louise's Cochlear Implant Blog A Positive Journey with an Advanced Bionics Cochlear Implant! Monday, 11 May 2009 -- Kirsty, a friend who lives about 45 minutes away had has her cochlear implant for nearly 6 months now. She was born deaf and had wore hearing aids until April 2007 when she -- After Kirsty contacted me online, she had ask me loads of quesiton about my experince and how the implant has helped me. We met once before her op and I could see how hard it is for her. Kirsty, then decided to go for an Advanced Bionic cochlear implant in Novemenber 2008 and after visiting her on the day she had the op, she was so brave -- thing there should be a music video out there that should increase cochlear implant awareness, there are still lot of people out there that doesn't know what a cochlear implant is. that is it for me, watch out for next weeks post with the BIG 1 year -- Wednesday, 25 March 2009 2nd implant? 10 months and I am doing so well, I still can't get over of what I have -- thinking about in the last few weeks, now that I have done so well listening through one implant, will I do the same if I had a second implant? A second implant would be nice. I mean, I hear so well in my left but the only thing is I can only hear most of the things on the left and my -- blank; I don't see the point in wearing a hearing aid I know a 2nd implant won't make you hear any better, but it be nice to hear from both direction and maybe it give me a better sense of where sounds comin from. So, now I am hoping to have a 2nd implant to become 'Bilateral' becuase of the N.I.C.E guidance, I think here in the UK, it would be hard for -- now? I thought, If I was to have a 2nd implant while I am still at early tages, I think it might be better as my brains will continue to learn , I am not saying it will stop (I hope not) but getting another implant at this stage might be easier for me and gives me time to learn before -- event which was organised by Ear Foundation and Advanced Bionic. (the implant brand I have) The event went so well, and it was concert by musicians who have -- I weren't too keen on the flute. I mean, the flute was played at a high pitch and each note gets higher and higer which felt like my implant is about to blew off. -- March already? Its nowbeen nearly 10 months since I have been implanted. I can't believe how quick the year has gone; I guess life would be alot faster if your enjoying the new hearing journey. -- from a good distance away. Babies are loud when they cry. Sometimes it is nice to switch your implant off when you don't want to hear him. I remenber 3 month post activation, I was able to turn round if someone -- 3 months ago Sound of Cochlear Implant 7 months ago -- 1 year ago Anna's Sound Journey by Freedom Cochlear Implant 2nd day with N6 - in London -- ourselves out there and WRITE..... Sarah's Cochlear Implant Trialling a Neptune -- Phone and Music with CI nearly 2years on Kirsty's Cochlear Implant NOT HEARING VERY WELL -- July 2010 Amanda's Cochlear Implant Journey Amanda update-March 10, 2010 Kate's Cochlear Implant My final post? 7 months on -- Today's Appointment The journey of Claire's cochlear implant 3-monthly tune up -- Blog: Katie's Cochlear Implant Journey Topics: -- html hit counter Advice/Support From Experience Cochlear Implant users Click the logo to find out more! I was implanted in April '08. I have written about my experiences from times to implantation to the present day. This would be a useful resource for anybody who has been recently implanted or is going through the assessements. I suggest you to look back at the blogpost in -- Top 15 Blog Award Top Cochlear Implants Blog A New Year 2009 Counter To See Where My Visitors are From? -- Me and My Idol (Gareth Gates) Useful Cochlear Implants websites Me and the squad in Germany Implant Blog - RSS Katie-Louise's Cochlear Implant Blog A Positive Journey with an Advanced Bionics Cochlear Implant! Tuesday, 3 February 2009 -- we had 30 minutes of any choices of session we chosen. I went to: Richard - Talk more about Advanced Bionic Cochlear Implant. This session was very interested. We talked about the futures -- hear! After hearing Dylan cry alot, I do tend to turn my implant right down or go into another room for a bit till my sister or his dad sort him -- I must say, I am sooooooo glad I don't hear anything at night time with I put my own implant to bed, though I do feel sorry for the others. hehe -- To those that don't know Jennifer, she also has a blog about cochlear implant as her stepfdaughter has one check out there blog - http://jenniferbrunoconde.blogspot.com/ -- hear it, and I am aware what it is. I just trying to learn how to avoid these sounds while doing work without cheating (taking the implant off) Posted by Katie-Louise's blog at 19:30 2 comments: Links to this post -- 3 months ago Sound of Cochlear Implant 7 months ago -- 1 year ago Anna's Sound Journey by Freedom Cochlear Implant 2nd day with N6 - in London -- ourselves out there and WRITE..... Sarah's Cochlear Implant Trialling a Neptune -- Phone and Music with CI nearly 2years on Kirsty's Cochlear Implant NOT HEARING VERY WELL -- July 2010 Amanda's Cochlear Implant Journey Amanda update-March 10, 2010 Kate's Cochlear Implant My final post? 7 months on -- Today's Appointment The journey of Claire's cochlear implant 3-monthly tune up -- Blog: Katie's Cochlear Implant Journey Topics: -- html hit counter Advice/Support From Experience Cochlear Implant users Click the logo to find out more! I was implanted in April '08. I have written about my experiences from times to implantation to the present day. This would be a useful resource for anybody who has been recently implanted or is going through the assessements. I suggest you to look back at the blogpost in -- Top 15 Blog Award Top Cochlear Implants Blog A New Year 2009 Counter To See Where My Visitors are From? -- Me and My Idol (Gareth Gates) Useful Cochlear Implants websites Me and the squad in Germany my sent folder was overflowing with emails answering why I picked Advanced Bionics for my cochlear implant. It seems that after a 100 or blog. :) -- needed that goes along with learning how to hear with a cochlear implant and because of Hearing Journey, I got answers the second I post a question. I wanted to be able to access the latest MRI technology -- to emulate better hearing without further surgery. I wanted total reliability. I wanted the implant to withstand sweating when I work out ince I was forever killing my hearing aids. I wanted to push the -- The T-Mic ear hook is only available with Advanced Bionics cochlear implant system. This is not to be confused with the T-Coil, an option that can be turned on by your audiologist on your Harmony Processor. It -- but the old saying, never judge a book by its cover. The HiRes 90k implant has the 16 independent computer controlled current sources where other companies have one power source. It is like if you set up X -- Advanced Bionics has been able to issue a total reliability report. For the implant, it is at 99.5 on June 2008 and for the Harmony processor, the return rate is less than 1%. I do want to point out that you want to be worried about the reliability of both the implant and the processor because if one stops functioning, you can't hear - point -- which can cause the device to stop functioning. Not all of the Vendor B implants had this problem. Advanced Bionics has since resolved this issue by only using parts supplied by Vendor A. As a result, their -- ecurity, AB’s patented IntelliLink™ feature will not allow a processor loaded with the wrong program to work with your implant. You enjoy peace of mind knowing you have the correct programs—developed -- and parents of children recently diagnosed with hearing loss, parents of children that have cochlear implant and audiologists. It is a huge wealth of information as everyone rallies around for support, offers advice, shares tips and tricks about surgery or learning how to hear with a cochlear implant. There is a CI chat held every Thursday night from 8pm EST til the cows come home, that you can come and talk to other cochlear implant recipients, candidates, parents and audiologists. Just log in to Hearing Journey and click on the chat -- Program, that I and several other bloggers are a part of, allows cochlear implant candidates to contact volunteer "mentors" and communicate directly with hearing professionals. You see my smiling -- Candidates can use the Connect to Mentor website to search for mentors who include parents of implanted children, relatives of cochlear recipients and adult recipients. Each mentor has a profile complete -- (i.e., cell phone user, traveler, musician), hometown, age they were implanted, severity of hearing loss and how they can help cochlear implant candidates. Then, candidates can choose to "start a conversation" with the mentor directly from their profile. Data entered by Abbie at 2:19:00 PM 22 comments Catagories: Advanced Bionics, Cochlear Implant, Harmony Processor, T-Mic -- Click here to make it bigger. You will notice that my left ear before I was implanted was 0% across the board. This was an ear that has been unstimulated for over 15 -- cored 64%. I was downright impressed with my scores. Now, I was thinking that the benefit of a cochlear implant can really take up to a year especially on an ear that has been unstimulated for so long. -- totally giving credit to the substantiated claims that surgeons advice about implanting a better ear. They apparently know what they are talking about. :) It means that it is less stressful and the learning -- Data entered by Abbie at 3:32:00 PM 2 comments Catagories: Bilateral Cochlear Implant, Bilateral Mappings, Cochlear Implant, Mappings Northeast Cochlear Implant Convention 2009 I will be attending the Northeast Cochlear Implant Convention 2009 on July 10 - 12, 2009 at the Sturbridge Host Hotel & Conference Center in -- You are warmly invited to attend the Seventh Biennial Northeast Cochlear Implant Convention, to he held July 10-12, 2009 at the Sturbridge Host Hotel in Sturbridge, MA. On-line registration or -- chool, and on to college. And incidentally, how are you or your child doing with the implant? How nice to hear that things are going well! -- classroom acoustics, the rising performance levels of cochlear implants and assistive listening devices. The theme “Enhancing Communication” reflected the many new technologies and approaches -- and at home.. “We Hear the World” celebrates the many examples of cochlear implant users participating fully and independently in the world around -- respond to needs that we learn about. Like everyone else, cochlear implant users experience passages in their lives. High school tudents leave home for college. College students enter the workforce. The generation born after WWII leaves the workforce for retirement, and many of those who received the earliest implants are now golden agers. New technologies and communication approaches can -- Data entered by Abbie at 9:25:00 AM 2 comments Catagories: Cochlear Implant, Convention, Josh Swiller, Northeast Cochlear Implant Convention 2009 Thursday, April 30, 2009 -- developing the Internet is alright in my book. He is hard of hearing and his wife is a recipient of a cochlear implant. I can't wait to hear Cerf's up! -- I am going to be representing Advanced Bionics on Bilateral Cochlear Implant panel that my buddy Wayne Roorda is hosting on Saturday, June 20th at 10:00. This panel will be made up of recipients of all brands. I encourage that if you have any questions or concerns regarding bilateral cochlear implantation and you are attending the convention, hoot an email to cipanel09@yahoo.com with your questions. -- I will be volunteering at the Advanced Bionic booth just waiting for people to pick my geeky brain about cochlear implants and the Harmony processor. -- If you are unable to attend our event and would like information about cochlear implants, contact The Bionic Ear Association at hear@AdvancedBionics.com or call 1.866.844.HEAR (4327). -- Data entered by Abbie at 6:00:00 PM 0 comments Catagories: Advanced Bionics, Cochlear Implant, Seminar Sunday, April 12, 2009 -- understanding more than I thought. I took me several weeks to understand numbers with the old implant. The last time I could understand anything on my right ear on the telephone was February 22, -- passenger seat and I could understand him without reading his lips even when night descended. Since my first implant was on my left ear, there was always a degree of difficulty with hearing people in the passenger -- Catagories: Auditory Rehabilitation, Bilateal Mappings, Bilateral Cochlear Implant, Mappings Friday, April 03, 2009 -- took less than an hour. My audiologist didn’t have to explain anything to me since I am a seasoned pro with the implant business. :) Since I went through this process already, I was very conservative volume wise. -- 120 a whirl – at work. I am sitting here with my hair down cleverly disguising two cochlear implants - the new one attached and the old one with the coil hanging just in case I need to use the telephone. it -- Data entered by Abbie at 1:26:00 PM 15 comments Catagories: Activation, Bilateral Cochlear Implant, Bilateral Cochlear Implant Activation, Cochlear Implant Activation Older Posts Home Subscribe to: Posts (Atom) Cochlear Implant Activation Video Captioned [EMBED] -- the lovely Garden State. Simply described, I am a profoundly deaf 28 year SWF who has a cochlear implant as of August 27, 2007. A date I will never forget. My vocations are a blend of -- Online Listening Practice Websites Cochlear Implant Blogs Five String Guitar -- A more silent world Deaf TV Show - Discussing Cochlear Implants 10 months ago -- Michael Chorost Getting insurance coverage for new cochlear implant processors Katie-Louise's Cochlear Implant Blog Advanced Bionics Family Fun Day -- Hearing Pocket Cochlear implants — with no exterior hardware – MIT News Office Becoming Deaf in Norway 2007 -- The Bionic Sound Project Vanderbilt University Cochlear Implant Mapping Process Bravo Rod -- MY CI STORY* upgrade, implant #2 and a CI moment ASL-Cochlear Implant Community Jen's Cochlear Implant Journey Thoughts on the Cochlear Recall -- I'm speaking in Wheaton, IL, Dec 7, 2010 Confessions of a Cochlear Implantee Radio & Audiobooks - a long awaited update IRV STARR'S COCHLEAR IMPLANT JOURNEY UPDATE -- Going Bluetooth The journey of Claire's cochlear implant 3-monthly tune up -- MOVE OVER TO NEW BLOG PLEASE Countdown to Implant ACTIVATED! -- Not Deaf Cochlear Implant Journey Activation Day - August 12th Amazing Sounds with Cochlear Implant Celebrating our 5th years... -- vLog on "The Greatest Irony" All Things Related To Cochlear Implants Cochlear implants paid for by insurance policies in the US Ear Ye Ear Ye -- Nancy's Blog Cochlear Implant Online Living with a Cochlear Implant the DeafBlog -- Billy Koch - Where Billy Rambles On and On... Rachel's Cochlear Implant Blog Just Another Cyborg -- Reading Machine An American Mom in Tuscany: Jordan's Cochlear Implant Story And the winners are....!!!! -- kauantyler Erin Toes and her Cochlear Implant Journey It's Not Fair. -- Prayers Requested Amanda's Cochlear Implant Journey Amanda update-March 10, 2010 blog-worthy is that I am now able to hear and understand on it A LOT better by using my Cochlear Implant!! Before, I've had to use my Hearing Aid and it would always be a hassel because I would have to be -- The jobs I never thought I'd have... are the jobs I'm doing! Before I got my implant, there were some jobs I thought I would NEVER be able to have and I thought I was going to miss out on the jobs that -- But since I’ve started college and become more comfortable with my implant/hearing… I’m working one of the jobs I thought I would NEVER have which is working the front desk as a receptionist. -- I’m able to do this and it makes me that much more grateful for the opportunities I’m now experiencing because of my Cochlear Implant and having gone through Auditory Verbal Therapy. Without them… I don’t know -- Body-Worn Processor can come in handy My Grandpa has had the implant for about 2 years now and seems to be progressing. But unfortunately, because of his age and health, his -- environments so we have to make sure we talk slow for him. Since he has gotten the implant, we have been noticing that he has a hard time managing his BTE processor, oxygen tube and glasses all on -- An article from Advanced Bionics: Advanced Bionics is connecting cochlear implant recipients and candidates from across the country through its new "Connect to Mentor" -- community of its kind, Advanced Bionics, the only U.S.-based manufacturer of cochlear implants (or "bionic ears"), is connecting cochlear recipients and candidates from across the country through its new "Connect to Mentor" Web site. The new site, part of the BEA (Bionic Ear Association) Mentor Program, allows cochlear implant candidates to contact volunteer "mentors" and communicate directly with hearing -- this Web site, the company realized that its most valuable assets are cochlear implant recipients themselves. This site allows them to share their experiences, offer advice to others who might be thinking of being implanted, and help them navigate the process from surgery to entering the hearing world." -- that came with it, I would just plug in my direct connect cord from my implant to the recorder so I could hear it better. It was great! But suprisingly, this place was more advanced and had personal -- BEA Mentor Training Weekend with about 40 other people who also have the Advanced Bionics Cochlear Implant or someone else in their family does. It was so much fun learning about the company, about the things -- hearing about their hearing journey and what it was like for them to go through the process of getting the implant. It’s amazing to me to hear all the stories of what it was like, because it seems like we all have -- back for a couple months for some more therapy. Advanced Bionics, as you probably already know, is the Cochlear Implant company I have… best choice I ever made! This is the link to their -- A Flock of Geese My friend John, who just got the implant, was telling me today about how he heard a flock of geese for the first time! -- We weren't sure about how he was going to do up there with the Cochlear Implant and headphones.... but surprisingly he could hear everything and could have a conversation over the headset! So that was great -- discrimination got worse in 2005, which is when I got my Advanced Bionics Cochlear Implant. Now I wear the CI on my right ear and a hearing aid on my left. I'm a student at North Georgia -- "I enjoy mentoring people who are going through the same situations that I went through in deciding to get the implant, going through the urgery, and learning how to hear all over again or even for the first time. I got my CI at the end of my freshman year in High School so I can remember what it was like before I got the implant and how my life has changed ever since. -- brother Jonathan and my Grandpa Sam, both of whom have the CI as well. My brother was implanted at age 5 and my grandpa was implanted at age 85." -Click Picture to learn more!- With my Cochlear Implant, I can: "Be a normal teenager/young adult and enjoy my college experience with involved with school clubs and pretty much stayed to myself. --Summer-– I got the Cochlear Implant. 10th Grade – I had to relearn sounds all over again and get used to life with the Cochlear Implant - 8 hour batteries, no leaning up against the fridge or the car, dealing with hearing my dogs licking -- Hospital. 11th Grade - I got the new Harmony Cochlear Implant. I was hearing great and loved being able to hear and talk to my friends. I made -- Me with some friends after Graduation Now, as you can probably tell, before I got the Implant my life was pretty boring and I was a bit more kept to myself because I wasn’t -- couldn’t hear or understand what everyone was saying. But once I got the implant, my life began to change. I was hearing so much better, I started becoming more confident in myself, became more -- --*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*-- You know, recently someone messaged me about the implant and how he couldn't decide on whether to get the implant now or wait another 5 or 10 years until they come out with something even better. -- with newer upgrades BUT they are keeping the internal piece the same so people can upgrade their implants for the newer style. Like with me, I was implanted the Auria. But becuase they invented the new processor (keeping the internal piece the same) I was able to upgrade to the new -- intelligence/technology." And now, apparently she is going to have her implant removed because of this... : / -- before. He said he could understand a little bit better then when he had two hearing aids so he continued to work with the implant to help make it better. -- - the president's debate on the TV without closed captians He's still learning to cope with the implant and trying to figure out which hook he likes best, which programs to use, how to wear his hats with the implant, how to keep the implant on with the oxygen tube and glasses, etc. He's been having difficulty with keeping the implant on with the tubing for his oxygen and glasses becuase they all hook on to -- about his experiences and everything that he's going through. And of course, everyone is just AMAZED with the Cochlear Implant and wishes they could get one! :) Here are some pictures of him and the implant... He's been to 2 mappings so far and is continueing to progress really -- The CI runs in the family... My Grandpa got the Advanced Bionics Cochlear Implant last Wednesday! He got the new Harmony and we are all waiting anxiously for the turn on -- As you can tell from the pictures, we were ALL very EXCITED about him getting the implant! Before, he couldn't hear anything and it was getting very difficult when we tried to talk to him. So we're hoping -- all talk to my grandpa normal again! :) Congratulations Papa, you finally got the implant!! :) Now we have three people in the family that has the implant (me, my brother and my grandpa)... and hoepfully my dad will be getting one -- Can you hear me now?! It always cracks me up whenever I take off my implant to show my hearing friends and they try to put it on to see if they can hear from -- "headphone set" and they try to stick it in their ear to try to hear from it!!! But then I show them how it connects to my implant and you can see a light bulb pop up above their head!! :P I love doing that to my friends.... it cracks me up! :) Only AWESOME people get to hear out of the Cochlear Implants!! hehe :D Posted by Samantha Brilling 1 comment: -- My brother is also doing good - he's enjoying his sophomore year. His implant is doing really good too - he had a rough start from the new implant but now he's understanding really well and calls me on the phone like all the time! :) So that definitly shows he's improving!! -- 2005, my hearing started to deteriorate and I went through major urgery to get a Cochlear Implant. The cochlear implant is like a more “high-tech implantable hearing aid” which helps me to hear even better. But along with getting the new cochlear implant, I had to relearn ounds all over again while I was still going to high school, making -- But yeah.... I don't know what else to say at this point. Jonathan and I are both doing great in school, clubs, and with our implants. This year, Jonathan and I are also actually officers for Key Club which is -- taught me to hear and speak. The next one is the homepage for Advanced Bionics, the implant company that I have (and ABSOLUTLY LOVE!). And the others are friends with Cochlear Implants and AVC graduates from the center I graduated from. They vary in ages, so you get a wide variety of points of views and lifestyles with the Cochlear Implants. But they're all really good, so if you're interested...check them out -- hearing, and what-not. And of course my mom told him my awesome story with the implant and how I was born deaf and how I can now hear and peak...and of course he was just blown away and couldn't believe that -- We LOVE our Direct Connect! Hey - Just thought you might enjoy a picture of the implant with the direct connet. We went hiking this weekend in North Carolina and so my -- I won't go anywhere without it!! haha : ) Here is a picture of my brother with his implant and the direct connect attacted to it. -- headphone set for the Advanced Bionics users. Its the black cord that hangs down from the front of the implant that connects to the ipod or to whatever you're listening to (cell phone, ipod, computer, mp3 player, etc.)... And just another thing to notice...my brother got his implant about a month and a half ago and his hair and skin is already back to normal! I -- charging at night, making sure I had my batteries with me and what-not. But now, I just use the one on my implant and I’m good for the WHOLE DAY! I still carry one battery with me as an emergency backup if I need -- been a rough few months for my younger brother, Jonathan (16). At the end of May, his C1 internal implant (after 9 ½ years of having it) failed. So after the “confirmation” of the device failure he went into -- people. Its been about 2 months and he’s now hearing fine! I think because he had the implant for the last 9 ½ years in the same ear, the process of understanding with the new one was quicker and easier for -- But after this rough and emotional summer, he’s now really liking the implant and seems to be hearing great! He wears the new color caps, loves the direct-connect to listen to his -- So now, that my brother and I both have the new harmony we have fun with sharing the new color caps and jazzing up our implants! Now, we're both stylish AB Harmony Implant users!! haha : ) Here is a picture of me and Jonathan swing dancing at a local concert a -- the military. Now, you're probably confused and wondering why he went off to the military academy when he JUST got the implant... well he actually signed up before the imlant failed and nothing was going to top him from going (even the implant failure). And much to our urprise, the teachers and sargents were all really cool with him about the implant and really worked with him! He took a whole years-worth of Algebra II in 5 weeks ( and PASSED) and had a great time playing sports -- because I felt like I was loosing most of what people are saying. So we changed my settings and put my implant in the cleaner (wow-that cleaner thing really makes a difference! lol). So right now my settings are set -- I hate changing the programs throughout the day because for some reason it takes so long for the implant to switch over. And by the time I witch over, I’ve already missed a lot. But I think that that’s -- also I’m taking Swing Dance Lessons! My junior year has definitely been the best so far, and it’s all because of my implant! My freshman year ucked because I had hearing aids (Superos by Phonak), and missed A LOT. Then my sophomore year, I was just getting the implant and I was trying to get used to it. And now, it’s the end of my junior year and -- I’m also taking Swing Dance Lessons which is A LOT of fun! My brother is actually my swing dance partner (he also has the implant)! We’re not as good as the dancers on Dancing with the Stars (…not yet at least! -- all the jazz and swing dance music! ; ) So yeah, life is going good…I love my implant! I’m definitely enjoying my life a lot more!! I’m making better grades, hearing more things, -- good questions and I figured they might be helpful to you....so enjoy! 1. What age were you when you received the Implant? I got the implant in april of 2005 when I was just turning 16 years old. 2. Has Getting the implant limited what you can do? Yes, there are some activites that I have to avoid now becuase I have the implant, for example different things with magnetic fiels such as ome rollar coasters, MRI's, and plastic slides. 3. How does the Implant help you with your daily life? The implant helps me to hear no matter where I am, such as the cafeteria, outside, at home, or even on the phone. I wasn't functioning good with two hearing aids, so thats why I got the implant. And now I can hear alot more and its helped me to understand people, music and -- 4. Is it noticeable to other people when you first meet them? No, becuase the cochlear implant is a small device that sits behind my ear. And being that I have longer hair, its hard to see it because its being hid. Plus, people don't "look" for the implant becuase they don't realize that I'm deaf when they meet me because my speech quality is so -- to where I don't lip read or use sign language. 5. How has the implant affected your life? Yes, dramtically. With it my grades have gone up becuase I can hear -- batteries go dead, I can not hear a thing and I'm in a silent world. 6. If you had not gotten the implant how would your life be different? If I had not gotten the implant, I would not have been involved with the clubs, volunteering, and plus I probably wouldn't be at the public chool that I am now. I also wouldn't have been able to do some things uch as going to concerts, movies, and plays. Without the implant, I would have very few friends, I wouldn't be as socialble and I wouldn't -- But yeah, it was a short survey but it had some interesting points about the implant... December 6, 2006 -- I have my speech which will last a lifetime (thanks to AVC) and my new high-tech Cochlear Implant which will also last me forever!! hehe So now, I am a very bright and shiny chandelier!!!! : ) -- never thought I'd need it for something else. So for all of you who have the implant....get the Direct Connect!!! You never know when you'll need it!!! -- Update Well things are going good with me and my Implant. I'm a Junior in High School and school is going great! I'm aceing all of my classes, which -- That was pretty interesting....apparently we were really good!! : ) They asked us questions about how we deal with the implant at school, the differences between the Hearing Aid and the Implant, Our favorite and least favorite things about the implant, etc. so I guess that went well. I was glad that we were there to help answer questions! -- telling me everything I've got to do, etc. And we come in front of the OR room where Dr. Todd does his implant surgerys. And June was getting ready to tell me this whole "speel" about what the cochelar implant is and what its for. And immediatly I bursted out "I GOT ONE!!". hahaha, I -- 65 Quiet 100% So now, I've been wearing only my implant a lot more. I've been more comfortable with it! I mean its still weird not getting any sounds out -- Questions and Answers... I’ve had some questions about the last post on my hair and the implant, Question: Do you wear your implant on top of your hair or underneath it?? -- Answer: On me…no, if anything they notice the hearing aid more than the implant! I think a lot of people think that your implant is probably ome new technology for listening to music or one of those “blue tooth” -- omebody asks Jonathan what he’s listening to…because they see the implant and assume that its like an MP3 player or something. But then that’s when we tell them what it is and what its for and they think its -- Well today was the first day I wore my hair up to school since I got the implant!! I never did, becuase I was too afraid of what people would say. And plus, I wasn't sure what was going to happen for when my battery dies...beacuse when it dies, I take the implant off and change the battery. But if my hair is up...then I was afraid I was going to -- But yeah...Its a big differnce between the hearing aid and the cochlear implant!! And my golly...I gotta say, the implant is ALOT nicer looking than the hearing aid and plus the fact...you can color match!!!!! hehe Hearing Aid (pic. 1) AB Cochlear Implant (pic. 2) April 14, 2006 Oh, and I almost forgot....exactly one year ago (last April) I was dreaming about getting the implant....and look where I am now!! My Surgery was April 13th and I was turned on May 17th. It has been -- huh?? Well lets see, alots been going on...but first things first, my implant is doing great! I can hear everything with it and it sounds normal! And I absolutly love having the implant...and I gotta say that the main think that I like about it is the Direct Connect! I love listening to -- Every now and then I like to experiment with my hearing aid and Cochlear Implant by listening with my hearing aid only for a few minutes, then I switch to my cochlear implant for a few minutes and then I switch to both. And you know sometimes I get the wierdest results. Sometimes I can hear better with just the implant and ometimes I can hear better with both. But the hearing aid never win. Its either both or just the implant. But anyways, I went to the movies the other day and I was experimenting -- it really makes a difference. But only someone brave enough would get one. I don't think I would ever want to get another implant....Don't get me wrong, because I love my implant but I think I'm too attached to my hearing aid to let it go. You know? And then you know another great -- little bit of what the teacher is saying while I'm changing the battery on my implant. So the hearing aid is like my backup. And since I'm on this topic.....I have never had someone ask me what that thing was on my ear! People have always said something about my hearing aid but not my implant. I thought people would be asking what that was because its bigger and filled with colors. haha. But that's -- o'clock, we moved it to the 12 o'clock spot. So now I've been wearing just my implant as much as I can. Yesterday I watched a whole movie with just my implant....That may not sound like a lot but for me it is. And whats shocking is that I actually got everything they said! But you know, its really weird wearing just an implant because its like you don't get any sound from the other side. All the sound comes in my right side, so I keep feeling like I forgot -- changed the extra magnet to a "half strength" which helps hold my implant on better. Before I had to hold my magnet on with another magnet on the outside. Which got really annoying because it magnetized -- after getting this new magnet, I haven't had a headache and it holds my implant on ALOT better! So I'm really excited about not having to have the outside magnet on. YAY!! -- therapist and my mom was amazed and shocked at how well I was doing with just the implant. And I was too! I was soo nervous about therapy that I was actually dreading it. I haven't been going just with my implant so I wasn't sure how I was going to do. But I actually did well! -- time, my mom and I would do a little bit. So I'm really excited about how things are going with me and the implant. I've been listening to my music too, so hopefully my goal will be reached before -- know what the promise is?!?! Well I promise that I will work with my implant by praticing on listening to music, and hearing people without my hearing aid. And if -- I know it may sound weird but I really want to do it, beacuse if I get really good at listening to music with just my implant, I can use the "wireless" headphone set for my implant so I'll look like everyone else. I won't have to deal with those big and bulky headphones. Cool -- discrimination got worse in 2005, which is when I got my Advanced Bionics Cochlear Implant. Now I wear the CI on my right ear and a hearing aid on my left. I'm a student at North Georgia -- "I enjoy mentoring people who are going through the same situations that I went through in deciding to get the implant, going through the urgery, and learning how to hear all over again or even for the first time. I got my CI at the end of my freshman year in High School so I can remember what it was like before I got the implant and how my life has changed ever since. -- brother Jonathan and my Grandpa Sam, both of whom have the CI as well. My brother was implanted at age 5 and my grandpa was implanted at age 85." -Click Picture to learn more!- With my Cochlear Implant, I can: "Be a normal teenager/young adult and enjoy my college experience with Hey everyone! Well things have been going good here. I've been wearing my hearing aid and my implant and it seems to really help me alot. I've noticed that I can't function very well with just my hearing aid so I always have to wear my implant....which is a good thing!! It shows that the implant really deos help me and I hear better with the implant. Its been about 4 months since I've had this implant and I am still noticing more sounds and hearing more. Like yesterday....it was so cool... I was -- But anyways, I think I did pretty well on hearing everyone. I had to wear my hearing aid and my implant becuase I don't really know enough to go completly implant in public. But the only problem I reall had was in noisy enviroments. But I think that is alwasy going to be harder for -- ride home I began to realise how thankful I am for the new technology we have today! Without this implant I wouldn't be able to talk to my friends, listen to my music - which is by the way EVERYTHING to me, -- family on the phone. I wouldn't be able to hear anything!!! Now what kind of life is that?? So for all of you new implant users..... don't give up! If you do....just think about the life you'll end up with. -- Burton. And yesterday we were loading the car and cleaning the lake house. Its like 90 degrees out so my brother told me to take my implant off because of the sweat. That was annoying because I like to hear -- from the wind of the boat. So to me it was just easier to use my hearing aid. Which wasn't very good!!! : ( But I did use the implant whenever I could. I think it's a "life-saver" to have my brother around (who is by the way also an Advanced Bionics Implant user) because he tells me what I can and can't do with my implant. I always forget, like when we were going to the playground...He reminded me to take it off -- to work. : ) Reasons why I wanted this Implant My hearing was borderline on being a candidate for the Advanced Bionic Cochlear Implant for a long time. But the reasons we were holding back was becuase of my speech. We didn't know if it would go down or if it -- already had to go through this with my brother, so she already did all the resaerch on which implant was the best. So that was one step less for me. We had already decided that we were going to do the Advanced Bionics Implant becuase my brother had such a success with it. Other things that we really liked about the Advanced Bionics Implants were: the service we get (it was fantastic everytime we needed something or -- looks "sleeker" and more stylish). So you can tell we are big fans of the Advanced Bionics Cochlear Implant. But anyways, when thinking about this, there were a whole list of things I wanted to get out of it, such -- I want to hear everything possible in this world!! So these are my goals through this journey of having the Implant. Maybe this will help you make an easier decision on getting the implant. July 6, 2005 Getting used to the Cochlear Implant Hey! Well today I'm sitting around the house, nasty weather huh? But -- But oh well. I've also relized that I keep forgeting that I only have my implant on! Thats GREAT huh?? Right now my hearing aid is in the dry-box just collecting dust. haha. I've been leaving it there and -- June 30, 2005 Interesting Point about dealing with the Cochlear Implant I was talking to this lady about my Cochlear Implant and she made an interesting point and I thought I'd share with you. She said that the proccess of learning to hear with the implant is like getting glasses. When you don't have your glasses on everything is fussy and when you have them on, you have to learn what the fuzzy thing really was. So with the implant...you may not hear any noise when doing the dishes but when you get the implant you'll hear noises and you have to get used to the fact that the sound is from the water. And I think that is so true becuase when you get the implant, so don't all the sudden know what each sound is and where it is coming from. It takes time to "train" your brain what all the noises are coming from. So for the new implant users, don't get discouraged, becuase afterall in the the long run we will be able to hear a lot! Hey, maybe even more -- was really the first thing I noticed to be different from my cochlear Implant and my hearing aid. Another thing that I noticed to be louder is a light switch. lol. When I turn on a light switch I hear it. I've -- Oh and here is a picture of me and my brother. We both have the Advanced Bionocs Cochlear Implant. He has the BTE and I have the new Auria. (up above) We both love it! -- would get so annoying and loud that I couldn't hear or talk to people very well. I couldn't even hear the t.v with just my implant. And before this noise came I would turn off my hearing aid because I could -- OH MY GOSH!!! GUESS WHAT I'M DOING RIGHT NOW.....LISTENING TO MUSIC! Yep I am listening to music with my implant!!! YAY!!!! I'm so excited. I put my headphones on to listen to music while I blog and I could -- with my mom and I was leaning against the car and I looked over the other way (the side with my implant) and all the sudden my implant goes flying off and attaches itself to the car!!! Oh my gosh!! I couldn't -- things happen but I never thought it would actually happen to me. Can you believe it?? So new implant users - BEWARE! THE IMPLANT IS A MAGNET SO IT WILL ATTACHE ITSELF TO METAL!!! lol. -- My First Day into the New World On May the 17th I went to get my Cochlear Implant turned on. I was so excited, sad, nervous, and everything you could possibly imagine. But most of all I was happy and very excited. But I will tell you this - if you are getting the implant PLEASE remember this.... Your parents WILL cry and get very emotional. I know this because my mom is a very strong -- for the record, be aware that your parents, or your husband or wife will get very emotional from getting the news of having the implant to getting turned on. -- and ask questions, look around, etc. But the first thing we did was that we got my implant out - most people would probably have to sit there and put it together - but you know me...I just had to put it -- that "normal" people hear, I was excited!! I just couldn't wait to get turned on. So we got the implant out and hooked it to the computer with this long cord. Then we did some tests to set the volumes right and see -- exausted but I could do it. It just takes time to get back on your feet again. So that was the first week of having my Implant. Newer Posts Home -- discrimination got worse in 2005, which is when I got my Advanced Bionics Cochlear Implant. Now I wear the CI on my right ear and a hearing aid on my left. I'm a student at North Georgia -- "I enjoy mentoring people who are going through the same situations that I went through in deciding to get the implant, going through the urgery, and learning how to hear all over again or even for the first time. I got my CI at the end of my freshman year in High School so I can remember what it was like before I got the implant and how my life has changed ever since. -- brother Jonathan and my Grandpa Sam, both of whom have the CI as well. My brother was implanted at age 5 and my grandpa was implanted at age 85." -Click Picture to learn more!- With my Cochlear Implant, I can: "Be a normal teenager/young adult and enjoy my college experience with child » cochlear implants Category Feed My trifecta child WordPress.com -- Comments Archive for the ‘cochlear implants’ Category Keeping us busy Posted in A mother's love is unending, additional concerns, Adhd, Advocate, autism, cochlear implants, deaf autism, Deaf related, jaded thoughts, Letting it out - Venting Session, Mom related rants, -- Music therapy Posted in Adhd, Adult related, Advocate, autism, cochlear implants, Deaf related, Loving Life, Mom related rants, music therapy, -- awareness of things around him. Thus hearing world for a deaf child with cochlear implants can be very sensorily (is this even a word??) overwhelming that every single sound cannot possibly be filtered no -- overcome. Cochlear implant problems Posted in additional concerns, Adhd, Advocate, autism, cochlear implant, cochlear implants, Deaf related, parenthood, sensory, special Needs parenting, tagged a road less traveled, adhd, advocate, Audiology, Autism, biomedical technology, cochlear, cochlear implant problems, cochlear implants, deaf, deaf autism, Deafness, hardware issues, hearing loss, high functioning autism, lucasjc15, mapping, -- volume or pain from physical issues or internal device. Then both implants shutting off unexpectedly. Swapping two coils and having none to spare. All of which are completely out of warranty. So imagine the -- there is an issue we may have to, in the last and worst case cenario, deplant and reimplant. I felt myself well up with all the ame emotions P re surgery, 5+ years ago and I had to compose myself -- not be stressed with what can trigger him from the outside. I’d even opt to give him a sensory break from implants if it helped calm himself. I wish I can just take away his anxiety or stress. After -- Berkeley biomedical technology ca catch up CEID center for early intervention on deafness CI cochlear cochlear implant cochlear implant problems cochlear implants Conversations with LJ deaf deaf and hard of hearing deaf autism deaf culture deaf journey Deafness pread. In early July, we had to take Madison to the ER with a 105 fever. Yes, this is a high fever, but children with cochlear implants are more susceptible to getting meningitis. When speaking with the -- The school has never had a child with a hearing loss or cochlear implants. The staff at CHC will be giving a brief presentation on hearing loss in the classroom prior to school starting. We feel the -- It really is truly amazing how much progress she has made. Madison had an appointment on Friday at NYU Cochlear Implant Center with her audiologist, Alison and speech therapist, Rosemarie. Madison was going -- peech (which is the target range for someone with a cochlear implant). We were told that her expressive language exceeds that of other 20 month children, born with typical-hearing. It was gratifying -- January 25, 2012. An important date in our lives. It has been one year. One year since Dr. Roland performed bilateral cochlear implant urgery on our 7 month old daughter. I’d be lying if I told you I knew -- to their hearing peers with things like “hearing aids” and “cochlear implants”. I have learned more this past year than I have in the 30 years of my -- thing for our daughter would be the possibility for her to receive cochlear implants. Brian and I created this blog to allow our family and friends to embark -- Olive's Ears / Les Oreilles d'Olive Olive’s Second Implant Surgery Day April 19, 2012 / Deuxieme Operation d’Olive le 19 Avril 2012 - On April 19, Olive received her 2nd Cochlear implant. We arrived at the hospital bright and early at 6:15am and checked in. Olive’s procedure was schedul... Feed The Account of Our Arrows » Cochlear Implant Category Feed The Account of Our Arrows WordPress.com -- Living life intentionally despite the loosely controlled chaos Category Archives: Cochlear Implant Aug1 -- Wyatt very often, but they have a blast with him when they do!While we were in Opp EK got to use her new Aquabag from Cochlear. Her implant tayed on so well and she LOVED hearing while she swam. So thankful -- best friend’s weddings, and we move MONDAY!!! So excited! Filed under Birthday Parties, Celebrating, Cochlear Implant, Day to Day, Family, Opp, Road Trips | 2 Comments -- mild to moderate hearing loss on that side. EK also has fluid, but if we put tubes in, it could get the internal part of the implant wet…so we’re hoping that clears up on its own. After their appt. we ate lunch -- chipmunk with a dress who sings “All the Single Ladies.” Filed under Birthday Parties, CCPS, Celebrating, Cochlear Implant, Day to Day, Hearing, Kids | -- 7th (yikes!) birthday to post about. Filed under Caden, CCPS, Celebrating, Cochlear Implant, Crafts, Day to Day, Ella Kate, Friends, PreSchool | -- A couple weeks ago we went to The McWane Center to celebrate Dr. Woolley’s 300 implant recipients. He’s done many more than 300 implants since most of the kids he implants now are bilateral. EK wouldn’t look at the camera for our pic with Dr. Woolley…probably because the room we were in was LOUD and full of people. We are so thankful for the gift of cochlear implants and are forever grateful for them and Dr. Woolley. The McWane Center is such a neat place, but I -- thoughtfulness, and crazy. :) Filed under Caden, CCPS, Celebrating, Cochlear Implant, Day to Day, Ella Kate, Family, John Luke, PreSchool, Surgery | -- meet my expectations. :) Filed under Caden, CCPS, Cochlear Implant, Day to Day, Ella Kate, Fun with the Neighbors, John Luke, Therapy | -- pool because it was just too hard. It was too hard to protect her implants from the water. It was too hard to keep them dry. If we took her implants off it was too hard to keep up with her because SHE COULDN’T HEAR A THING. So, this my friends will be phenomenal. -- well. I love time with our little family. They make me smile. :) Filed under Cochlear Implant, Day to Day, Family, Hearing, Kids, Soccer, Therapy and tagged , , , , | -- picked Caden up early from school for fun. Filed under Cochlear Implant, Day to Day, Ella Kate, Kids, PreSchool, Therapy | -- Compare the 2 audiograms. You can see how well she hears with her implants on. It is very exciting to see how she hears almost everything on the audiogram. She may or may not hear the birds chirping or the -- That brings me to 2 Sundays ago…I’ll add more in a little bit… Filed under Birthday Parties, Celebrating, Church, Cochlear Implant, Day to Day, Family, Hearing, Kids, Opp, Road Trips, Therapy | -- back up that had been drying. Phew, it worked. Sigh. Of. Relief. Come to find out…I got our audiologist to look at the implant cochlear sent us that wasn’t working properly and…it had NO MAPS IN IT! Cochlear sent us an empty CI. All of our implants are working properly at the moment and the empty implant has been mapped. It sure is nerve racking ometimes when we depend on an electronic device for our child’s hearing, but I’m oh so thankful for them!! Filed under Cochlear Implant, Disney, Ella Kate | Apr12 Did we find the implant? No. No we did not. Sad story. It was not for lack of trying. I went back up there about 9am. We used the under water -- I’m sad we’re cashing in the one replacement less than 6 months after he got her implant, but I’m thankful we have that option. This afternoon we headed over to our insurance agents office and got a -- purchase some other insurance through Cochlear which would allow us to lose one implant per year. I feel so much better about it all now. I am so thankful to the good ole boys who helped us yesterday and -- they did for us. They spent 7 hours of their day searching through the lake for our babies implant. I got to hang out with some motorcycle riding, overall and camo wearing, tobacco dipping, unemployed Southern guys. It was quite an enlightening week. While they did not find the implant, it was certainly not because they didn’t give it their all. So, there you have it…we didn’t find it, but it’s not a huge deal. We -- the replacement. Hopefully that will come within the next week. Filed under Cochlear Implant, Day to Day, Ella Kate | Post navigation celebrate Sophie's hearing birthday! It's been three years since her implants were activated and she first heard the amazing sounds of the world. She has achieved so much in just a few years and I can only -- one day soon she will ask me about David's ears and wonder if he will also be getting implants. These questions are easy to answer now because she is only three, but I know they will become harder in the -- traight-forward facts about hearing loss and the potential causes, ummarized the cochlear implant process and timeline, and told me about their intensive oral program. At one point, I remember her -- education, interpreters, and limitations. I had already researched a bit about cochlear implants, but I was still naive and ignorant to what a diagnosis of profound hearing loss meant for Sophie. -- [DSC02713.JPG] Circus fun! The fireman clown wears implants, too! [DSC02735.JPG] -- non-syndromic and is caused by a mutation in the Connexin gene. Sophia received bilateral cochlear implants in December 2010 at 8 months of age and was activated one month later. The purpose of this blog is to tage, Ava is learning how to identify the various parts of her cochlear implant and indicate when her cochlear implant and FM system are not giving a clear signal. Self-advocacy is a very important skill -- better, she is reading well above grade level. I find that many of our CI kiddoes who were identified early and implanted at a young age, do extremely well in reading. This gives them a great foundation to carry -- would love to share. TRAVELLING WITH COCHLEAR IMPLANTS My husband and I travelled with Lauren and Ava to Mexico last month. -- to work one on one with the TOD. One of the projects they will work on is introducing her cochlear implants to her classmates. Cochlear Corporation apparently has colouring books that we can order which Ava can give to her class while she is doing her presentation. There are a couple exciting products for cochlear implants that I am dying to share: -- my hands on ANYTHING I could find out about deafness and cochlear implants for Ava, who had just been diagnosed as profoundly deaf, I came across this amazing blog "Cochlearimplantonline.com". The creator of that blog, is Rachel Chaikof. Rachel is a young woman who is deaf and has bilateral cochlear implants. She was implanted at the age of 3 in 1989 and was one of the first children to be implanted in the U.S. Rachel is a success story. She excelled in school, mastered the french -- place where one can learn all he or she needs to know about hearing loss and cochlear implants. For your tireless efforts to spread awareness about hearing loss. And especially for taking the time to -- ystem, weekly intervention with her d/hh itinerant teacher, in-service for the staff on cochlear implants, her classroom will have the appropriate modifications made to reduce background noise such as hush -- ensorineural hearing loss in September, 2008. She received imultaneous bilateral cochlear implants when she was 9 months old on March 31, 2009. Today she is 6 years old and is on par with her hearing -- hearing Cochlear Implant Accessories Ava's Spoken Words and Approximations Posts on 'Life is Bliss - Lily's Cochlear Implant Journey' (RSS 1.0) Posts on 'Life is Bliss - Lily's Cochlear Implant Journey' (RSS 2.0) Home Life is Bliss - Lily's Cochlear Implant Journey About Speaking Gigs Cochlear Implant journey. Contact us for more information. Search -- Audiology) Jace Wolfe: Programming Cochlear Implants (Core Clincal Concepts in and Talking, Birth to Six -- Feedjit Live Blog Stats Cochlear Implants January 10, 2016 -- peech-to-text captioning device. American Cochlear Implant Alliance - View materials from their plenary and special sessions at their recent conference. -- out her Advanced Bionics Harmony BTEs and wear them at home. We received the Harmonies when Lily was first implanted, but have never activated them, because Lily has always prefered the Body Worns and -- Love that her hopes and dreams include inventing a static proof cochlear implant and to become a cochlear implant designer. Hopefully Advanced Bionics will have a job for her in 20 or so years. -- On the last day, one of the Moms of the other students came over to me and said I see Lily has Cochlear Implants. Instantly I wondered what her connection with the "hearing" world was. She pulled her hair back and said, "I have one too. I was implanted after college and have had it about 15 years." While I was amazed, Lily thought it was only -- It's been a huge week. After two years of requests, Lily and the other kids with cochlear implants at her school, can now go down one metal lide without fear of damaging their electronic hearing equipment from -- of herself acting out both roles. Next year we hope to complete a cochlear implant or acoustics study, but this year we didn't find the right approach for a first grader. -- Interesting study from Ear and Hearing of Spoken Language Outcomes in children with unilateral versus bilateral cochlear implants. Children with bilateral CIs achieved significantly better vocabulary -- related to parenting, child characteristics, and family background. When Lily was implanted six years ago, the big debate was one or two implants. Our sense was that she had two ears, so she should have two implants right away. There was very little research about the benefits of two implants at the time. Many families were debating about "saving one ear for future technology." I don't hear that phrase today. Two implants seem like a standard practice. Lily's Mom at 11:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) -- February 10, 2014 Early Cochlear Implant Switch-On Interesting research summary on the Safety and Functional Results of Early Cochlear Implant Switch-On in Children. That means instead of waiting for four weeks before they switched the implant on, they only waited for one week. Even five years ago, Lily's implant center only waited 10 days. "This is the first study investigating the safety and the effects of an early cochlear implant switch-on in children. Results show that such a procedure is well tolerated by pediatric subjects and free from -- Lily's Mom at 06:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) /1h3BrO1&text=Early Cochlear Implant Switch-On &count=horizontal February 09, 2014 Cochlear Implant with no external hardware Fascinating article on the future of cochlear implants. Researchers have developed a new, low-power signal-processing chip, which sits in the middle ear, that could lead to a cochlear implant with no external hardware. The implant would be wirelessly recharged and would run for about eight hours on each charge. Lily's Mom at 08:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) /M3s3fe&text=Cochlear Implant with no external hardware&count=horizontal -- Cecilia - A little girl who changed our lives The night before Lily's implantation we watched a marketing video from Advanced Bionics about a little girl named Cecilia who received a cochlear implant around the age of two. She was independent, confident, talking, seemed really smart and had great parents. We -- January 16, 2014 Gene therapy to improve cochlear implants? Facinating article on new research that has investigated the -- /1dUGt7Z&text=Gene therapy to improve cochlear implants?&count=horizontal January 14, 2014 Family uses media effectively to gain cochlear implant coverage Great story of a family overcoming an insurance denial by Conventry for Cochlear Implant coverage. He even received Advanced Bionics. http://news.yahoo.com/video/life-changing-ear-operation-helps-230943724 -- Lily's Mom at 06:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) /1iNi6hf&text=Family uses media effectively to gain cochlear implant coverage&count=horizontal -- Love the innovation of the family who created CIWear, an active wear hirt with pockets for cochlear implants and other electronic devices. Where to put the Neptune processors is a challenge that adults and -- December 22, 2013 Therapy via IPads for children with cochlear implants Great story on using IPads for teletherapy in a program called BabyTalk. For newly implanted children under three, this program helps babies in Northern California learn how to listen and speak. It's a -- /19kk20n&text=Therapy via IPads for children with cochlear implants&count=horizontal December 20, 2013 -- New study out of Penn State showing long-term positive outcomes of cochlear implantation. The research shows that on average, children improve in oral communication skills and have better peer relationships years after implantation, rather than immediately after. Even implant recipients who performed poorly several years after the procedure continue to -- in their early development to build healthy levels of self-esteem and confidence. The degree to which implanted children are accepted by mainstream schools – whether they are understood by their teachers and -- Study: Hearing preservation Interesting study on Hearing preservation for Cochlear Implant outcomes. -- and HEARing Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) better understand how the human brain processes information from a cochlear implant. For the first time, scientists can use a well-established brain imaging technique called MEG, or magnetoencephalography, to measure brain function in recipients of cochlear implants, including young children. The new device overcomes the electromagnetic restrictions of cochlear implants, enabling researchers to gain valuable insight into this established and effective solution for people with hearing loss. -- September 12, 2013 Cochlear Implant history and pioneers The 2013 Lasker~DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award honors three cientists who developed the modern cochlear implant, a device that restores hearing to individuals with profound deafness. Through their -- medical intervention. Check out their incredible video interview of cochlear implant pioneers Graeme M. Clark, Ingeborg Hochmair and Blake S. Wilson and an extensive description of the history of the development of the cochlear implant. It's hard to believe the FDA only gave its inaugural approval to a multichannel cochlear implant in 1985 for treating adults who could hear before they went deaf. Lily's Mom at 06:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) /1e5w0vb&text=Cochlear Implant history and pioneers&count=horizontal September 11, 2013 Class presentation on cochlear implants and other fun stuff Lily and I have now given two presentations on hearing and cochlear implants at her school. The first was a presentation to her own class. We started by asking if there was anything different about -- her class about sound, asked if we could come talk about Cochlear Implants and hearing. Her class had read a small piece about cochlear implants in their textbook and they were very interested in the ubject. -- compassionate bunch. Their questions ranged from how does a CI work to what happens if someone can't pay for an implant. We tried to inspire the students to become scientists, engineers or -- Lily's Mom at 06:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) /17pKjWf&text=Class presentation on cochlear implants and other fun tuff&count=horizontal -- With Naída CI, AB brings performance and wireless connectivity and now cochlear implant recipients have access to the combined technologies of AB & Phonak. -- CI Toolkit for parents and teachers Recently I received The Cochlear Implant School Toolkit which was funded by a Small Business Innovation Research Grant from the National -- create peer acceptance and to smooth the integration of children with cochlear implants into mainstream classrooms teachers, and children examples for teaching a student with a cochlear implant, tips for creating an inclusive classroom, suggestions for classroom -- been through the mainstreaming process with a child with a cochlear implant. All of the pieces are well done and an impressive advisory panel guided -- The research-based teacher's toolkit should be standard reading for each teacher that has a child with a cochlear implant. The guide has been espeically useful for Lily's school. Lily's teacher is very -- The company that developed this toolkit is also working on The Cochlear Implant University which will support high school and college students with cochlear implants and their parents as the student transitions to higher education. The toolkit is a must read for all famlies and teachers who work with kids with Cochlear Implants. Lily's Mom at 10:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) -- August 01, 2013 Cochlear Implant Balance Research Study We've participated in various cochlear implant research studies over the past five years because we feel it's important to give back and -- Last week, Lily was in a balance study at Boystown that was trying to determine if there was a connection between cochlear implantation and balance issues. The researchers asked Lily to walk, hop, stand on a -- Lily's Mom at 06:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) /1edjTrA&text=Cochlear Implant Balance Research Study&count=horizontal Next » be deaf, possibly be inspired to pick up a few sign language books or next time you see a child with hearing aids or Cochlear Implants you will know what it took for that child to get where he/she is today. -- 2:30pm First Audiologist Apt with Sara 3:30pm Meeting Dr. Murray, Implant Surgeon Jan 29th, Oakland - Sedated CT Scan -- As parents we struggled with moving her from the DHH program, after all she's deaf. Her friends there either have cochlear implants or hearing aids so Brinley wouldn't be so different. It's safe. She -- [brin.jpg] http://www.modbee.com/2012/08/17/2334514/an-ear-for-musicimplants-allow .html -- wim cap that is stretchy enough to pull over Brin's head and cochlear implants! Worked like a charm. Just had to share this. [photo.PNG] don’t know how she does it, but she’s an incredible Mom. We are at point where we are wondering about a 2nd implant. There seems to be a lot of opinions out there, but very little hard evidence for children. So we will go ahead and ask all of you. Is there anyone out there that has received, or had a child receive a bi-lateral implant? Would you recommend it? What differences have you seen? Please let us -- Meet Cal's Voice... Cal loves his implant and loves his new voice. Every time his implant goes on it is like flipping on a voice switch - quiet Cal goes to noisy -- the past two weeks, Cal has just been getting acquainted with his implant. Yesterday we went in again and they activated more electrodes and turned it up a level. Today at breakfast Londyn started talking to -- elf about 7 hours after the surgery. There were three other 1 year old babies that got implants that day, so Cal had a lot of fun playing with his new friends! Our little man is such a trooper, and we are so very -- forms and waiting, our insurance finally approved Cal’s cochlear implant. That means that this Friday is a go! The long wait is over, Cal will be implanted by the end of the week. Excitement -- I have learned in the past 8-½ months is astounding. As a parent you read books, you learn audiology results, you pour over cochlear implant tudies, you take ASL classes, you meet weekly with PIP, you immerse -- The date is set, the okay has been given…we are officially a go. Cal is cheduled for his cochlear implant surgery on Sept. 4, 2009. So now that the date is set and most things have been squared away I’m Cochlear Kids country kids with cochlear implants Pages Showing posts with label cochlear implants. Show all posts Monday, October 12, 2015 -- first born. Brooklyn has been hearing for almost that long as well, but Gage was three and a half years old when his first cochlear implant was turned on. Here's how funny all that noise can be! -- Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest Labels: cochlear implants, correcting speech, deafness, Goldenhar Syndrome, HEAR Center, hearing loss, Surgery -- [2014-11-29_06-32-52_147.jpg] Labels: cochlear implants, deafness, hearing loss, no implants Brook Saturday, July 18, 2015 -- has string work to do) Labels: ADHD, cochlear implants, deafness, Goldenhar Syndrome, hearing loss, parenting, random stories -- four). After the boy finishes growing at around age 20, he can decide if he wants an adult (more permanent) bridge or dental implants. I know it sounds like a lot, and we haven't even been back to see the -- heavy metal already! Labels: braces, cochlear implants, Goldenhar Syndrome, music, orthodontist -- as mom but they both learned something from their impromptu stop. Labels: advocacy, cochlear implants, deafness, Goldenhar Syndrome, hearing loss -- guitar well, much less play one, I would have said NO. Labels: cochlear implants, Goldenhar Syndrome, music, random stories, religion -- tanding in front of judges presenting a project about her cochlear implants. She and her friend/partner decided to do a project about B's ears and how technology helps her hear and the impact it makes at -- 2 comments Labels: cochlear implants, contest, hearing loss, presentations, School tories -- again in January and see if new paperwork will get it passed through because he not only needs braces, he needs dental implants and possibly jaw surgery as well. I used to think that was so far in his future but -- believe how Blessed we truly are! Labels: ADHD, cochlear implants, deafness, genetics, Goldenhar Syndrome, hearing loss, music, orthodontist, School stories -- [1405383329747.jpg] Labels: cochlear implants, music, random stories, School stories Saturday, July 12, 2014 -- 1 comments Labels: audiology, AVT/speech, cochlear implants, deafness, FM systems, HEAR Center, hearing loss, MAPping, School stories, upgrade -- 3 comments Labels: cochlear implants, deafness, Goldenhar Syndrome, hearing loss, music, parenting, religion, speech reading -- I am so proud for her and proud of her. She was asked to speak to a first grade class about her implants since their reading story was about a deaf child. The teacher has a deaf nephew and has taught my children in the past so she was quite familiar with the cochlear implants. Brooklyn was happy to show off her ears yesterday to the crowd of six/seven year olds. -- [plugged+device.jpg] Labels: bilateral, cochlear implants, hearing loss, IEPs, music, School tories, upgrade -- be in 5th!! How did this happen? Labels: cochlear implants, deafness, hearing loss, IEPs, School stories Wednesday, March 12, 2014 -- My ten year old child, Brooklyn Blakely, is seeking approval for replacement processors for her cochlear implants. I understand that your work load holds tremendous weight and we are trying to express -- [edited+light.jpg] Labels: cochlear implants, no implants Brook, random stories, School Monday, February 17, 2014 -- Thank you all. B is smitten! Labels: bilateral, cochlear implants, HEAR Center, MAPping, parenting, upgrade -- nervous, and trying to be patient. Labels: advocacy, cochlear implants, upgrade Monday, January 27, 2014 -- [N6+chart.jpg] Labels: cochlear implants, upgrade Wednesday, January 15, 2014 -- We are now prepping in high gear for Brook's upgrade to the N6 Cochlear implant processors. I suppose being out of the loop, not reading blogs like I used to, not reading the group messages, etc. I am just now -- [chart+N6+upgrade.jpg] Labels: bilateral, Charity, cochlear implants, upgrade Friday, December 27, 2013 -- enjoys it just as much. She always remembers him. Labels: cochlear implants, deafness, Goldenhar Syndrome, parenting, Surgery -- from all over the world came in small groups where I gave my "speech" on cochlear implants, Goldenhar Syndrome, skin tags, scars, dermoids of the eye, etc etc etc... -- She is on her last few spare parts right now! Until next time.... Labels: advocacy, bilateral, cochlear implants, deafness, genetics, Goldenhar Syndrome, hearing loss, parenting, presentations, listen with your heart. speak with love. Our Family's Cochlear Implant Journey Saturday, June 15, 2013 -- on. He was a baby with hearing aids and then a toddler with a Cochlear Implant. Strangers would stare. Sometimes sweet old ladies at the grocery store would pat my shoulder and tell me how sweet he was and -- Kindergarten in a school where he is the ONLY kiddo out of over 500 that has Cochlear Implants. I spent this year at our mainstream school excitedly explaining to parents, teachers, administrators, and coaches "Yes, he's deaf BUT...." My bilateral Cochlear Implant boy is able to do things academically and ocially that every other 6.5 year old boy can. He became a class -- really working hard on rehabilitating his year old left Cochlear Implant. Teaching a deaf kid (even one like Christian) to read and tell the difference between a /th/ sound and /f/ sound is a challenge and -- And then there is our life as a family impacted by hearing loss. 5 years ago today Christian received his first Cochlear Implant. Over the past 5 years, we've had months that have flown by with progress and -- It's not the end of the road for us though. Weekly therapy appointments for his newly implanted ear, constant monitoring of his mainstream classroom experience still dominate our family life. But it's gotten -- is reading at the expected 1st Grade level. This is my little boy, who happens to have bilateral cochlear implants, who is in a class with 22 other kids in a TYPICAL public school -- with hearing loss in his grade and the only child with Cochlear Implants in a school with close to 500 kids. This is my little boy, who also was in school since he was 18 months -- "me" in that picture was still innocent. Hearing loss, deafness, IEPs, urgeries, Cochlear Implants, private schools, speech perception testing and inclusion meant nothing to me. That "me" in the picture had -- over our head. I found out we were pregnant with her on the day of Christian's first Cochlear Implant activation. He was just under 16 months old, and we were in the thick of it. I was constantly -- Learning to Listen Just after Christian's first Cochlear Implant activation (almost 5 years ago...wow....) my life was consumed by teaching him to "LEARN TO -- As he grew, it just clicked. Honestly, at almost 5 years post his first activation and one year after his second implant the days of me teaching him a sound and what the meaning was are almost gone. And then -- (6), and Liliana Grace (4) Christian was born Deaf, and was implanted with his Cochlear Implant at 14 months of age and his econd at 5 years old. Lily is hearing, and is a handful but a listen with your heart. speak with love. Our Family's Cochlear Implant Journey Tuesday, October 30, 2012 -- Christian and Dr. V got straight to work on Wednesday for his mapping appointment. We concentrated solely on his newly implanted ear . Christian patiently did all of the testing and waiting as each -- 5 1/2 years into this and I am still amazed. Watching the programming process of my kid's Cochlear Implants literally takes my breath away each time. If you haven't been through -- this past Spring when we decided to go bilateral and get his other ear implanted. All along the way, Christian took each step in great wonder. He embraced the moment, challenged his little body and big -- He grew into an articulate, confident, sweet, silly, loving and incredibly smart little guy who just happens to use Cochlear Implants to listen and speak. I've said it before, and I will say it again, and -- (6), and Liliana Grace (4) Christian was born Deaf, and was implanted with his Cochlear Implant at 14 months of age and his econd at 5 years old. Lily is hearing, and is a handful but a listen with your heart. speak with love. Our Family's Cochlear Implant Journey Thursday, August 16, 2012 -- version of the prep sheet) -Continue auditory rehabilitation on newly implanted ear with our fantastic private SLP through the fall. -- uggestions that will help us succeed together from day one. Please keep in mind that cochlear implants (CIs) do not “fix” hearing, like glasses fix poor vision. Christian’s cochlear implants help enhance his hearing, but additional assistance is still needed. We’ve listed -- Technology Tips Ø Christian’s Cochlear Implants help him hear much better, but he doesn’t always understand what he hears especially if the room is noisy or if people talk too fast and on top of each other. Ø We are happy to talk with you about Christian’s Cochlear Implants. We will feel better knowing that you understand how his hearing -- Ø Christian has a remote control that he uses to change the settings of his Cochlear Implants. Please allow him to keep this remote in his backpack and to be able to readily access it during times of -- front. I have more of the "first-time in a school that he's the only with Cochlear Implants and these teachers have no formal training when it comes to educating my kid" kinda jitters. I thought I was ok, and -- bit of in-servicing. We've really been pushing Christian's newly implanted ear with MANY hours of rehab both with his SLP from The River School and with a county SLP. He's made absolutely astounding progress, -- The years went on and we both learned. Christian grew from a newly implanted toddler to a sweet and chatty 2 year old who was already urpassing his hearing peers in expressive language. I became a little -- inevitable time that we would leave the school. I started having dreams of his Cochlear Implant failing during his oral dissertation defense in college. The dream when it happend on his wedding day still sticks with -- tood by our side. As fast as it happened, it was a long time coming and we were ready for it. Rehabilitating the newly implanted ear along with prepping to transition to Kindergarten in our public school became -- center around that school and so many steps of our family journey with Cochlear Implants have started there. It's bittersweet to leave a place that not only did my son grow-up in, but I did as well. It's easy to -- and supported in ways that most families never get a chance to experience, let alone families with kids with Cochlear Implants. Don't get me wrong, I've been counting down the days until our summer -- ANYTHING with NO limitations. They made my life as a Mom to a kid with Cochlear Implants just a little bit easier and little bit LESS tressful by being THE BEST OF THE BEST. -- boy will be the only kid in a school of hundreds of typical kids with Cochlear Implants. I'm worried he's going to be alone. I'm worried that for the first time he may just feel different. Pile that on top of all -- -Christian was qualified for ESY (Extended School Year) due to his recent implantation and activation, so we will receive 1x weekly ervices (this is in addition to the private therapy we will continue -- CAN do the things we say he can do. Today I will change perceptions of Cochlear Implant children. Today, I'm strong. Today, I'm confident. Today, I'm going to do my best to give my little boy (who is SO ready -- (6), and Liliana Grace (4) Christian was born Deaf, and was implanted with his Cochlear Implant at 14 months of age and his econd at 5 years old. Lily is hearing, and is a handful but a listen with your heart. speak with love. Our Family's Cochlear Implant Journey Friday, June 1, 2012 -- "worries" aren't really an issue here in our house. I'm just freaking out about sending this school their VERY FIRST Cochlear Implant kid. Oh, and the really loud classrooms. I'm nervous about that. -- nickname is Sharker". So thankful to have such a great team at THE BEST implant center! [DSC_0593.jpg] -- those viral YouTube videos that show the miracle of the Cochlear Implant. It wasn't one of those activations that bring tears to your eyes or demonstrate what we know is truly the magic of this amazing -- work this way. Right now, his brain is working hard trying to interpret the sounds coming out of the implant. Right now, he can't understand our voices, music or environmental sounds. Right now, he's in a really difficult spot. I am so incredibly thankful that we go to the best implant center in the nation. I am beyond thankful that Christian is a part of one of our country's best oral-deaf education schools. We just -- Could this week be any more HUGE for Christian? 1st Cochlear Implant activation is tomorrow at Hopkins, Kindergarten Orientation on Thursday and Board Breaking on Friday night (followed by -- [recovery3.jpg] Christian checking out his new implant! [recovery5.jpg] -- I wrote a letter 4 years ago to Christian the night before we took him to Hopkins for his first Cochlear Implant. Tomorrow morning we're going bilateral. Tomorrow morning life is going to change. -- me?" Anything that we can do to make your tricky life a bit easier, we are going to do it. Getting your other implanted right now made sense for you, for our family and for the world you live in. -- (6), and Liliana Grace (4) Christian was born Deaf, and was implanted with his Cochlear Implant at 14 months of age and his econd at 5 years old. Lily is hearing, and is a handful but a listen with your heart. speak with love. Our Family's Cochlear Implant Journey Saturday, April 14, 2012 -- By the Numbers. 34-Days until Christian's 2nd Cochlear Implant Surgery. 10.5-Lily's new shoe size. My hopes of her fitting into a perfect -- We took one more step closer to the next chapter in our CI Journey today with a quick phone call from our implant center with our 3 activation dates. Activation will happen about 4 weeks after the -- up to and learn from. I love knowing that there's nothing holding back. That's the miracle of the Cochlear Implant. at 3/14/2012 1 comment: Links to this post -- So here I am going with the flow. We've decided to give Christian another Cochlear Implant. Going bilateral is a big change for him. It's a big change of our family. We're excited, nervous, and anxious. We're -- would be putting a heavy splash of Bailey's in my coffee. So, we're exploring implanting Christian's left ear. We've been watching that ear carefully, and while his audiogram has only changed a -- (6), and Liliana Grace (4) Christian was born Deaf, and was implanted with his Cochlear Implant at 14 months of age and his econd at 5 years old. Lily is hearing, and is a handful but a hearing loss, and the journey of getting and utilizing cochlear implants. Both have congenital deafness due to the Connexin 26 gene mutation. -- evaluation soon after her diagnosis of profound deafness for Taylor in 2009, and the cochlear implant surgery only 10 days later, followed by weekly therapy visits for two years. Then to our Lauren's birth and -- weekly class that Hearts for Hearing sponsored. Dr. Jace Wolfe, a brilliant audiologist and researcher, has done our cochlear implant mapping for years now; my girls think he is just a regular goofy dad -- Posted by Melinda Morgan at 10/01/2015 No comments: Labels: cochlear implants, connexin26, Heartsforhearing Monday, May 20, 2013 -- Posted by Melinda Morgan at 5/10/2013 1 comment: Labels: baby, cochlear implants Wednesday, January 23, 2013 -- Posted by Melinda Morgan at 10/05/2012 1 comment: Labels: Cochlear implant activation, cochlear implants, connexin 26, infant toddler cochlear implant Tuesday, August 28, 2012 -- her 1st brithday, but we are so thankful that she is going to turn 1 with both cochlear implants surgeries completed and a lifetime of listening ahead of her. -- Thursday, May 24, 2012 Lauren's Cochlear Implant Activation Lauren's cochlear implant activation on the left side was yesterday. She did very well. We were able to get a response from her and set the -- Posted by Melinda Morgan at 5/24/2012 2 comments: Labels: Cochlear implant activation, connexin 26, infant toddler cochlear implant, lumps around cochlear implant Monday, April 30, 2012 -- Posted by Melinda Morgan at 4/30/2012 Labels: Cochlear implant activation, cochlear implants, congenital deafness, connexin 26, infant toddler cochlear implant Thursday, March 8, 2012 -- it was known right away that Lauren would ultimately need cochlear implants, this is an interim solution. Hearts for Hearing attempts to provide hearing aids to families who are residents of Oklahoma through -- his, and he knows that Lauren will eventually have the cochlear implants. [IMG_4593.jpg] -- providing some access to sound. To what extent, I don't know. We know the end result with her diagnosis is bilateral cochlear implantation. We have met with the surgeon and are working on that timeline. In the -- Posted by Melinda Morgan at 1/06/2012 8 comments: Labels: connexin 26, infant toddler cochlear implant, newborn abr Thursday, April 21, 2011 hearing loss, and the journey of getting and utilizing cochlear implants. Both have congenital deafness due to the Connexin 26 gene mutation. -- Last Thursday, I took Taylor back to the Hough Ear Institute. We always try to watch the implant area closely for redness or irritation. Occasionally, infections can occur. Taylor's dad noticed when putting -- that tick!! I hate ticks but what a celebration to know that all is well with the cochlear implant. :) Posted by Melinda Morgan at 9/19/2010 No comments: Labels: lumps around cochlear implant One Year Earniversary and Conversations with Taylor -- to countless therapy sessions, doctor’s appointments, hearing aid fittings, cochlear implant mappings, and more. Here’s to the Moms who work hard to be their child’s best advocate and -- Posted by Melinda Morgan at 3/08/2010 No comments: Labels: cochlear implants, signing time, your baby can read Newer Posts Older Posts Home hearing loss, and the journey of getting and utilizing cochlear implants. Both have congenital deafness due to the Connexin 26 gene mutation. -- Posted by Melinda Morgan at 2/05/2010 2 comments: Labels: CI in water, cochlear implants, Disney, SeaWorld Sunday, January 10, 2010 -- Posted by Melinda Morgan at 10/26/2009 3 comments: Labels: cochlear implants, toddler Wednesday, October 14, 2009 -- A frequent conversation among parents of little ones with cochlear implants -- How are you keeping them on your little roly-poly, wrestling, climbing toddler? -- Taylor Talks!! Taylor had her cochlear implants activated 4 weeks ago... On Wednesday, we thought we heard her say a word but weren't for sure. On Thursday, -- he was deaf, June 8, was working toward this moment. And although we believed in the technology of the cochlear implant and the therapy that we have been working on, and even having met other children that have only had the implants for a few months or years, still I was prepared for nothing and afraid to hope for all... -- Posted by Melinda Morgan at 10/10/2009 2 comments: Labels: Cochlear implant activation, talking Thursday, October 1, 2009 -- I continue to be amazed by Taylor's ability to adapt to the new world of sound, and I am so thankful that cochlear implants exist. Posted by Melinda Morgan at 10/01/2009 1 comment: -- Another Dimension!! Taylor had her cochlear implants activated on September 9 and 10, 2009. Age 15 months. -- it will help her recognize words. It is going to be fun to see how she picks it all up. We are so thankful that cochlear implants exist. BLING! We have been having fun decorating her "Ears." Today she had -- Posted by Melinda Morgan at 9/13/2009 6 comments: Labels: Cochlear implant activation Tuesday, September 8, 2009 -- and outgoing children that I have ever known. There is much controversy about getting CI implants in deaf children before they have the ability to make the choice for themselves. I hope that by doing this, we are -- Tuesday, September 1, 2009 We want Cochlear Implants, stat! There is such a range of emotions that parents experience when finding -- us anywhere. What to do? We had done research before the diagnosis, and knew cochlear implants would be our preference for Taylor if she was profoundly deaf. Let me give you an idea of what the summer was like: -- meeting at Hearts for Hearing, our audioverbal therapy center in OkC. August 10 - BILATERAL COCHLEAR IMPLANT surgery at the Hough Ear Institute!! Age 14 mo. -- elected SEE, Sign Exact English. Nucleus Freedom or Advanced Bionics - elected Cochlear's Nucleus Freedom. Implant on one side or both? BOTH! Simultaneous or Bilateral surgery? She had both implants done at the ame time. What colors of implants? What types of processors? What causes deafness? How do we get genetic testing? Do we drive 7 hours -- Posted by Melinda Morgan at 9/01/2009 9 comments: Labels: advanced bionics, cochlear implants, connexin 26, genetic causes of deafness, nucleus freedom -- most magical laugh. I hope it doesn't change once she can "hear" with the cochlear implants. Taylor was ahead of the milestones on physical development, across the board. She started walking at just over 10 -- Posted by Melinda Morgan at 6/08/2009 2 comments: Labels: cochlear implants, congenital deafness, connexin 26 Newer Posts Home