Better Hearing With Cochlear Implant

Printed in Olathe News in October 2007

Better Hearing with CI
By Leonard Hall

Four months after receiving my cochlear implant in my right ear, the wonderful technology has allowed me to hear more than I ever did in my life.

During the first days of wearing the implant, my right ear could not handled any kind of sensitivity of the sounds entering the implant. My right ear was simply deaf which I have never worn a hearing aid out of.

Like most deaf people who never had any hearing, my brain would not process any sound from the implant. It was a process of training my ear, nerves, and brain to hear and understand sounds.

Through the first 2 months, I went through 11 different mapping levels of volume and sensitivity adjustments before reaching the hearing level to hear, but not understand, voices. Each level brings painstaking adjustment to my brain and nerves of the louder volume and exposure to more sounds.

At each level, it was simply learning how to hear electronically at an increasing volume and sensitivity of sounds. There are different sounds coming at me in every kind of environments.

In talking with deaf friends wearing cochlear implant, some could not go beyond the 6th or 7th levels due to the maximum sensitivity the person can handled. They are not to reach the levels to hear or understand spoken words.

I wore a hearing aid and understood 25% of verbal communication for many years. My hearing in my left ear has decreased to the point of almost being profoundly deaf.

One part of my brain using my left ear has the ability to hear and understand verbal communication. It is the other part of my brain using my right ear that needed training.

At the 12th level of mapping, I was able to hear voices, but the spoken words sounded jumbled.

My audiologist, Kristen, had a surprise. Among the three different cochlear implant brands, she and Dr. Luetje recommended Advanced Bionics (or AB Harmony), which came out last year.

The three brands have 16 to 22 electrodes to allow the device to process the sounds. The AB Harmony processor can be adjusted to work at the sound spectrum of up to 120 spectral bands.

When Kristen adjusted my AB Harmony processor to 120 spectral bands, I begin to hear the distinction between spoken words to understand verbal communication better.

Over the past two months on the 13th and 14th level, I am getting better at hearing and understanding spoken words from some people. Using my hearing aid and the implant, I am able to hear and understand most verbal communication.

In the near future, I hope to hear most verbal communication through my implant without the use of my hearing aid.

(Leonard Hall writes a weekly column on the deaf community and can be reached at Legalnetwk@aol.com.)